ALL IS WELL.

8:1 Who [is] as the wise [man]? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed. 8:2 I [counsel thee] to keep the king's commandment, and [that] in regard of the oath of God. 8:3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. 8:4 Where the word of a king [is, there is] power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou? 8:5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. 8:6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man [is] great upon him. 8:7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? 8:8 [There is] no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither [hath he] power in the day of death: and [there is] no discharge in [that] war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. 8:9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. 8:10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this [is] also vanity. 8:11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 8:12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his [days] be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

Ecclesiastes 8:1-12 KJV

ECCLESIASTES 8:1-12 I AM SURE THE WRITER HAD SEEN SINNERS PROSPER AS WE ALL HAVE, YET HE HOLDS FIRMLY TO AN INNER CONVICTION THAT GOD WILL CAUSE GOOD TO PROSPER IN THE LONG RUN. IT MAY COME IN THE COMFORT AND PEACE OF A CONSCIENCE AT REST WITHIN OR MAYBE BY THE ASSURANCE OF ONE'S LIFE BEING ORDERED BY GOD.

BUT TO WHOM IS THE WRITER REFERRING?"....THEM THAT FEAR GOD." THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO FOLLOW GOD,WHO HATE SIN, AND WHO STRIVE TO DO GOD'S WILL. THEY ARE HERE CONTRASTED TOTHE WICKED, THOSE WHO DO NOT CHOOSE GOD, BUT GO ON IN THEIR CARELESS AND SINFUL WAYS. AND SO THE PROMISE IS TO THEM THAT FEAR GOD.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO "FEAR GOD?" IN THE BIBLE, IT IS SPOKEN OF AS "THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM "THIS IS NOT THE FEAR OF A SLAVE, BUT OF A SON. IT IS BEING CAREFUL THAT WE DO NOT DISPLEASE OUR FATHER, FRIEND, AND REDEEMER. IT MEANS WE REVERENCE HIM AND RESPECT HIS WISHES AND AUTHORITY. IT IS MANIFESTED IN OUR LIVES BY SHUNNING EVIL AND DOING ALWAYS THOSE THINGS WHICH PLEASE THE FATHER. WE DO THIS OUT OF LOVE FOR HIM.

AND WHAT IS THE RESULT OF ALL THIS?"...IT SHALL BE WELL WITH THEM." IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT BELIEVERS WILL NOT HAVE THEIR SHARE OF THE DREINARY ILL OF LIFE. NOWHERE IN THE BIBLE DO WE READ THAT BELIEVERS ARE EXEMPT FROM TRIALS. BECAUSE OF THEIR LOYALTY TO GOD, JOSEPH LANDED IN PRISON, DANIEL ENDED UP IN THE LION'S DEN, AND PAUL AND SILAS WERE CONFINED TO JAIL, BUT IT WAS STILL WELL WITH THEM. IT IS WELL WITH US AS BELIEVERS HERE IN SPITE OF THE TRIALS AND HEART ACHES OF LIFE.

LISTEN TO THE WRITER"...YET SURELY I KNOW ." IT IS ABSOLUTE ASSURANCE. NO DOUBT HE COULD HAVE SAID, "I KNOW BY EXPERIENCE. I HAVE NEVER FOUND HAPPINESS IN SIN, BUT I HAVE FOUND IT IN THE SERVICE OF GOD."

BY DR. KEITH LETTERMAN, EVANGELIST, HIGHLAND BAPTIST CHURCH, HIGH POINT, NC.