Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day three hundred and 11.
There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun and
it weighs heavily on humanity.
God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could
ever want, but then he doesn't give them the chance to enjoy these things.
They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth.
This is meaningless.
A sickening tragedy.
A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old, but if he finds
no satisfaction in life and doesn't even get a decent burial, it would've
been better for him to be born dead.
His birth would've been meaningless and he would've ended in darkness.
He wouldn't even have had a name and he would never have seen the
son or known of its existence.
Yet he would've had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man.
He might live a thousand years, twice over, but still not find contentment.
And since he must die like everyone else, well what's the use?
All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they
never seem to have enough.
So are wise people really better off than fools?
Do poor people gain anything?
By being wise and knowing how to act in front of others, enjoy what you have,
rather than desiring what you don't have.
Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless, like chasing the wind.
Everything has already been decided.
It was known long ago what each person would be, so there's no use
arguing with God about your destiny.
The more words you speak, the less they mean.
So what good are they?
In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent?
Our lives are like a shadow.
Who can tell what will happen on this earth after we are gone?
A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume, and the day you die
is better than the day you are born.
Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.
After all, everyone dies, so the living should take this to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter for sadness has a refining influence on us.
A wise person thinks a lot about death.
While a fool thinks only about having a good time, better to be criticized by a
wise person than to be praised by a fool.
A fool's laughter is quickly gone.
Like thorns crackling in a fire.
This also is meaningless extortion turns wise people into fools
and bribes corrupt the heart.
Finishing is better than starting.
Patience is better than pride.
Control your temper for anger labels you a fool.
Don't long for the good old days.
This is not wise.
Wisdom is even better when you have money.
Both are a benefit.
As you go through life, wisdom and money can get you almost anything, but
only wisdom can save your life except the way God does things for who can
straighten what he has made crooked.
Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike,
realize that both come from God.
Remember that nothing is certain in this life.
I have seen everything in this meaningless life.
Including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people.
So don't be too good or too wise, why destroy yourself?
On the other hand, don't be too wicked either.
Don't be a fool.
Why die before your time?
Pay attention to these instructions for anyone who fears
God will avoid both extremes.
One wise person is stronger than 10 leading citizens of a town.
Not a single person on Earth is always good and never sins.
Don't eavesdrop on others.
You may hear your servant curse you for you know how often you
yourself have cursed others.
I have always tried my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions.
I said to myself, I am determined to be wise, but it didn't work.
Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find.
I searched everywhere, determined to find wisdom and to
understand the reason for things.
I was determined to prove to myself that wickedness is stupid,
and that foolishness is madness.
I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap, more bitter than death.
Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are chains.
Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners
will be caught in her snare.
This is my conclusion, says the teacher.
I discovered this after looking at the matter from every possible angle.
Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for.
Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman.
But I did find this, God created people to be virtuous, but they have each
turned to follow their own downward path.
How wonderful to be wise to analyze and interpret things.
Wisdom lights up a person's face softening its harshness.
Obey the king since you vowed to God that you would.
Don't try to avoid doing your duty and don't stand with those who plot evil.
For the king can do whatever he wants.
His command is backed by great power.
No one can resist or question it.
Those who obey him will not be punished.
Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right for.
There is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble.
Indeed, how can people avoid what they don't know is going to happen?
None of us can hold back our spirit from departing.
None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death.
There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle.
And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.
I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people
have the power to hurt each other.
I have seen wicked people buried with honor, yet they were the very
ones who frequented the temple and are now praised in the same city
where they committed their crimes.
This too is meaningless.
When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.
But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives
a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off.
The wicked will not prosper for they do not fear God.
Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows, and this is not
all that is meaningless in our world.
In this life, good people are often treated as though they were
wicked and wicked people are often treated as though they were good.
This is so meaningless, so I recommend having fun because there is nothing
better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life.
That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard
work God gives them under the sun.
In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people's burdens here
on earth, I discovered that there is a ceaseless activity day and night.
I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun.
Not even the wisest people discover everything no matter what they claim.
This too, I carefully explored even though the actions of Godly and
wise people are in God's hands.
No one knows whether God will show them favor.
The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether
righteous or wicked, good or bad.
Ceremonially, clean or unclean religious or I religious good people
receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who make promises to God
are treated like people who don't.
It seems so wrong that everyone under the sun suffers the same fate.
Already twisted by evil people choose their own mad
course for they have no hope.
There is nothing ahead but death anyway.
There is hope only for the living As they say, it's better to
be alive dog than a dead lion.
The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing.
They have no further reward, nor are they remembered whatever
they did in their lifetime.
Loving, hating, envying is all long gone.
They no longer play a part in anything here on earth.
So go ahead, eat your food with joy and drink your wine with a happy heart.
For God approves of this, wear fine clothes with a splash of cologne.
Live happily with a woman you love through all the meaningless days of life
that God has given you under the sun.
The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil.
Whatever you do, do well for when you go to the grave, there will be no work
or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
I have observed something else under the sun.
The fastest runner doesn't always win the race, and the strongest
warrior doesn't always win the battle.
The whys sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy.
And those who are educated don't always lead successful lives.
It is all decided by chance by being in the right place at the right time.
People can never predict when hard times might come, like fish
in a net or birds in a trap.
People are caught by sudden tragedy.
Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have
watched the way our world works.
There was a small town with only a few people.
And a great king came with his army and besieged it.
A poor, wise man knew how to save the town, and so it was rescued.
But afterward, no one thought to thank him.
So even though wisdom is better than strength, those who are wise
will be despised if they are poor.
What they say will not be appreciated for long.
Better to hear the quiet words of a wise person than the shouts of a foolish king.
Better to have wisdom than weapons of war.
But one sinner can destroy much that is good as dead flies cause
even a bottle of perfume to stink.
So a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.
A wise person chooses the right road.
A fool takes the wrong one.
You can identify fools just by the way they walk down the street.
If your boss is angry at you, don't quit.
The quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes.
There was another evil I have seen under the sun.
Kings and rulers make a grave mistake when they give great
authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven worth.
I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes and
princes walking like servants.
When you dig a well, you might fall in.
When you demolish an old wall, you could be bitten by a snake.
When you work in a quarry, stones might fall and crush you.
When you chop wood, there is danger with each stroke of your ax.
Using a dull axe requires great strength, so sharpen the blade.
That's the value of wisdom.
It helps you succeed if a snake bites before you charm it.
What's the use of being a snake?
Charmer wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words.
Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions, so their
conclusions will be wicked madness.
They chatter on and on.
No one really knows what is going to happen.
No one can predict the future.
Fools are so exhausted by a little work that they can't even find their way home.
What sorrow for the land ruled by his servant?
The land whose leaders feast in the morning.
Happy is the land whose king is a noble leader and whose leaders feast
at the proper time to gain strength for their work not to get drunk.
Laziness leads to a sagging roof.
Idleness leads to a leaky house.
A party gives laughter, wine gives happiness and money gives everything.
Never make light of the king even in your thoughts.
And don't make fun of the powerful even in your own bedroom.
For a little bird might deliver your message and tell them what you said.
Send your grain across the seas and in time profits will flow back to you.
But divide your investments among many places for you to not
know what risks might lie ahead.
When clouds are heavy, the rains come down.
Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.
Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant.
If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny
baby growing in its mother's womb.
So you cannot understand the activity of God who does all things.
Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon for you.
Don't know if profit will come from one activity or another.
Or maybe both.
Light is sweet.
How pleasant to see a new day Dawning when people live to be very old.
Let them rejoice in every day of life, but let them also remember,
there will be many dark days.
Everything still to come as meaningless young people, it's wonderful to be young.
Enjoy every minute of it.
Do everything you want to do.
Take it all in.
But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.
So refuse to worry and keep your body healthy.
But remember that youth with a whole life before you is meaningless.
Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your creator.
Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, life is not pleasant anymore.
Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim
to your old eyes and rain clouds continually darken your sky.
Remember him before your legs, the guards of your house start to tremble and before
your shoulders, the strong men stoop.
Remember him before your teeth.
Your few remaining servants stop grinding.
And before your eyes, the women looking through the windows see dimly.
Remember him before the door to life's opportunities is closed
and the sound of work fades.
Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all
their sounds will grow faint.
Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry
about danger in the streets.
Before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag
along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caper berry
no longer inspires sexual desire.
Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home when the
mourners will weep at your funeral.
Yes.
Remember your creator now while you are young.
Before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden Bowl is
broken, don't wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and
the pulley is broken at the well.
For then the dust will return to the earth and the spirit
will return to God who gave it.
Everything is meaningless.
Says the teacher completely meaningless.
Keep this in mind.
The teacher was considered wise and he taught the people everything he knew.
He listened carefully to many Proverbs studying and classifying them.
The teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths.
Clearly, the words of the wise are like cattle prods, painful but helpful.
Their collected sayings are like a nail studded stick with which
a shepherd drives the sheep.
But my child, let me give you some further advice.
Be careful for writing.
Books is endless and much study wears you out.
That's the whole story here.
Now is my final conclusion.
Fear God and obey his commands for this is everyone's duty.
God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing.
Whether good or bad,
this concludes today's Immer Reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.