“Bad” days are relative to each person’s experience but we all have them. Sometimes our bad days are things like car problems or allergy issues, but then other times our bad days involve more difficult news. Our tendency is to think if we just had (fill in the blank) then we could avoid bad days, but this is not the case. Even Solomon had bad days despite his immense wealth and wisdom. While Solomon’s unparalleled resources were unable to protect him, his theology accounted for bad days so that he could process them in a God-honoring way. In Ecclesiastes 7:14 Solomon’s theology for understanding bad days is spelled out, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” (ESV). Solomon’s words are significant because he addresses “bad” days (‘days of adversity’) and in the process he gives us insight into both their source and purpose.
Where do bad days come from?
The book of Job shows us that even when Satan is the immediate culprit behind our difficult days that God, at the very least, has to sign off on what happens (Job 1:12). This is a hard truth to chew on and stomach. It is easier for our brains to process God being the cause of all pleasant things and the Devil being the cause of all difficult things in our lives. We like these nice and tidy categories but in God’s economy things are not this simple.
While bad days may be the immediate result of our choices or even Satan’s meddling, nothing happens outside the providential and inscrutable hand of God (Proverbs 16:33). At the very least God could have stopped or prevented the events and situations which result in what we deem a “bad day” but for reasons we cannot understand, He didn’t. So, during days of ‘adversity’ we strive to remember that “God has made the one as well as the other,” meaning that we remember God’s good and wise hands design and bring into existence what we often call “bad days.”
Why does God create (or at least allow) bad days?
God being the creator of bad days does not make God some kind of ant-bully arbitrarily dispensing pain to helpless beings. Romans 8:28 speaks to God’s good and providential plan in all things (“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good”). We know that God is using all events, even bad days, for our good which is Christ-likeness. What isn’t immediately clear is how God uses bad days to mold us into being the people He desires us to be. As we continue to read the words of Solomon we see that he speaks to this issue with specificity.
When Solomon says, “so that man may not find out anything that will be after him” (7:14) he is speaking to the specific purpose as to why God brings hard days into our paths. The translation from Hebrew to English comes across a bit weird but the phrase means, God does not want people to know or predict their future.
God knows that as imperfect, sinful humans we are relentlessly self-reliant. If we can leave God out of the equation, we will. We like to be able to predict and even control what tomorrow holds based on what we do (or don’t do) today. The logic is, “If I did _______ today, then I can expect ________ tomorrow.” The problem with this kind of thinking is that it keeps God on the fringes of our lives because it is an attempt to work around needing God’s grace and mercy. Thankfully, God is too kind to let us go on this way. We need the presence and grace of God every day and God knows how to force the issue so that we don’t begin to think otherwise.
In Closing
What we read in Ecclesiastes 7:14 does not make “bad” days any more enjoyable. The grace of Solomon’s words is that for those of us who are God’s people (true followers of Christ), our bad days gain perspective. No “bad” day is wasted in God’s providential care.
Even on our worst days God is not distant and unconcerned. We don’t get to know all the ways that God is using difficult days to accomplish His purposes but it is clear that He is using them to continually make us reliant on Him.
Credits
Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Psalm 24 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
gospelmercies.com 