ECCLESIASTES

Today is Monday.  We had a great day yesterday at Church.  Such a great crowd of people and the LORD blessed with many new faces and several Salvations made for Christ.  We had a very good crowd for Sunday evening as well.  God has been good to us.  I hope that you had a great time at Church yesterday as well.  Today, I read the book of Ecclesiastes.  Here are a few comments I have from what spoke to my heart as I read: 1) HE THAT IS HIGHER THAN THE HIGHEST- I knew that was in a song, but it comes from Eccl. 5:8.  God is indeed higher than the highest.  It says that God, who is higher than the highest, regardeth.  He watches and He regardeth what He watches.  God will deal with every situation, and God already has a plan for every situation before the situation arrives.  God has a position of Preeminence, of Priority, of Preference, and of Perspective.  He sees from His advantage point what no one else can see.  He sees the outside situation, and the inside heart of the matter.  We cannot see those things, but God can clearly and acts accordingly.  Let us trust Him in all things. 2) BETTER- Eccl. 7:1 says:  "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth."  Here we see that a good name is better than the precious anointing ointment that would be used to anoint a king or priest.  We may not be ordained to be a king, but we can determine if we have a good name.  One is much better than the other.  Solomon loves letting us know what is "better" than another.  In this chapter six times we are told what is "better" than something else.  In the book of Eccl. we find 23 times that Solomon describes something as better than something else.  Let us learn to follow those things that are "better", like having a good name! 3) NO DISCHARGE- Ecclesiastes 8:8  "There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it." When it comes to death, there is no discharge in that war.  We cannot escape it, we can only be prepared for it.  Are you prepared?  So let us live our lives to be prepared for it at any time.  That will be our goal is just to know we are ready to meet Jesus at any time.  4) THIS OR THAT- Ecclesiastes 11:6  "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."  What Solomon, the wisest man is telling us is that when it comes to being successful, we really don't know what will prosper, either this or that.  So we do all that we know to do and then have to trust God with the results.  But, we must sow in the morning and in the evening.  If we don't sow at all, then we know that we will not prosper.  Keep on working and trusting God that success will come your way, even though we do not know whether this or that will work.  Keep sowing! Well, so much for today.  Hope you have a wonderful day as you start your week.  May God's best blessings be yours to enjoy.  Pastor Mike Mutchler