Ecclesiastes 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
If you have ever met people who have been down life’s long road, you may have noticed that there seems to be two general types. One is the type that has been so beat up by life that they are pessimistic, dour, and unhappy, or so it seems. They are like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. On the other hand, you meet people who seem to be trying to forget life. They are not succumbed by life; they are just ignoring it. You might call this hedonism.
In Proverbs 31:6-7 it says, “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.” We often have this impression that people drink because they are celebrating life. The fact is, that if you look at what physically happens, people drink and forget life. That is why unhappy people are so often full of drink. Maybe someone is happy and tries to celebrate by drinking, but I would say they are going about it the wrong way.
When you look at Ecclesiastes 7, you find God using a man named Solomon, who tried everything: wealth, money, and pleasures of all kinds. He comes to see all of it as empty, certainly empty without God, without a greater purpose. In Ecclesiastes 7:14 he says, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other [prosperity against adversity], to the end man should find nothing after him.”
So, joy is not hedonism, drunkenness, or forgetting. Being thoughtful, considerate, or having consideration of life is not depression or pessimism. It is impossible to see life accurately without considering God. The verse says, “God also hath set the one over against the other.” God has set prosperity against adversity. The reason for this is that man would know there is a greater cause than just having a “nice day” or a “bad day.”
In Ecclesiastes 6:12 the question is asked, “For who knoweth what is good for man in this life…?” Good is not merely pleasurable, and joy is not merely hedonism. In fact, chapter 7 talks about a whole list of things that are “better than,” things that you would not consider to be “better than.” “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting.” Why is that? Well, it is so the living may “lay it to his heart.” No one wishes to mourn, but there is something to learn from such times. And, everyone wishes to have prosperity, but we shouldn’t just mindlessly go through prosperity. We should be joyful in realizing that both the good and the bad have been put into life, and there is a God that overrules all.
So, whatever may be coming your way today, remember that it is impossible to see life accurately without considering God. God has given both so we would realize our need of Him.