- In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. -
It is good and right to enjoy our blessings. We should not take these for granted when they come our way and use them as touchstones to praise and worship God.
Not only this, but we should use them to remind others around us about the glory and riches of following Christ.
Joy is a connection to the resurrection, and we fail ourselves and the body of Christ when we do not make this acknowledgment.
But, our lives are not always full of good things. On some days, it is harder to see the blessings due to pressing woes.
These days of adversities may register as difficult events in our lives. A particularly difficult assignment, a child struggling with homework, or a tricky home repair.
Not exactly suffering and some of those may not even be considered adversities! Some we may even have the strength to see as blessings.
But I want to separate the two at a different level. Yes, fixing your house may be a blessing or an adversity given how you perceive it.
May I propose that those things accepted in rest our blessings while those accepted in motion are better understood as adversities?
This allows us to see the difference between the two without platitudes getting in the way. It is quite one thing to enjoy one’s labors and another to not rest.
So, when we act rather than engage in rest, we are to consider. What does this mean? We are not to let our thoughts take their own course.
We are to arrest our mind and our thoughts. Why? Because if we do not, they are likely to be detrimental to ourselves, others, or God.
The thought we are to consider? That God has made the moments for our joy just as he has made those for us to toil in.
Now why are we to have this consideration? The obvious answer is the one we have already alluded to. We can see adversities as blessings.
They can improve our character or perhaps by accomplishing something difficult we can achieve a sense of meaning in our lives beyond that which we currently enjoy.
Close the book; We’re done today.
But the verse tells us why we are to have this thought. It’s not that adversity is for our benefit therefore acknowledge God for both.
These trials are given to us so that we will not find out what is to come after us. What comes after us?
The lives of those we lead, mentor, and parent. Why are we not to discover what goes on in their lives?
Because we are given our lives to live. We are meant to be good stewards of the future by acting as the future’s (read children’s) parents.
What am I saying? God is asking you to be focused on living your life and not thinking about everything that is to come.
One of the ways he ensures that is He gives you things to do in your life. You might find that so annoying that you will call them adversity.
Why? Why would God give us tasks?
Because through them, we can see the meaning that is to come. Why do we not arrest our thoughts in joy?
Because we know joy to be an echo of heaven. It is harder for us to remember that worship is an action, and we are to sing loudly in the kingdom to come.
In both joy and action, heaven comes.
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