Reflections on Ecclesiastes Chapter One

Reflections on Ecclesiastes

Chapter One

This week I started studying the book of Ecclesiastes. In chapter one Solomon concluded that everything in life is meaningless, “completely meaningless.” Solomon tried very hard to find happiness in his life and to figure out what creates happiness. I have always found happiness to be elusive. To me happiness is just a temporary emotion as is anger or jealousy. Some days you wake up and feel good and some days you feel the exact opposite. I suffer from depression and that in itself makes me a moody person. I have spent the much greater part of my life being less than happy. I have learned over the years not to make being happy a goal in my life. On days when I feel very sad or discouraged I have learned to just accept it. In other words, “This too shall pass.” I firmly believe that biochemistry plays a major role in depression and other mood disorders. I am not at all opposed to using medications to make your life more bearable.

In Chapter One of Ecclesiastes King Solomon displays all the signs of a man who is depressed. He sounds burned out, tired and world weary. Solomon has tried various avenues to achieve happiness and meaning in his life. I believe that part of his problem was that he was taking life entirely too seriously. Most of us mere mortals are not going to make any earth shaking positive changes to the world. The best we can hope for is to have made a small but significant positive difference in our small circle of influence. If we believe that we have made some positive impact in our circle of influence we should be satisfied. I have found that to be hard on myself is just to invite pain and discouragement. To compare myself to others is also a recipe for disaster. Today, I have had a good day and am happy with that. I am going to try to relish every moment of it. I am not going to try to analyze why I feel better today than I have felt on a lot of other days. I cannot recreate today and clone it for the rest of my life. Each day is different and I do not know what tomorrow is going to bring. I thank God that I was happy today for whatever reason. I just know it was by the grace of God.

We Are Not Cursed

We Are Not Cursed

'But Christ has brought us out from under the doom of that impossible system by taking the curse for our wrongdoings upon Himself. For it is written in the Scripture,” Anyone who is hanged on a tree is cursed.” {As Jesus was hung upon a wooden cross}. TLB Galatians 3: 13

At certain times in our lives it is easy to feel that we are living under some kind of curse. The saying goes that things often happen in threes. For example in one week you may get a toothache, have a serious falling out with your supervisor at work and find out that your car requires some expensive repairs. If you are human you are going to experience stress because of this situation. You may say that this is not fair. After all, I have always taken very good care of my teeth. Further more, it was my supervisor who was being unreasonable, not me. As or my car I have always taken it in to my mechanic for regular maintenance. None the less, your tooth still hurts, your supervisor is still your boss and you need to get the necessary, expensive repairs done on your car. Life is not fair.

The Good News , however, is that you are not cursed and God is not punishing you. You are not being cursed because Jesus has already taken the curse for you. Some things are just normal occurrences in life. Your teeth may not last forever, your boss has issues just like you do and cars aren't built to last forever, either.

The next question is will God help you get out of this mess. The answer is “yes,” if you ask Him. What if the mess I'm in is totally my own fault? The answer is still,”yes” Why? Because God loves us and is merciful and has compassion for His children and because Jesus already paid the price for our wrongdoings on the cross.

Pleasing God

Pleasing God

“ But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews

11:6

I have listened to many preachers tell their congregation all the reasons why their prayers are not getting answered. Theses reasons usually have to do with disobedience or sin of some kind. These sermons sound logical and make for good preaching. Many members of the congregation will go home and will prepare to fight another battle against the sin in their life. There are also those who will leave the church thinking, “what's the use?” I've tried so hard to conquer the sin in my life but I never seem to be able to overcome it. Some will even leave church permanently because they are tired of getting beat up every Sunday. They often get beaten up enough by life the other six days of the week and don't want to feel bad about themselves on Sunday also. The Bible says:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins , and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9

The fact is we have been forgiven our sins by the finished work of Christ on the cross. God does not see the need to punish us some more. Does this mean that sin is a good thing and that we shouldn't worry about it? Absolutely not. Sin itself, usually by natural law or the law of cause and effect will have its own negative consequences. But it is not God punishing us because he is mad at us.

It is wonderful that we are able to please God by our faith. To have this kind of faith we must believe that God has our own best interests at heart and does not want to hurt us. We must also believe that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek after him. How do we seek after him? I don't believe that this is accomplished by seeing how many church activities and conferences that we can attend. There is nothing wrong with these things but I believe that God wants us to spend some personal time with him even if it is only for a few minutes per day. This does not mean that we have to have read a certain number of chapters from the Bible or that we have uttered a certain type of prayer. At these times God just wants to be close to us and to find out how we're doing. He is just waiting for us to give him an opportunity to be part of our daily lives.

Enjoying Your Work

Enjoying Your Work

“So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.” Ecclesiastes 2: 24

I find it difficult to believe how anyone can be happy if they don't enjoy what they do for a living, at least most of the time. Eventually, if one is not happy in their work it is going to show up in their health, in their families and in their relationships with others. A job you hate will eventually make you sick.

Yet the world is filled with people who hate what they have to do for a living. Most of these people have to be at work eight to ten hours a day. If you truly can't stand your work this can be very bad for the soul.

I believe that the above scripture verse indicates that God's will is for us to be happy in our work. I doubt very much that it is God's will for a person to work in an occupation that they hate.

Who Finds a Wife

Who Finds a Wife

Proverbs 18:22

“The man who finds a wife finds a good thing; she is a blessing to him from God.”

Even though I know I have favor from the Lord I sometimes think that in some areas I do and in some I don't. One part of my life that I definitely know I have favor is in my marriage to Martha. It is no small thing to know that you have had someone who has stuck right by you through thick and thin for close to twenty years now. There have indeed been some rough patches. I believe we only survived our first year of marriage by the grace of God. I am very grateful that we both decided to stick it out. I have a great deal of faults which I am very aware of. I have indeed found favor from the Lord in that he has given me a wife who has had the strength to ride out life's storms with me. 

April 20, 2012

There Is Now No Condemnation

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans: 8: 1-2.

The other day my wife Martha, asked if I was writing a book of devotions. I think I told her that I had not been consciously planning to, but I've learned never to say never. What I have been doing during the last week is to open one of my Bible Promise Books and meditate upon a verse that has caught my attention. For sure, if I ever did write a book called Daily Bible Devotions With Ken David Stewart, some people would laugh and some would not believe it. I don't know why people would be surprised as God has gone on record as speaking through a donkey in the past. I believe that God can and does speak through anybody or anything that he wants to and that God also has a sense of humor. I don't make any pretense of being a great saint of God or man of God. I have however, been declared righteous through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Too many Christians struggle through life thinking that God is angry with them because of some past sin in their life or even a present one. The Good News is that there is “no condemnation.” God is not mad at us. If we ask His forgiveness, he will freely give it.

Today's Prayer:

Thank You Jesus that your have paid the price for all of our sins. I ask you to help us accept this truth into our hearts.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Why Physical Healing Is So Critical

Why Physical Healing Is So Critical

“I will put none of these diseases upon thee,which I have brought upon the Egyptians;for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Exodus 4 25-26

Physical healing is essential to the Christian life. Yet, it at times seems evasive. Why is it important to get physical healing? Because life is hard enough even when you're feeling well. Let's face it: it is difficult to live in this world. Last week I had a tooth extracted. It took a week before I had started to feel well again. Although the tooth was abscessed and needed to be extracted it end up costing me a week of work. The good news is that I did get healed. The only problem for me was that my healing did not come as fast as I would have liked. God seems to heal us according to his own timing. Did God cause my abscessed tooth? No, I probably did it myself by not taking better care of my teeth. Was the week off work a total waste of time? No, because I got a lot of work done on my novel. I was feeling too lousy to be able to function at work, but I was still healthy enough to do some writing. I also got a lot of Bible reading done. My Bible reading comes in waves. Sometimes I am motivated to read scripture and can't wait to either crack open one of my Bibles or to listen to an audio book version of the Bible. At other times it seems that the Bible must weigh five hundred pounds and I am unable to lift it. I don't understand this ebb and flow but have come to accept it as a fact in my life.