Useful Bible Studies > Ecclesiastes Commentary > chapter 11

Troubles that nobody can do anything about

Ecclesiastes 11:3

People hope that they will never have any really severe troubles. And they hope to be able to deal with any troubles that happen.

But, of course, there will be troubles in everybody’s lives. Some of these troubles will be severe. And, of course, everyone must die in the end. Nobody can prevent that.

So we can compare our lives with a day when dark storm clouds fill the sky. On such a day, everyone knows that it will certainly rain. The clouds are evidence of that fact.

Through our whole lives, we know that troubles and death are approaching. We see constant evidence of that fact.

Death is like the fall of a tree. After it falls, the tree can never return to its former position. The effects of the fall are permanent.

And when a person dies, that is permanent. Death separates a person from everything in this world (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6). That person’s body returns to the earth, but the person’s spirit must stand in front of God (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Revelation 20:12).

God will be the judge of every person (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Ecclesiastes 3:17). So what we do during this life matters. It matters whether we have a right relationship with God. It is important for us to confess our evil deeds to God. We need to invite him into our lives.

And we must not delay. After death, it will be too late for us to trust God. God has told us that we must trust him today (Hebrews 4:7).

Next part: Troubles that nobody can avoid (Ecclesiastes 11:4)

Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. If you find these articles useful, you will like our book, available from Amazon.

You can download our articles on several Bible books, free, from our download page (including our free 1000+ page course book).

© 2019, Keith Simons.