"Living With A Sense of Loss"

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

The wise person is reminded of the fact that he will ultimately die. He thinks about it momentarily and then he moves on. He understands that all will at some point die. He "THINKS" on it, but does not "MEDIATE" on it. The foolish person however, never thinks about death – to him all things will continue as they are in the present.

Listen to the words of the Old Testament preacher in Ecclesiastes 7:1-4[ESV]; "A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."

We all have faced loss on some level and we will continue to face loss as time moves forward. The issue is not whether we will face loss but how do we live with a sense of loss? The preacher of Ecclesiastes gives us four principles on dealing with a sense of loss.

1.     We live in a universe in which God us ultimately in control – Eccl. 7:13 "Consider the work of God, who can make straight what He has made crooked?

2.     Be obedient – why bring your headaches/heartaches to your life through disobedience that you are going to face anyway. Ecclesiastes 10 is filled with illustrations of this fact. Listen to v.1; "Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor."

3.     Be active – today's talents have significance for today, not the future. Eccl. 11:6; "In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good."

4.     Enjoy life even though you are under the sentence of death – Eccl. 3:22; "So I saw there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?"

Life is sweet but the days of darkness are many [Eccl. 11:7,8].