Tuesday August 30



“Time and chance happen to them all.”  Ecc 9:11 NIV

The Bible formula for happiness

Are you the kind of person who needs clear answers to everything and can’t tolerate shades of gray? Well, the truth is we don’t have answers for much of what happens in the world. God stamps many of the issues we struggle with: “Will explain later!” Modern science would have us believe that given enough time, everything is concrete, exact, measurable, and provable. But we’ve discovered this isn’t so. For example, why does one family experience tragedy and another doesn’t? Why do the “haves” throw more food into the garbage every night than what it would take to feed the “have-nots?” Why do the young and innocent die? You could drive yourself crazy with these questions and still not find the answers. So what should you do? The Bible says: “Eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do…Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love…Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…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. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them” (Ecc 9:7-12 NIV). Bottom line: Learn to live with unanswered questions, trust God with all your heart, and wring the most out of each day. That’s the Bible formula for happiness.