“…the misery of man is great upon him.”

Ecclesiastes 8.6

Of course, there are many reasons for mankind to be miserable.  But, because this is from the book of Ecclesiastes, where God led Solomon to write with a fair bit of cynicism (scepticism), and even satire at times, let’s stick right to the context here, and let’s just go ahead and ask the question: Why is “the misery of man great upon him”?

Why are we so miserable sometimes?

Well, the verse says, “Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?” Ecclesiastes 8:6-7

Oh… so that’s why!

Because…

Because every THING (“purpose”) has a TIME for it to happen… BUT… we don’t know exactly WHAT, or WHEN… and that can make us miserable… if we let it!

We’re miserable sometimes because we can’t control everything!!!

That’s so funny isn’t it!?  We should be laughing at ourselves!

Yes, maybe this should at least make us chuckle, because we realize that it’s true!  But it’s also true that God’s decisions (“judgments”) are best for our lives… “there is time and judgment“.  So, we may chuckle at the way this is written in Ecclesiastes, and then we can also be encouraged by this verse in Psalms below, when it’s hard to trust that God knows best!

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Psalms 27:13-14