The Key to a Happy Life - Recognize and Obey the Authorities Ecclesiastes 8

Using King as an example of authority, the author tells us to pay attention to know the King's commands and to follow them well. Then, we will be well. Everything has the right time and the right way to handle them. But man does not know the future and has no power to control the time of death, leading to much misery. Blindness and injustice lead to righteous people treated as wicked and wicked as righteous. But God cannot be fooled and the wicked shall be punished with sudden death. The best is to follow God and enjoy the fruits of one's work ; eat, drink and be merry in the short life that God has given us.

Sometimes it helps us to better understand the Bible by paraphrasing the verses that we read. Here is my paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 8 as shown in the mind-map below:

While we cannot fully understand God, we do know enough that we need to know His ways and obey Him so that we could truly live a life of joy and enjoying the fruit of our work. We just be thankful of the short life that we have on earth. The Gospels, the Good News, is that God wants us to live longer and better life with Him. In fact , it is the eternal life with Him and with one another through receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

Lim Liat (c) 9 Jun 2013

Updated Maps 25 Jun 2014

The Main Outlines:

The Full Map:

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Next: Chapter 9 Advice For Handling Our Uncertain Future