READY FOR FOREVER

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord, I rejoice in the peace of Your presence and the assurance of Your love. Thank You for Your amazing grace.

Read ECCLESIASTES 9:1–12

^[1] So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. ^[2] All share a common destiny-the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. ^[3] This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. ^[4] Anyone who is among the living has hope-even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! ^[5] For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. ^[6] Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. ^[7] Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. ^[8] Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. ^[9] Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun-all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. ^[10] Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. ^[11] I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. ^[12] Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Meditate

“We said good-bye to him. He took me aside: ‘This is the end, but for me it is the beginning of life.’ The next day he was hanged in Flossenburg.” These are the reported last words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), spoken to a friend. In the face of death, this is the Christian’s hope!

Think Further

After several years working in palliative care, the Australian author Bronnie Ware wrote a blog article listing the main things people seemed to regret when they knew death was approaching. It later became a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying—A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing. The five regrets most often talked about are: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me; I wish I didn’t work so hard; I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings; I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends; and I wish that I had let myself be happier.

The book’s point is simple: we would all live differently if we were more aware of the certainty of death. Ecclesiastes 9 says the same. Death happens, and it happens to us all (2). Rich or poor, religious or not, respectable or renegade: the same fate awaits every one of us. Instead of being made wise by this certainty, we let the fear of death haunt us (3), its futility rob us of hope (4) and its finality paralyze us (5,6).

Two alternative responses are offered. The first, knowing that death awaits us, is to live well now (7,8). This is not a call for hedonistic indulgence but for humble acceptance of the life God gives us. Be faithful in relationships (9), joyful in demeanor (8) and simple in the pleasures you enjoy (7). The second is to be aware that we can neither predict nor control our future (11). We never know when our time will end (12). Dietrich Bonhoeffer would have told us the same: live each day ready to face death and whatever awaits us beyond it.

Apply

Given the nature of life (11,12), how do you prepare yourself for the unexpected?

Closing prayer

“Measure me up for my new body, Father. Ready me for resurrection… May I worship as I wait” (Gerard Kelly).

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

Yesterday’s reading

View all readings

Tomorrow’s reading