–D.C. Adkisson  (Mal de Ojo)

       “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

                         –Psalm 16:11(NKJV)
———————————
Ecclesiastes 6:7, comes right and tells us our problem.  “All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied.” (NKJV)  Man is hungry; it may be for food, or pleasure, or fame, or self-satisfaction.  He may feed it in different ways, but the end is the same–his soul is not satisfied.
       When troubles arise, man attempts to find a solution.  He seeks the answers to his dilemma when the best source would be to seek God.  In that crazy, insane time of the COVID virus, man thought he could solve the problems.  Man-made solutions and they didn’t work.  Did you know that in the midst of all the commotion and fear that the Throne of God was calm.  God is never taken by surprise nor does He ever get anxious.
       Much of man’s hunger, which will lead to his lack of satisfaction, is that he always wants what he wants, and he wants it his way.  He would rather fight with God, or maybe more today, ignore that God exists, than to find satisfaction in his soul.  I had to chuckle a little when I read something from C.S. Lewis, “To argue with God is to argue with the very power that makes it possible to argue at all.”
       Man might pray, but he wants God to answer his prayers, his way.  He is telling God that he has a better answer, but God has the power.  Part of the problem with man is that without God he is lost.  He doesn’t know his way.  Oh, he might think he does, but after he has tried everything he will come to the same conclusion that Solomon did, “all is vanity”.
Try this, try that–still no satisfaction.  Eat this, eat that, oh, try some of that fancy gourmet food–still no satisfaction.  Try Buddhism, Hinduism, Isalm, or any of the other “isms” out there and the answer in the heart will still be the same–it will be void and there will be no satisfaction.
       I have heard many, many times, “I hope they will be happy,” or “I just want to be happy.”  A couple gets married, out of the faith, and the mother says, “I just want for my baby to be happy.”  Happiness is not fulfillment.  Happiness depends on something happening, an object.  People strive to be happy and guess what?  The soul is not satisfied.  “If you devote your life only to the pursuit of happiness, you will be miserable; however, if you devote your life to doing God’s will, you will find happiness as well.” (Warren W. Wiersbe)
       After so long seeking after happiness, seeking after a full stomach, seeking for pleasure and trying to get ahead all you will find might be some pleasure in the seeking but the final product brings no soul satisfaction.  Trying to start at the top without paying your dues will eventually bring you exhaustion, frustration, and a longing for something to satisfy your soul.  Solomon writes, “Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better?” (Ecclesiastes 6:11, NKJV)  He continues in the first part of verse 12, “For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow?”  Man certainly doesn’t know.  Everything he tries is futile, what hope does he have?  Turn to God, only He can satisfy your soul.  He knows what is good for man in life.  In fact, He is saying, “I’m working on your life.  Don’t fight Me.”
       Let me enlighten you with one more thing.  There are some things in life that nobody can answer.  Simple fact.  When those times come, and they will, you must learn then to have faith and trust in the Master.  He knows the answers when man or you cannot find an answer.  FAITH—TRUST!

               “I don’t know about tomorrow,
               I just live from day to day.
               I don’t borrow from its sunshine,
               For its skies may turn to gray.
               I don’t worry o’er the future,
               For I know what Jesus said,
               And today I’ll walk beside Him,
               For He knows what is a head.

                    Many things about tomorrow,
                    I don’t seem to understand;
                    But I know who holds tomorrow,
                    And I know who holds my hand.”
                           –Ira Stanphill

                         –Louis L’Amour  (Where the Long Grass Blows)

       “Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way, and he who hates correction will die.”

                         –Proverbs 15:10(NKJV)
—————————–
There is a difference between discipline and punishment.  Punishment has no thought of instruction or reconstruction; whereas discipline seeks to teach a lesson.  If there is a transgression against a parent or the rules of the household there must be discipline.  In the same manner if there is rebellion, iniquity, and sin, there must be discipline to a child.  One difference we see in Psalm 89 is that God is disciplining His children; however, in the last judgment He is disciplining those not of the household of faith.

          29 — His seed also I will make to endure forever, and His throne as the days of heaven.
          30 — If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments,
          31 — If they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments,
          32 — Then I will punish their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
          33 — Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
          34 — My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
          35 — Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David:
          36 — His seed shall endure forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.   Selah   (NKJV)

       When I read these verses immediately the words of that grand hymn come to my mind.  “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee…” (T.O. Chisholm)  God’s people might become faithless–but God is faithful.  In spite of our rebellion, our errors in life, the sins we commit, God is faithful and He is determined to accomplish His plan and will for us.
       Sometimes it is hard for a parent to discipline their child.  The old saying, “this will hurt me more than you,” is more true than the levity often given to the statement.  Think of the pain of the Father as the sins of the world came upon His Son.  His Son, who was sent by the Father to die in our place.  The Father could not look upon sin, so He turned His back causing Jesus to cry out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”  
       To be disciplined shows the love of a parent.  Mind you, I said discipline, not punishment.  Punishment can make rebellion worse, punishment without lovingkindness provokes a child, however, a child without discipline is one who is not loved.  Meditate and contemplate the words of Hebrews 12:6-8:

               “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:  ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.”  (NKJV)

Whenever discipline comes, and let me say that the discipline must fit the crime, is from the lovingkindness of the heavenly Father.  Verse 33 from the New Living Translation states, “But I will never stop loving him, nor let my promise to him fail.”  WOW!  In the midst of our rebellion and subsequent disciplining we have the assurance that God still loves us and will be faithful to His promises to us.  Great is His faithfulness to do what is necessary to keep us within the household of faith.

               “When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
               Bright shining as the sun,
               We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
               Than when we’d first begun.”
                         –John Newton

                         –Proverbs 14:10(NKJV)
————————————-
I have done minimal hiking in the desert but the little I’ve done has made me realize the need for water.  The desert for sure is intriguing, but it can be dangerous.  Whenever I’ve been in a desert region my mind always goes back to the pioneers who first crossed the barren wasteland.  One thing they must have had besides a strong constitution and endurance is water.  Many died by not having enough water.  They searched to find water in the wilderness and often did not find it, or when they did it was too alkali to drink.  It is easy to see why the following was true:  “No human creature ever entered a desert oasis without joy, nor left it without regret.”  (Zane Grey)
       I also recall the time when the Hebrews, shortly after crossing the Red Sea found themselves in the desert and thirsty.

               “Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.  Therefore the name of it was called Marah.  And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’  So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree.  When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.”
                          –Exodus 15:22-25 (NKJV)
 
       Someone has said that bitterness is a hard pill to swallow.  It can destroy a life.  It can destroy a relationship.  It can bring hopes down to despair.  Bill Gothard says that one of the three root causes of sin is bitterness.  Bitterness is hard to remove, and I’m sure the people trying to drink the water wanted it removed.  What did the Lord tell Moses to do?  Cast a tree into the water, and it will no longer be bitter.  Add something to it.
       But a bitter life.  What can be added to make it sweet?  
       I think of another tree; a tree that brings pleasure.  David wrote, “He [the righteous] shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.” (Psalm 1:3, NKJV).  The tree of the righteous is firm, stable.  It brings delight to those around and sweetens the region around it.  The righteous are productive, they bring pleasure not only to God but to those in whom they come in contact with.
       Jesus said,  “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14, NKJV)  The water that flows from Him is not bitter, but it took a bitter tree for it to be sweet for you and me.  Krissy Nordhoff wrote, “On a hill called Calvary there stands an endless mercy tree.”
       If you have bitterness in your life for one reason or another, who can go to the tree that sweetens the water. The waters of life may be bitter but there was a tree that was cut and hewn, shaped into a cross where our Saviour bled and died to not only die for our sins, but to sweeten the waters of bitterness.  Life can be a “bitter pill,” but with Jesus the walk can be sweet.  When we recognize that Jesus is beside us, “Then shall there be no bitterness in the taste of the brine; the waters will be sweet if they are shared by Thee.” (George Matheson)

                    –1 Timothy 6:17 (NKJV)
————————————-
What are you doing with the life that God has given you?  Are you restless or are you satisfied?  Are you depressed or are you hopeful?  Solomon says that to live a satisfied life it must be filled with goodness.  So then, are you good, or are you wicked?  Contemplate with me, the verses from Ecclesiastes.

               “If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he–for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.  Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, even if he lives a thousand years twice–but has not seen goodness.  Do not all go to one place?”
                         –Ecclesiastes 6:3-6 (NKJV)

Think on those words!  A stillborn child is better off than the man who has lived his life poorly.  “If life is nothing more than a meaningless journey to death, then a stillborn is better off, for that child reaches the end of the worthless journey with less pain.”  (NKJV Study Bible)
       We need to come to reality as we walk through this life.  We need to seek to help others along the way, if in no other way than a smile.  As a Christian we need to start living like a child of God now, today.  It is not enough to start to plan to live–start living.  Paul writes, “…for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11).  Content in this verse means “self-contained, adequate, needing nothing from the outside.”  We worry and fret far too often over nothing simply because we are not content with our lives.  We have, and we want more…  We travel this journey but we don’t see anything along the way.  Maybe we’ll make it to a joyful end, maybe not.
       Robert Louis Stevenson said, “To arrive is better than to travel hopefully.”   Many people have dreams, or maybe I should call them fantasies.  But look closely at those dreams–are they realistic?  Realism has nothing to do with a life of faith.  In fact, just the opposite, a life of faith is what gets us through reality.  Dreams don’t fill empty stomachs.  By that I mean that many individuals have a dream, but they don’t work along the way.  They live in a cloud, not able to see the land below.
       I do want to point out one difference from New Testament thinking that Solomon could not have recognized.  Before the resurrection of Jesus all who died when to Sheol–the place of the dead.  It was a dark, gloomy place where the soul either rested or was tormented.  Remember, the story of the rich man who died and the beggar Lazarus.  Lazarus rested in Abraham’s bosom while the rich man was tormented in the flames.  When Solomon wrote in verse 6, “Do not all go to one place?” that was true then.  And to an extent that is true today for all go to the grave.  However, now the believer upon death, the soul goes to be with the Lord.  Paul writes, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV)
       Therefore, it is important that we live a good life.  Upon death it should be our hope, our utmost desire to hear the words of the Lord, “well done good and faithful servant.”  (Matthew 25,21, 23)  Living a good life will not get you to heaven, grace is the only way.  Accepting the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, recognizing His sacrifice and that He is the Son of God is the way to obtain grace, however, throughout this life we should seek to be faithful and to do good works.
       So enjoy this life; let your daughter (or granddaughters) come and pull off your boots.  Enjoy a cup of coffee, recognize the blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon you and rejoice in them.  Be satisfied with the goodness of God.