October 28, 2018: Day 78 – Ecclesiastes 5

There is a lot in chapter 5 to cover, but I’m afraid I didn’t cover enough in chapter 4.  I want you to look at 4:9-12.  Stacy and I used these verses in our marriage ceremony.  It is a verse on friendship which can also be used for married life.  The value of a friend is crucial, but the value of God in a friendship is priceless.   This is what these verses reflect in the midst of lifting up an attention to injustice in the world.  If you are someone who has suffered injustice, just think of the value of having a friend who walks alongside you during that time.

Now to chapter 5.  There is a truism which is expressed in vs.10 that the lover of money is never satisfied with how much money they have.  I think I have expressed this before that when we were missionaries in Italy and making $800 a month our life was so simple and so devoid of decisions on what to do with the money which we did have.  We did not want more, but we knew for what the money needed to be spent.  We had to buy food, put gas in the car, pay our rent, and…well, that was about it.  Much of that was covered for us.  We lived in an orphanage where our food was paid for as we ate in the cafeteria, our rent was paid for since we lived in the boys quarters, and that left gas and other supplies.  Life was simple.  Not so much now.  We make so much more than that now and inevitably a thought could creep into our minds that wouldn’t it be nice to make a little more…, not because we need it, because we don’t, but just because…  The lover of money will not be satisfied with money.