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This morning we were in Ecclesiastes 7–12. I was struck first by the futility of prosperity and good times. It isn't that we shouldn't enjoy them, but we can focus so much on a positive or party mentality that we never come face to face with reality—that we all share the same destiny in death and judgment. That is why, whenever I conduct a funeral, I return to Ecclesiastes 7:2: 

“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart.” 

At the funeral we are made to stop and ponder; at the party we are enticed away from the serious thought that reflection brings.

We live in a world that wants to pull us from truth and from God, and only the righteous—those who act rightly according to God's precepts—are truly wise. As 7:29 puts it, 

“God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.” 

Those devices are not God-ordained; they are worldly by nature.

Solomon insists it will be well for those who openly fear God and not well for the wicked (8:12b–13). Yet he also commends enjoying life—eating, drinking, being merry (8:15). He is not siding with the fatalists who say, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” He is saying we are given no guarantee that we will understand all the workings of God, but we do know He has given us this life under the sun. So, enjoy what He has given, and be in a good mental and spiritual place by fearing Him.

Chapter 9 ties this together in the first verse, 

“the righteous… and their deeds are in the hand of God”

We don't obey because we've figured out how to make life work, but because we've figured out who holds our life in His hand. We aren't promised specific outcomes—Solomon even recounts a wise man who saved a city and was neither remembered nor rewarded. We receive God's instruction gratefully because we recognize that all of life is a gift. Now for us living on this side of the cross, we know that there is an ultimate reward in Christ… so, world, you don’t have the upper hand over me, take your best shot.

That frees us to apply 11:10, 

“Remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.” 

Life is too brief to be consumed by bitterness and anxiety. Enjoy the life God has given, guard your heart from what would rob that joy, and live remembering you will answer to Him.

In chapter 12, Solomon concludes with a warning based on his thoughts: There is no end to our attempts to understand life; we could study forever and still never figure it all out. What ultimately matters is God's sovereignty and the judgment to come. And so, he brings the book to its conclusion in verses 13 and 14,  

“Fear God and keep His commandments… for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

Takeaway: No matter what the world serves up today, live with gratitude because your life is a gift that God has given you to find Him in it.