A Good Ending

I don’t like movies that have bad endings. I might be a little sappy but I like it when the good guy wins and I don’t like it when the dog dies in the end. Here is what Solomon writes at the end of his musings in the book of Ecclesiastes: 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.  14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. This is a good ending. There is really no better advice than “fear God and keep His commandments”. That pretty much guarantees a happy ending. Now, when I say “happy” I don’t mean it guarantees a life of no suffering. But even in the midst of suffering, fearing God and keeping His commandments is the way to go.

I like to think of your life as a story. Each day you write a little bit of the story. As you turn the pages of a book, you don’t know what will unfold in the next page. The same is true as you write the story of your life. How many people around the world will have a day today very different than what they thought their day would look like in the morning? Accidents, illness, words spoken by others and other things are often very different than expected. So how do you navigate that? Fear God and keep His commandments. So much disappointment, heartache and bitterness arise because people do not fear God and keep His commandments. Do you want a good ending; whenever that ending will be? Solomon has the answer.