From the hand of God

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him  who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

Ecclesiastes 2:24,25 ESV

The book of Ecclesiastes is full of great wisdom concerning this life and all that we as humans endure in a lifetime. Solomon tells us that he has examined all that there is in life and outside of God all of this is meaningless. When one thinks about it his statements are so true. Our lives, if not for God in them is like chasing after the wind.

Chasing the wind is an exercise in futility, the wind cannot be caught. I tend to think of our lives without God like a dog chasing it’s tail. When a dog chases its tail it just continues going round and round until it tires of the game or actually bites its own tail and suffers the pain of its senseless game. That is how it is for us if we don’t allow room for God in our lives.

We must find contentment in our lives. As Solomon  says in verses 24, we must find enjoyment in our toil. So how are we to find contentment in this life of toils. We find it in God, we find it through Christ. We need to be like the Apostle Paul as he said Philippians chapter 4, “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” ESV

Paul has discovered what Solomon was talking about in verse 25. He understood that God is the provider and if we trust in Him we can be content in all circumstances. All that we have in this life is God provided. If we think all that we have and are is because of what we have achieved then we are missing the most important fact of all. God created this world, He has created us and He gave us whatever abilities we have, all that  we achieve is through Him.

So today, let’s realize apart from God’s gifts we would have nothing.

© 2013 Leo J. Woodman

In the Spirit on the Lord's day

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”Revelation 1:10,11 ESV

In this verse we see John is still worshiping the Lord in spite of where he is and the conditions he is living under. John is a model of faith in that he lets nothing stand in the way of worship. It is the Lord’s day and he is worshipping as Jesus said we should. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23,24 ESV As he is worshipping he hears the voice of Jesus. Imagine how he must have felt, to be called to by the Lord during worship.

The next verse is a direct quote of Jesus speaking to John. Jesus commands John to write what he sees and share it with seven specific churches. The seven churches that are to receive the revelation are very close to the Isle of Patmos. Things are about to get tough for the churches in the immediate area in the near future. So, when we think about it, Jesus is wanting to send His letter of reassurance to real people in real time.

One conclusion that we can draw from this is that Jesus is keenly aware of what is going on in every congregation of His body. If it was so in the first century church, it is so for us today. While we do not receive letters specifically addressed to our congregations today, we can gain great reassurance from this letter. Today we can know that Jesus is well aware of the needs of every congregation of His body.


© 2013 Leo J. Woodman