Be glad...knowing all things come from God

Go and eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife whom you love all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun - all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might for in the grave where you are going there is neither planning or knowledge of wisdom. 
Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 is considered... A Common Destiny for All
In this scripture passage we discover many truths of our Lord that enlighten us to the fact that this world (under the sun) is full of good and evil, love and hate.  In Ecclesiastes 9:3 it states that there is evil in everything under the sun...and that the same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live and afterward they join the dead.  
It goes on to say... anyone who is among the living has hope... for the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything under the sun. 
In verses 7-10, we are given an important truth to live by: go and eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife whom you love all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun - all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might for in the grave where you are going there is neither planning or knowledge of wisdom. 
In verse 12 we are told: Moreover no man knows when his hour will come: All fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. 
It is important that we know that God is in control. Too often we go through life seeking to maintain control of everything and everyone around us.  As we seek to control our surroundings, we selfishly steal the joy that God has provided to us to live in.  Our God knows that this world (under the sun) is filled with evil and despite that evil, He assures us that He desires for us to live glad and with a joyful heart.  He specifically says enjoy life with your wife whom you love all the days of this meaningless life.  In all things, God desires for man to love and honor his wife.  Even though this life is meaningless, a mans life with his wife is to be enjoyed.  God tells us that whatever our hands find to do, do it with all our might, for when we die, we go to the grave where there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. As no man knows when his hour will come, God is telling us to live while we have life. Even as evil befalls us and so often steals the lives of man in an unexpected moment, just like the fish in a net or a bird in a snare... our God has placed us here in this world (under the sun) to enjoy His Creation and to be glad in it.  
  
My prayer for today is that we stop and look at our lives.  Are we allowing ourselves to be taken captive by the evils of this fallen world? or are we choosing to live as God created us to live, in gladness despite the evil ways of the world?  We live until we die. Let us not live as those who are already dead.  Jesus Christ died on the cross for all the sins of mankind. His death on the cross was so that we may live. It is through Jesus Christ that we live with hope and an eternal life in Heaven with God, our Father.  It is through Jesus Christ that we escape the evils of the world and live with gladness and joy as a part of our Father in Heaven's beautiful creation.  
May we all find His gladness  and rest in His peace this day. Love and Blessings to All in Jesus precious Name.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 9
1 For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. 
2 All things come alike to all:  One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;
To the good, the clean, and the unclean;
To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As is the good, so is the sinner;
He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.
3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 
4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with joy,
And drink your wine with a merry heart;
For God has already accepted your works.
8 Let your garments always be white,
And let your head lack no oil.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
11 I returned and saw under the sun that—The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.
12 For man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.

Listen to be blessed...Glad - Be Ye Glad