The Gift of Pain!

Ecclesiastes 3:9- 10   
⁹ What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
¹⁰ I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

            Many times in life we forget how important our perspective or outlook is in regards to any situation that we encounter.   If we examine the outcome of any situation, our outlook probably played a major part in the outcome of the situation.  How do you view uncomfortable, painful, and unsettling situations?  Do you complain about them?  Do you have a hard time embracing them?  Do you try to avoid them?

            Solomon helps us with our perspective about life and painful situations.  He adjusted his perspective in this chapter.  He brings God into the equation which broadened his perspective.  In the midst of our situation we might need to stop and try to view things from God’s perspective.  He addresses the different seasons of life in this chapter.  He addresses each season of life from a contrastive or comparative view.  He wants us to understand that God balances us out with things we view as good and bad. 

In verse 9, Solomon indicates we will not be able to always explain things about life.  God has arranged everything according to his time.  God wants us to embrace life and all it has to offer to the fullest.  Life is a gift from God.  We should be thankful for our life and all that God allows to come our way.  All of us have to come to grip with the fact God has assigned pain to everyone of our lives.  We can’t escape from pain.  Why do we look at pain from such a negative perspective?  Pain is the process God uses to make us productive. 

God uses pain to accomplish his purpose.  Wheat cannot be eaten until it is ground into grain.  A nail is useless until a hammer pounds it into a surface.  Clay is fragile and unstable until it is put into the oven and baked.  God has a job to perform with our lives.  We have to learn to view pain as an opportunity for God to transform us into who he ultimately desires for us to be.   

God bless and keep you is my prayer.

The Gift of Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)
¹ To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

            A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting for my job in Greenspoint (Houston).  From my office, the drive is about an hour.  On that particular day I had another meeting scheduled three hours after the meeting in Greenspoint.  The meeting in Greenspoint was cancelled, but we sat there for about thirty to forty five minutes before the meeting was cancelled waiting on all of the parties to arrive.  On my way back from the meeting I took a short cut so I would have plenty of time to make it to my next meeting.  While I was taking the short cut I ran into a traffic jam.  I sat in traffic for one hour and thirty minutes.  The thing I tried to avoid, I ended up having to deal with. Traffic was bumper to bumper and it seemed as if I was sitting there forever. 

Often times in life while we are trying to make it to our destinations, life gets crowded and we find ourselves in life’s waiting room.  Life comes to a screeching halt and it seems that life is on pause.  Frustration, irritability and anger set in because you want to move forward.  Often times there are certain things we try to avoid in life, but we have to face them in order for God to fulfill his purpose.  Does your life feel like it is at a standstill and going nowhere? Are you still waiting for God to move you into the next season of your life?

            Solomon helps us by putting life into perspective.  Solomon wants us to understand God uses time to accomplish his purpose. He takes something out of the natural order of life to help us deal with time.  He addresses time from the aspect of seasons.  He wants us to understand God has an appointed season for every phase of our life.  One thing we cannot do is rush our season.  We never know what God is doing or in the process of accomplishing through our season. God has a process that he has to complete in each season of our life so he can fulfill his purpose for our life.

I know we live in a time sensitive world where everything is moving at a fast pace.  We become accustomed to getting things right away.  We have deadlines for assignments, and we set goals for our lives.  We have to remember God is the governor of our season and he has a desire for our life. He wants to maximize our potential so he can use us for his glory. Time is a tool God uses to teach us his purpose, transform our perspective, and transition us into the next phase of life.  No matter how long your season is, allow God to complete the work he has started in you.

God bless and keep you is my prayer. 

Empty Labor

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 (KJV)

¹⁰ And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. ¹¹ Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Henry Ward Beecher said, "Success is full of promise until men get it and then it is a last-year's nest from which the birds have flown."  Solomon epitomizes this quote.  Nothing was ever enough for him.  He has chased after pleasure through enjoyment and entertainment.  Now he tries to find satisfaction through employment.   There can be joy in doing great projects, but what happens when the task is finished?  Solomon found delight in all his labor, but afterward, when he considered all his works, he saw only "vanity and vexation of spirit".  

The journey was a pleasure, but the destination brought pain.   What a discovery for Solomon.  He was involved in many things in life only to realize down the line it was empty.  I cannot think of any person who loves to be involved in empty labor.  We have to evaluate our labor to make sure it has significance and we are not wasting time.  God has only given us a certain amount of time to fulfill his purpose for our lives. What gives our labor value is when God is included in our labor and our labor lines up with his purpose for our life.  We live in a society where many people hide behind work to avoid an unfulfilled life and issues in life.  That is why many people in the job force change jobs like people change clothes.  However, a workaholic is often trying to escape a meaningless, unfulfilled and unsatisfied life.   Are you hiding behind something to cover-up feeling unfulfilled in life?

There are many people who are overachievers and overachieve all of their lives because they work hard.  If you are an overachiever, have you evaluated what drives you to overachieve?  We live in a fast paced society and competition in the workforce is very high.  Is your motivation competition? Many people literally overwork themselves in order to get ahead, reach a certain status in life, or to define their identity.  Don’t fall prey to societies standards.  Sometimes we work so hard that we cannot enjoy the fruits of our labor. 

God instituted work in Genesis 2:15 when he tells Adam, “to dress and to keep it”, the Garden of Eden.  I am not saying to work hard or not to work hard, but make sure you have the right motivation for the labor you are involved in.  Our sole motivation for anything we do in life is to do it in a way so it pleases God.  Are you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life?

God bless and keep you is my prayer!

The Pleasure Principle!

Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 (KJV)
¹ I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
² I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
³ I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

           In this chapter, Solomon shares with us the different ways he tried to find purpose in pleasure.  In the first section of this chapter, Solomon tried to find meaning in life through the enjoyment of pleasure.  Solomon uses the word eight times in this book which suggests pleasure was a primary focus for him at one time.  Solomon was involved in hedonism.  Hedonism is a school of thought which argues pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure.  It focuses on what makes one feel good without any pain.  As I look at the world we live in, it is a pleasure driven world.  Many people will do anything to buy temporary experiences to help them escape from the burdens of life. 

What form of pleasure have you used trying to escape the burdens of life?  If you live for pleasure alone, enjoyment will decrease unless the intensity of the pleasure increases. Then you reach a point of diminishing returns when there is little or no enjoyment at all, only bondage.   That is why Solomon continues to use the phrases “vanity” and “vexation of spirit.”  Pleasure’s trap is it will have you chasing a feeling you will never get again. 

What does pleasure have you pursuing or chasing after?  When pleasure alone is the center of life, the result will ultimately be disappointment and emptiness.   Pleasure can never bring true satisfaction because it only appeals to part of the person and ignores the whole person. Benjamin Franklin sums it up well about pleasure when he states “many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.”  He lets us know that pleasure costs and we have to be careful not to allow it to hold us captive.

God bless and keep you is my prayer.

The Complexity of Life!

Ecclesiastes 1:14-15 (KJV) 

¹⁴ I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. ¹⁵ That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

          Dorothy Sayers wrote in one of her mystery novels, "There is nothing you cannot prove if only your outlook is narrow enough."  Solomon did not take that approach.  Solomon took a very broad approach to investigating life.  In this chapter, he is really struggling to find meaning in life.  The first eleven verses Solomon refers to the cycle of life.  He investigates life from a historical perspective and he still could not come to a meaningful conclusion about life.  He found out life has a natural process and things will return back to the place they started.  Solomon implicates life is futile.  

When Solomon arrives at verse twelve, he starts investigating life from a philosophical perspective.  He suggests as king, he had all the resources to experiment with what gave life meaning and made it worth living.  During his investigation, he looked at the world.  He became burdened by the fruitless, fleeting and unsubstantial nature of human actions and endeavors.  He stated it was a “vexation of spirit” which is translated as “chasing the wind.”  He became frustrated because there were things in him and the world he could not straighten out. 

Have you ever been frustrated when trying to figure a way to deal with your imperfections and feel like you are just chasing the wind?  The burden becomes more cumbersome when we look at the injustices and crookedness of the world we live in.   No matter how hard we search or investigate for answers, there are some things we will never be able to figure out.  The more we learn we should see our ignorance! 

We have to trust God to reveal to us the solution at the appropriate time.  What imperfection are you struggling with about yourself or the world we live in? The answer is found in fellowship with God through prayer and reading the word of God! 

God bless and keep you is my prayer. 

The Voice of Wisdom!

Ecclesiastes 1:8 (KJV)

⁸ All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. ⁹ The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

          Are you familiar with the phrase “curiosity killed the cat?”  Many times in life our curiosity gets the best of us.  There are things we see and hear that creates a desire to experience.  I personally believe there are some things in this world we do not need to experience.  We live in a culture that is confused about wants and needs.  The trap and trick of the world we live in is, it can provide instant gratification.  It is interesting to me how excited we are to work hard while obtaining things and how time dissipates the feeling of excitement after we obtain things. This is why many of us pursue thing after thing and always find our self back at the same place we started.   

Most of us constantly reside in a place of disgust, frustration, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction because we fall prey to the dominant thought of the day.  Do not allow the dominant culture of the world to transform you into believing it can give you satisfaction.  It will have you chasing after the wind and living in a cycle of dissatisfaction. That is the issue Solomon addresses in our text.  He indicates he examined the weariness and restlessness of his own life in chasing after things he saw and heard.  He expresses that we have to be careful not to allow pleasure to cause us to indulge in things that will ultimately disappoint us.  Solomon speaks through the voice of wisdom because he wants us to know there is nothing new in the cycle of life. 

So, we should be quick to listen to wisdom in regards to certain actions we take.  There is always someone God puts in our path who has travelled in the direction we are going.  Be quick to hear and analyze everything around you because as Solomon says wisdom cries from the streets. 

 God bless and keep you is my prayer!

Special Thanks to Supports of Soulfood Devotional

Thanks for following Soulfood Devotionals in 2011, hopefully you have been blessed. I am look forward to a greater year in 2012.

May God Bless
Rev. Leroy Hodge, Jr.