OUR FATHER WHO GIVES COUNSEL TO WHOMEVER ASKS

The book of Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verses 10 - 11 says this;

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

The writer of Ecclessiastes, having reflected earlier on the fate of all men whether rich or poor, good or bad,  clean or unclean, concluded that they all end up in the same place from which no one is exempt namely, death, which renders all our activities meaningless.

However, in this passage, he counsels that inspite of  the certain fate we all face, whatever we find to do while we live on the earth, we should do it with all our strength and all our vigor because we can do these things only while we live. Once we cross into the realm of the dead, there is no work, no plans, no knowledge and no wisdom.

In considering the fate of mankind, the writer advises that, whatever our advantages are in this world, the swift, the strong, the wise, the brilliant and learned are subject to the same vagaries of time and chance as everyone else.

Amen.

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