Useful Bible Studies > Ecclesiastes Commentary > chapter 7

Why we need troubles

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

God did not originally intend that people’s lives would be hard. He gave the first people a home where their lives would always be pleasant (Genesis 2:8-9). But when people chose not to obey God, God changed those arrangements. In the future, they would have many troubles. And they would have to work hard for the things that they needed (Genesis 3:16-19).

Because God has done these things, people cannot change them. Sometimes he allows a person to know wealth, health or happiness. But when these things do not continue, that person must not complain against God. God is not evil and he does not cause our troubles (see Job chapters 1-2). But he does allow us to suffer some troubles so that we can learn a very important lesson.

The lesson is this. God wants people to serve him, and only him, as their God (Deuteronomy 5:7-10). Because people do not obey the real God, they often choose money, success or happiness as their gods. But people must learn that these false gods will always fail in the end. They must understand that only the real God can satisfy them. Their trust in anything else must disappoint them.

It is a hard lesson, but it is for a good purpose. If people felt completely happy without God, they would never trust God. If money satisfied people completely, they would see no reason to obey him.

God has already prepared a future home where, again, people’s lives will always be pleasant (Revelation 21:1-5). But that home is not for everyone. It is for the people who have chosen God as their only God (Revelation 22:12-15).

Next part: Wrong attitudes about goodness and wicked behaviour (Ecclesiastes 7:15-18)

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© 2019, Keith Simons.