A Merry Heart

“Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white, And let your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” Eccl. 9:7-9

Having shown earlier that righteousness is not always rewarded and wickedness is not always punished, and sometimes the wicked prosper and the righteous meet with disaster and with death ahead for both, Solomon still recommends the enjoyment of life for Christians. These enjoyments include food and wine, fine clothes and pleasant lotions and one’s wife – the simple things of life. In short, Christians are called to live a cheerful, joyous life despite what afflictions or disappointments come our way. This is primarily because we have the hope of eternal bliss ahead of us – “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13) – God has brought His own joy to us. But God also gives great enjoyment of the simple pleasures of this life as well. We are to work with all our strength and abilities in whatever we do for the purpose of glorifying God, but we are “gifted” these good, satisfying things by God, they cannot be “gained” by excessive striving which is laid out so well elsewhere in Ecclesiastes.

God commands us to “Go” and enjoy these good things He has provided for us. God loves to see us happy and enjoying life. Dave Gibson in Ecclesiastes: Life in the Light of Eternity says “Here is a profound reorientation to the simple things of life: we see them as sufficient for our well-being precisely because, in fact, we have come to understand they are not enough. These verses are a return to the guileless beauty of the garden Eden where the first command in the Bible was to be fruitful and multiply, and the second command was to eat from the trees of earth for food. This is how life was meant to be. But we have made these divine gifts not enough for us. We think we deserve more.” Derek Kidner puts it this way “This was the nerve the serpent had touched in Eden, to make even Paradise appear an insult.”

Solomon encouraged his readers to enjoy life because it was God’s will for them to do so. We are not supposed to be depressed or downhearted because our great God richly supplies all of our needs (Phil 4:19). Even our sufferings are for good in some way (Romans 8:28). God “has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence” (II Peter 1:3). Only God gives the ability to enjoy things in this life and He does in abundance. The statement that God has already approved our works means that the very possession of life’s pleasures is evidence of God’s favor. Let us live life with a merry heart.