Wednesday, May 1 All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power. —Eccl. 9:10. The effort we expend to make a good decision can be wasted if we do not follow through and vigorously implement it. To succeed, we must be willing to allocate the resources needed to implement our decisions. For example, a congregation publisher might decide to pioneer. Will he succeed ? He likely will if he does not allow excessive secular work and recreation to sap his strength and rob him of the time he needs for his ministry. The best decisions are seldom the easiest to implement. Why? Because “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.†(1 John 5:19) We must wrestle against “ the world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.†(Eph. 6:12) Both the apostle Paul and the disciple Jude indicated that those who decide to honor God will have a fight on their hands. —1 Tim. 6:12; Jude 3. w11 4/15 2:15, 16
The entire verse reads: "All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol, the place to which you are going." In verse 2 of chapter 9, there is mention of the "righteous and the wicked having the one eventuality" - they are both headed for the grave. Verse 5 speaks of the "living being conscious that they will die." Verses 7 to 9 speak of enjoying food, wine, time with the family, fruitage of hard work, etc. Verse 11 speaks of how "time and unforeseen occurrence befall everyone." The context of the scripture suggests to me that we make the most of our life because at death, we cease to exist. Here in Aussie Land, we call that "making hay while the sun shines." Wallflower
Here we say : God helps those who help themselves. Here is a fictional prayer based somewhat on Jesus' illustration of the prayer of the Pharisee and of the sinner : "Oh God, I'm sad that so many people suffer in the congregations and I'm so angry that the elders botch the help they're supposed to provide as well as the shepherding calls. I can't believe that they aren't able to find the time to help sister X who has been suffering from a cancer for months whereas she lives alone with 3 kids at home. What a bunch of good for nothing men ! May your Holy Spirit, which is powerful and omniscient, find ways to help her because I've heard through the grapevine that she's going through a real ordeal ! As for me, I would like to thank you because you've been helping me this year with my pioneer service so much that I'm ahead of the yearly quota and will be able to go on holidays next summer. What a generous and grateful God you are !"