{"id":891,"date":"2008-12-22T22:35:39","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T22:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:44:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:44:46","slug":"ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiastes 7 &#8211; Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ecclesiastes 7:1 &#8211; OK, I get that &#8216;a good name&#8217; is better, but &#8216;the day of death&#8217;?<br \/>\nEcclesiastes 7:3 &#8211; &#8220;<em>Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.<\/em>&#8221;  That&#8217;s contrary to what we believe.  We chase the laughter and gladness.  I have to admit, I don&#8217;t quite get what Solomon is advising in these verses.  Are we to seek out sadness and sorrow?<br \/>\nEcclesiastes 7:9 &#8211; &#8220;<em>Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.<\/em>&#8221;  Yep, been there.  It&#8217;s not good.<br \/>\nEcclesiastes 7:10 &#8211; &#8220;<em>Say not, &#8220;Why were the former days better than these?&#8221; For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.<\/em>&#8221;  I love this.  It&#8217;s one of my pet peeves that folks lament the &#8216;good old days&#8217;.  Human nature has not changed in all of human history, in my view.  The old days are no more good than the &#8216;new days&#8217;, at least as far as how evil people are.  When folks try to say that people were better back then, I say no, they were only perhaps better at hiding it.<br \/>\nEcclesiastes 7:18 &#8211; It always comes back to Fearing God.  Don&#8217;t be too righteous, don&#8217;t be too foolish &#8211; fear God.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: right;\">Ecclesiastes 7:21-22<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>How true and wise.  We often say things that we regret and many times don&#8217;t have the opportunity to apologize.  We want folks to be forgiving of us in those circumstances, yet when we are hurt by careless words that are later regretted, we tend to hold onto it, taking to heart that which was said in haste and in error. If we would have taken it back if we could, why should we assume they wouldn&#8217;t?<br \/>\nI have to say, this chapter really confused me in spots.  I read it over and over and didn&#8217;t quite get it.  Anyone know what Ecclesiastes 7:25-29 is about?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ecclesiastes 7:1 &#8211; OK, I get that &#8216;a good name&#8217; is better, but &#8216;the day of death&#8217;? Ecclesiastes 7:3 &#8211; &#8220;Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face<a href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml\" class=\"more-link\">Read More <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ecclesiastes 7 &#8211; Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ecclesiastes 7 - Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God - salguod.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ecclesiastes 7 - Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God - salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ecclesiastes 7:1 &#8211; OK, I get that &#8216;a good name&#8217; is better, but &#8216;the day of death&#8217;? 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(Is it possible to read this passage without Simon and Garfunkel running through your head?) Good to remember, we cannot be happy all the time, there are times for sadness. Nor can we speak out all the time, there is a time for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Quiet Time Journal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":885,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_5_-_fear_god_the_vanity_of_wealth.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":1},"title":"Ecclesiastes 5 &#8211; Fear God, the Vanity of Wealth","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"December 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Quiet Time Journal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":897,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2009\/01\/ecclesiastes_11-12_-_fear_and_follow.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":2},"title":"Ecclesiastes 11-12 &#8211; Fear and Follow","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.Ecclesiastes 11:4 Interesting observation. I am frequently caught in the 'paralysis of analysis', ever searching for the right or best answer. This weekend, I put up a new closet shelving system in my middle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Quiet Time Journal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":869,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/10\/ecclesiastes_1.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":3},"title":"Ecclesiastes 1","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"October 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As I was finishing up my study of Mark, I kept thinking about Ecclesiastes. My mental state of late has wondered what the meaning of all this stuff we do. I mean, who cares about my basement getting finished or my old car or most anything in the grand scheme\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Quiet Time Journal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":893,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2009\/01\/ecclesiastes_8_-_authority_joy.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":4},"title":"Ecclesiastes 8 &#8211; Authority &#038; Joy","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Ecclesiastes 8:4 - \"For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, \"What are you doing?\"\" Solomon, as king would know. I wonder if this is only part sound advice on dealing with those in authority, particularly absolute authority. I wonder if it is part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Quiet Time Journal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":878,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/11\/ecclesiastes_4_-_oppressions_contentment_and_relationships.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":5},"title":"Ecclesiastes 4 &#8211; Oppressions, Contentment and Relationships","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"November 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Quiet Time Journal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions\/1152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}