Daily Devotional | Happy and Sad

It is easy to be happy and thank God when life is good. For example, I find it easy to be thankful after I spend time playing a board game with my sons. I give thanks for my marriage after my wife and I have a long, meaningful conversation. But it’s much more difficult to thank God when we walk through bad times.

In Ecclesiastes 7, we learn that God did not create life to be the same day after day—an eternal state of happiness. Verse 14 says: “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other.” It is during bad times that we need to remember that everything in life is under God’s control. Reading that “God has made the one as well as the other” can be a pretty uncomfortable truth. Yet, if God is sovereign, it means He is over all things. The Teacher warns us not to put our faith in our circumstances, since even the best day can change in an instant. Rather, we are to place our trust in our unchanging God (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8).

In the rest of the verses, the author gives a string of wise sayings. For example: “Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart” (v. 3), or “Patience is better than pride” (v. 8). I encourage you to jot down one verse and read it several times. Spend another minute rolling its words around in your mind. One easy way to make a practice of meditating on Scripture is to keep a notecard with Scripture on it in your purse or pocket. Take it out to read in those moments when you would typically reach for your smartphone.

Go Deeper

How does it make you feel to know that God made both the good times and the bad? How would it change your life to recognize his sovereignty over everything?

Pray with Us: Sovereign God, will we accept only good things from You, and not the difficulties and trials? Lord, lead us to profound honesty and humility before You and help us lift our eyes to You in faith in all circumstances of our lives.

BY Dr. Russell L. Meek

Russell Meek teaches Old Testament and Hebrew at Moody Theological Seminary. He writes a regular column on understanding and applying the Old Testament at Fathom Magazine, and his books include Ecclesiastes and the Search for Meaning in an Upside-Down World and the co-authored Book-by-Book Guide to Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary. Russ, his wife, and their three sons live in northern Idaho.