{"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;? Ecclesiastes 7:3 &#8211; &#8220;Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of faceRead More Ecclesiastes 7 &#8211; Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-22T22:35:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-29T02:44:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Doug Schaefer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@salguod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doug Schaefer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml\",\"name\":\"Ecclesiastes 7 - Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God - salguod.net\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-12-22T22:35:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-29T02:44:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2237e297e41300051087d8791343043f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ecclesiastes 7 &#8211; Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"salguod.net\",\"description\":\"Stuff I Think Up\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2237e297e41300051087d8791343043f\",\"name\":\"Doug Schaefer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8dde291ac4514740353f4bb9cbd9418?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8dde291ac4514740353f4bb9cbd9418?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Doug Schaefer\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/salguod.net\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/salguod\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/author\/salguod\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ecclesiastes 7 - Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God - salguod.net","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ecclesiastes 7 - Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God - salguod.net","og_description":"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 faceRead More Ecclesiastes 7 &#8211; Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God","og_url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml","og_site_name":"salguod.net","article_published_time":"2008-12-22T22:35:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-29T02:44:46+00:00","author":"Doug Schaefer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@salguod","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Doug Schaefer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml","url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml","name":"Ecclesiastes 7 - Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God - salguod.net","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-12-22T22:35:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-29T02:44:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2237e297e41300051087d8791343043f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_7_-_laughter_sadness_and_fearing_god.shtml#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ecclesiastes 7 &#8211; Laughter, Sadness and Fearing God"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/","name":"salguod.net","description":"Stuff I Think Up","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2237e297e41300051087d8791343043f","name":"Doug Schaefer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8dde291ac4514740353f4bb9cbd9418?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8dde291ac4514740353f4bb9cbd9418?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Doug Schaefer"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/salguod.net","https:\/\/twitter.com\/salguod"],"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/author\/salguod"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":873,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/11\/ecclesiastes_3_-_time_for_everything.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":0},"title":"Ecclesiastes 3 &#8211; Time for Everything","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"November 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 - A time for everything. (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":869,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/10\/ecclesiastes_1.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":2},"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":3},"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":894,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2009\/01\/ecclesiastes_9_-_life_is_short.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":4},"title":"Ecclesiastes 9 &#8211; Life Is Short","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Ecclesiastes 9:2-6 - Solomon recognizes the problem of the earth that many lament. Good thing and bad things happen to everyone, there is no rhyme or reason. The good have evil befall them and the evil have good events. It's random, not related to our own behavior. The rain falls\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":889,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/ecclesiastes_6_-_better_stillborn.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":5},"title":"Ecclesiastes 6 &#8211; Better Stillborn?","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"December 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ecclesiastes 6 is a scant 12 verses, and a bit of a downer. Better a still born child than a man not satisfied with life's good things, Solomon says. That's on the face of it, however. Thinking about it a bit more, I think I see what Solomon is saying\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}]}}