Enjoy God and Trust His Plan | Ecclesiastes 8:14-17 | 09/27/26

Good to see you all having fellowship

and uh enjoying each other's company. My

name is Tom. I am uh as Josh mentioned

what's called an elder in training. So

I'm in in the evaluation period of

becoming an elder here. And uh so I've

been given the opportunity also to

preach this morning. I'm really excited

about it. Um we're going to be in the

book of Ecclesiastes picking up where we

left off last week. Josh Josh Josh's

message last week in chapter 8 and we're

going to be in verses 14 to1 17. So if

you have your Bible or you have one of

those journals that we have be good to

open that Ecclesiastes 8 14-1 17. And as

we've learned it's a collection of

writings from a person that uh we

identified himself as the preacher in in

the ESV the word preacher. We've called

we use the Hebrew acronym Cohelith

because it could be preacher, teacher,

professor. It could be a lot of things,

but ESV says he's the preacher and he's

introduced to us as king in Jerusalem.

He's wealthy, wise, powerful, someone

you'd probably want to listen to, I

think, for advice,

especially since he's looked at life and

sought to find out what really matters.

Meandering down multiple paths,

including pleasure, money, power,

wisdom. He's given himself over to

meaningful work. He's built things.

He's bought things. He's enjoyed all the

fine pleasures of life. But what he's

found is that all these these paths

appear to be dead ends

uh when it comes to trying to figure out

what really matters.

Instead, he only finds brokenness and

often comes to the conclusion that just

vanity. All is vanity. We use the term

hevil because that word vanity can mean

mist or vapor. just something that you

can't really grasp,

vanity.

But he's learned some things along the

way, things that are important and wise

and helpful for living in a broken and a

crooked world. And um one of the real

realizations that he we he came to is

that you really have no control over

life. And this was about two weeks ago,

I think we started chapter 8. Uh you you

don't have any control over life. So,

how do you then be wise in that context?

How can you exercise wisdom when you

have no control? And it was especially

helpful to hear about when you're in a

in a situation where you your wisdom is

better than your higher up. How do you

deal with that? What's the best way to

approach that? Um

how do you be wise when things are out

of your control and you're smart and not

everyone else is or you have wisdom?

be wise

because you know what in the presence of

the king you can be promoted or

executed. Remember you said that. Um

last week was interesting too. Uh we we

were reminded that when things appear to

be unfair, it's best to just wait, you

know, and and let the d I remember the

the term you use. I wasn't here last

week, by the way. Let the dust settle.

Uh knowing that justice will be served

by God eventually. we don't have to fret

about things that that are unfair. And

this morning's message is not all that

different. Um we're picking up in verse

14, circling back to this issue of

justice and fairness

and what is God doing.

Preacher reminds us that when life's not

fair and you can't figure out what God's

doing, don't let that prevent you from

enjoying God's good gifts.

Or or maybe put it this way, don't be so

consumed about chasing the mist that you

miss out on enjoying God's good

blessings, his good gifts to us.

He commends us to enjoy life in the

midst of all the confusion, the chaos,

the unanswered questions. He says,

"Enjoy life."

So, let's read in verse 14. Let's pick

up there

and I'm going to go ahead and pray and

ask God to guide us and bless us as we

read the passage and try and understand

what he's saying. Lord, thank you so

much for your word that um Isaiah tells

us does not return void. And I pray for

hearts today that wherever people are

at, lots of different people and stages

of life, that you would minister through

your word, that you would uh give faith

and hope and joy as we talk about these

things, Lord. And we ask this in

Christ's name. Amen.

There is a vanity that takes place on

the earth that there are righteous

people to whom it happens according to

the deeds of the wicked and there are

wicked people to whom it happens

according to the deeds of the righteous.

I said that this is also vanity or mist

or vapor.

Verse 15. And I commend joy, for man has

nothing better under the sun but to eat

and drink and be joyful, for this will

go with him in all his toil throughout

the days of his life that God has given

him under the sun. Verse 16. When I

applied my heart to know wisdom and to

see the business that is done on the

earth, how neither day or night do one's

eyes sleep, then I saw all the work of

God, that man cannot find out the work

that is done under the sun. However much

man may toil in seeking, he will not

find it out. Even though a wise man

claims to know, he cannot find it out.

We're going to take that passage and you

know this is difficult. Ecclesiastes is

kind of hard for me with a linear sort

of straight line. He's circling back and

coming back to things and it's tough to

sort of pin them down. He meanders quite

a bit. So, it's hard to do outlines, but

I'm going to try my best here. We're

going to do uh four main uh sections

actually. The the first is verse 14, the

unfairness of life.

The second is the failure of wisdom in

verses 16 to 17. Those are the joy

killers.

If you set your mind to try and figure

these things out, it'll kill your joy.

Third, verse 15, we're going to take it

out of order because I'm going to give

him a little dose of his own medicine.

Skipping around a little bit here. Uh

the commenation of joy, verse 15, and

then we're going to talk about how to

cultivate joy, the more kind of

application stuff. So, let's look at

verse 14. And I I think the point is

don't expect there to be justice in the

world. Don't expect it. It'll it'll

happen. Uh as we learned last week, God

will take care of things, but there's a

vanity, he says, that takes place where

the righteous get what's meant for the

wicked, the wicked get blessed what

should be for the righteous, and it's

not right. It's vanity. It's missed.

It's vapor. Something you can't figure

out or grasp. It's unfair.

People don't get what they rightly

deserve. And it's not new. He continues

to circle back to this idea. We saw it

in chapter 7:15. In my vain life, I've

seen everything. There's a righteous man

who perishes in his righteousness, and

there is a wicked man who prolongs his

life in his evil doing. It's not right.

Chapter 3 16. Moreover, I saw under the

sun that the place the the pl in the

place of justice there was wickedness,

and in the place of righteousness there

was wickedness.

Chapter 4:1 I saw all the oppression

that are done under the sun and behold

behold the tears of the oppressed and

they had no one to comfort them on the

side of their oppressors. There was

power but there was no one to comfort

them. It's just not right. He'll come

back to it in chapter nine again verse

11. We won't read that one. He comes

face to face with the hard reality that

life is not fair and justice is not to

be found.

though he knows ultimately God will

bring justice. He just said that in

chapter 8 verses 12 and 13. But he can't

seem to get beyond

the reality that here and now it's just

all messed up. It reminds me uh I'm go

dating myself big time here, but there's

a song by a band called Switchfoot. I I

really love those guys. They talked

about the world is spinning backwards

and upside down. And that's kind of what

the preacher's seeing.

And maybe that's how you feel today too

sometimes. You know, it just seems like

things are not the way they should be.

Nothing seems to go right. Maybe you're

undercompensated for your work. You

don't get the good projects or you're

just overworked. You just always get

everything including the bad stuff.

There's so many ways for us to get

trapped in that downward sort of spin

cycle that just says life is not fair.

Life's not fair. Now, verse 16 doesn't

help us much either. He says in verse

16, "When I applied my heart to know

wisdom and see the business that is done

on the earth, how neither day or night

one's eyes see sleep,

and I saw the work of God." And you know

what? You can't figure God out in this.

What's God doing? There's no answers.

There's no answers to the injustice.

So adding to it, all the churning and

sleepless nights produces no answer.

Even for a guy who has set his heart to

attain wisdom. After all his attaining,

he still comes to the conclusion there's

no answers.

Pretty bleak.

The preacher is not bearing much good

news, is he? Maybe you've felt that way.

Well, I'm so thankful for verse 15.

Because finally we get something

positive and helpful. The commenation of

joy.

I commend joy for no man for man has no

good thing under the sun but to eat and

drink and be joyful. For this will go

with him in his toil throughout the days

of his life that God has given him under

the sun.

Though life is unfair. The unrighteous

get rewarded. The righteous get nothing.

and you don't see what God's doing in

all of it.

Enjoy life.

Don't let the he, the confusion, the

mist keep you from enjoying God's good

gifts that he blesses us with every day.

Don't let it rob you of your joy.

And it's not the first time he's landed

here either. We know from previous

Ecclesiastes 2, there's nothing better

for a person than to eat and drink and

and find enjoyment in his toil.

This also I saw is from the hand of God.

That's the key. For apart from him, who

can eat or who can have enjoyment?

Chapter 3:12. There's nothing better for

them than to be joyful and to do good as

long as they live. Also that everyone

should eat and drink and take pleasure

in all his toil. This is the gift of

God.

Again, 5:18 and 19, I've seen a good I

have seen uh uh behold what I have seen

to be good and and fitting is to eat and

drink and find enjoyment in the toil

with which one toils under the sun the

few days of his life that God has given

him. For this is his lot.

And then he says, "And everyone who to

whom God has given wealth and

possessions and power to enjoy them and

to accept his lot and rejoice in his

toil." This is the gift of God.

We can miss that if we're so spun up

over unfairness and what's God doing? We

could miss it.

God is the gift

and the giver of the gift. As CS Lewis

stated,

uh, God can't be used as a road. If

you're approaching him not as the goal,

but as the road, not as the end, but as

the means, you're not really approaching

him at all. And so when he says enjoy

life, he's saying enjoy God.

Enjoy his blessings that point to him.

[clears throat]

And he lifts up joy as something to be

praised and sought after.

And I think what he's getting at is that

um as frustrating as things get um

all along the way we can see glimpses of

God. We can see his fingerprints over

everything. We can see sparks of the

divine. I think someone said

if not daily glimpses of his glory in

everything.

And what a place to rest after all his

churning. You know, reminds me of uh we

went down to Southern California and my

son wanted to show us a beach in

Oceanside or Carl'sbad that we had gone

to a few weeks ago and it was now

covered. It was just the oceans coming

up. And so we're walking and I'm in

flipflops, right? I never wear flip

flops, but we're, you know, for them

like a mile is like nothing. But for me,

I'm almost dying after a mile in flip

flops. My my calves are on fire, right?

And I'm just looking for somewhere to

sit down and I'm thinking I got to

pretend like I got to go to a bathroom

or something because I got to go sit

down, but I don't want to say it.

But this is refreshing, right? Joy. Hey,

in the midst of all this churning, he

sits down and says,

I commend joy

in the midst of it.

It's like a a bench, a nice park bench

after a long walk.

Albert Barnes writes in his commentary,

"The preacher is careful to set forth

pleasure as a gift from God to be earned

by labor and received with thankfulness

to the giver."

The Bible knowledge commentary, "Man

cannot control or predict adversity or

prosperity. However, each day's joys

should be received as gifts from God's

hand and savored as God permits."

He wants us to know that in the midst of

the difficult and disappointing things

we face in life, there's a place for

joy. There's a place for enjoyment.

And it's not to be seen as a consolation

prize to numb us to the pain of life in

this broken world. Reminds me of I don't

know if they still do this at the

dentist, but when I was a kid going to

the dentist, you got to go to the toy

chest. Do they still have that? It's

lame. You're all you, you know, you just

got drilled on. You're full of Novacane.

You're slobbering looking at this toy

chest and it's like a consolation prize

for just getting beat on.

The preacher's not saying that. He's not

saying that, hey, just find little

things to numb the pain. It's a

persistent joy in the midst of the

difficulties. He describes it in an

interesting way. He says, "For this joy

will go with him in his toil through the

days of his life that God has given him

under the sun." And one person wrote,

"Joy is like a companion who accompanies

us wherever we go."

And though he's come to the conclusion

that pleasure is not what really

matters, here we see it's it's as a gift

that will orient us in the direction to

find what really does matter,

namely God, because he's the giver of

the gift and all the gifts point to him.

And so he enables us to enjoy them so

that we will see him.

But it's still hard, right? He commends

joy. It's almost comical in some ways,

right? Sarcastic maybe. He he tells us

how terrible things are. And he says,

"Enjoy it." Is that is that it? Enjoy

your life. You know, well, it's hard.

And we we can cultivate joy. And I'm

going to talk about the rest of our

time. Actually, I'm going to spend

talking about cultivating joy. What time

we do I need to be done? Like

>> 10:30? No, 11:30.

We'll we'll see. No, I won't go that

long. Hopefully. I got I do have quite a

few notes here. [laughter] I didn't I

don't know. We'll see. You guys may be

begging to leave. How to cultivate joy.

How can we enjoy life in the midst of

its confusing mysteries, injustices?

Life can really be hard. You know, maybe

you love your job and you're blessed or

you've come to the place where you've

learned this what he's saying already.

That's great. But most of us, I think,

struggle with work. Um, you know, you

you got to sit in traffic to get there.

That's like insult on top of injury,

right? You're going to work that you

got, you know, tough some tough

co-workers, maybe some tough business

partners, maybe the projects you don't

like, and then you got to sit in traffic

for a half hour just to get there, and

then 40 minutes to get home. So, it's

just weird, not fair. So, how do you

have joy in the midst of that?

Maybe, you know, I think think about

some of you uh families that are

homeschooling with little kids at home

and and that's huge 247, right? You're

you're with kids 247 and that's hard.

You know, how do you muster up joy?

Well, you don't muster it up, but you

can cultivate it. You can cultivate it.

How about when you know things get

really bad and someone gets really sick

or dies? Can you have joy? Can you

rejoice in those things?

It's not a switch that you can turn on

or off, but it's something we can

cultivate. And so, I'm going to give you

just a few ideas, and these are I mean,

it's almost uh I don't know, comical,

not comical, but very simple, basic

stuff. Number one is God. I'm going to

give you four words. I'll give them to

you right now. God, the spirit,

creation, and heaven.

those those things will help you

cultivate joy if you just you know we'll

talk about it but God in spite of the

dark outlook on life that the writer

understands something of the nature of

God and he he's beginning to point us in

in that direction and as Christians we

have an even more fuller understanding

of God because he's revealed himself

comprehensively through Jesus he became

man he lived and through the scriptures

We have the New Testament.

He's revealed himself way more

comprehensively than the preacher here

understands.

He's revealed himself as an all

powerful, all- knowing, sovereign,

gracious father who loves us and who is

working things out for his glory, which

is also for our good. And I that's

important because we find our greatest

joy and fulfillment when we connect with

God in a way that we see him. We see his

glory. We see him for who he is. And

there's a a great song. I'm I'm probably

going to fall apart reading it. Um

there's a song uh City of Light. I love

these little Australian band from you

know just a church worship team writing

this great music.

And there's a song that's called His

Glory and My Good. Has anyone ever heard

that song, His Glory, Amood? I'm going

to try and read the first verse and then

maybe the second verse and maybe the

chorus, but I don't know if I'll get

through it. Uh, it's it goes like this.

He it says, "I have seen my father's

glory revealed in Jesus Christ,

and the more that I behold him, the more

he satisfies.

When I gaze upon his beauty,

when I see him as I should, then my eyes

are lifted upward for his glory and my

good.

Forget the second verse. [laughter]

Uh the chorus though, to our God be

glory, to our God be praise, he alone

the name above all names.

I will boast ever only in the Lord my

God, for I know his glory is my good.

Amen.

And you know, in Jesus, we're connected

to the God who's all powerful, all

glorious, who's loving, who's kind, who

wants what's best for us. And um that's

an amazing thing. And we need to

constantly remind ourselves of that. And

I can't even see my notes. Sorry.

You got to teach me how to get through

these uh emotional moments. It's

awkward. I know. What the heck? Now, I'm

going to talk about father. He's our

father, right? Father. God's a father.

And I loved what you said last week

about that. He's, you know, we we need

to see God as a father. And fathers have

a unique role. I mean, God designed, he

created family with father and mother.

And for some reason, he wants us to

identify him as a father. I don't know

why he did that, but he did. And when I

think about, you know, not everyone has

a great father. You know, we all have

fathers in a sense. Maybe your father

was absent. I I'll say my father, I, you

know, we lost him when he was when I was

15. But and and what I knew of him, you

know, he was a stress case. He was a

workaholic. Um, and but he he cared for

us and he loved us and he provided for

our needs. He he actually, this is back

in the late 60s, probably

picking a shovel, dug a hole in our

backyard for a swimming pool. My mom

tell me it took years for him to do

that, but he wanted his kids to have a

pool. It was a doughboy, right? Half in,

half out with plastic liner. We had it

for years, but he cared for us that

much. He did some crazy things, you

know. I remember one Christmas where uh

there was a bunch of bikes around the

Christmas tree. What he had done was

secretly gone to garage sale. There was

nine in our family, by the way. Seven

boys, two girls. There was probably six

bikes around the Christmas tree. And he

had gone to garage sales and picked up

used bikes and restored them. And we

never even knew it. You know, my sister

disagreed with me. She's the oldest and

I'm kind of third from the bottom. She

said, "I got a new bike." And I was

like, "Okay,

you were older. Maybe that was years

ago. I'm thinking of a different

Christmas. There's a lot of them in

there, right?" So, but he did this, you

know, we went on vacations every year,

two vacations. We went camping at New

Brighton Beach, Sea Cliff, and we went

skiing in Lake Tahoe. And we had two

station wagons, two full-size station

wagons, 57

Chevy Impala and a 64, no 57 Chevy Bair,

and a 64 Impala four-door. We called it

the boat. It was so huge. I remember

curling up, you know, where the drive

shaft is and there's little pockets. I

remember being so small that I would

curl up in that little area. No seat

belts, obviously, no car seats. They

would take two cars. My mom would drive

one, he would drive the other. It was an

ordeal.

But he would he wanted us he wanted what

was he wanted us to have fun. He wanted

us to enjoy life. And he would even go

to garage sales and buy used ski

equipment so that we wouldn't have to

rent it. Of course, no lift ticket.

give the skis out

up the hill

all the way up the hill right until you

could go no further and then you skied

down and if you were not tired already

you tried it again

but my dad he wasn't the best you know

he he was he was a he was a basket case

I mean he had nine kids so I cut him

some slack I've raised two I've raised

three and now I I I realize you know

what he had nine kids and But

what he did was just infinitisimal

picture of God, what he wants for us and

how he wants us to enjoy him and his

good gifts. So think of God when you

think of

cultivating joy. I'm going to read some

passages uh that just help me. Isaiah

55. Eric, you alluded to it in our

worship. I think it was Isaiah 55. Um

he wants us to seek him, right? Isaiah

says, "Seek the Lord while he may be

found. He won't turn away. He will

abundantly pardon." And then it says

this, "For my thoughts are not your

thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,

declares the Lord. For as high as the

heavens are higher than the earth, so

are my ways higher than your ways, and

my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

For as the rain and snow come down from

heaven, do not return there without uh

but water the earth, making it bring

forth and sprout, giving seed to the

sewer and bread to the eater. So shall

my word be that goes from my mouth. God,

he's powerful and he's in control and we

don't we're not going to follow him. You

know, we're not going to understand

everything he does. And I think Psalm

100, you, this was our call to worship.

It was in my notes, so I'm going to read

it again. Make a joyful noise to the

Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with

gladness. Come into his presence with

singing. Know that the Lord, he is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his.

We're his people and the sheep of his

pasture. Enter his gates with

thanksgiving, his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him. Bless his name. For

the Lord is good. I love that. The Lord

is good. You know, God gets a bad rap.

People think he's bad for some reason,

and they don't want to have anything to

do with them. But God's good.

He's good.

His steadfast love endures forever and

his faithfulness to all generations.

He's good and faithful and he's our

father.

Romans 8, one of my favorite passages,

uh Paul talking about so how um God

works all things together for good to

those who love him. And then he gives

this whole chain of how God has brought

us from

animosity

to glory, being against him to being

saved,

and on and on and on until we're

glorified.

And that's the path he's put us on. When

we come to know Jesus, when we receive

Jesus, God puts us on this path from

being wretched sinners to being

glorified

and being able to see him face to face.

And then verse 31 says, "What shall we

what then shall we say to these things?"

What shall we say to these things? If

God is for us, who can be against us?

He's already done all this.

He who did not spare his own son, but

gave him up for us all. How will he not

also with him graciously give us all

things?

He's already done the greatest. He gave

his son.

He's going to give us everything else as

well.

Don't miss out on his blessings. Don't

miss out on his good gifts.

They these passages remind us that God

is all powerful, sovereign, gracious,

and kind. And he's a father who has

blessed us beyond our imagination.

Beyond our imagination.

Ray Ortland senior writes this. We, my

dear friends, always begin your thinking

and your planning and your deciding from

the standpoint of Jesus fullness in your

life. Always begin with the plenty of

God. Face life with all you have in

Christ. Never begin with the problems

and the troubles and the needs.

Always begin with your standing in

Christ. You can have rivers of living

water splashing out on everybody. Christ

in you. The fullness of grace and truth.

That's what he gives.

God, a good father, the spirit, the Holy

Spirit, the empowering Holy Spirit.

That's the second thing. God the spirit.

We have the spirit who enables us. The

Bible says for joy. Galatians 5:16. The

Galatians 5:16

fruit of the spirit.

He's enabled us so that we can know God.

As noted, the preacher understood that

that this this uh enjoyment is a gift of

God.

Ecclesiastes 5, Ecclesiastes 5:19,

Ecclesiastes 5:19

right?

God God gives the gift or in

Ecclesiastes 6:1 and2, he might withhold

Ecclesiastes 6:1

it.

The the ability to enjoy is the gift of

God. And I wonder if the the writer of

of Ecclesiastes was being prophetic in

some way of the gift of the Holy Spirit

that empowers us and enables us to have

a supernatural joy.

And according to the Apostle Paul, it's

the spirit that gives us the

supernatural wisdom to see and

comprehend the things of God. 1

Corinthians 2,

we've not received the spirit of the

world, but the spirit who is from God

that we might understand the things

freely given to us by God.

Believers have this unique ability for a

unique capacity. If you know Christ,

you've been given the spirit. He's given

you a capacity to see things, to see

God's hand in your daily life in the

things in all the ways that he's blessed

us.

And to even feel his presence as a

father, that's a gift from the Holy

Spirit. Romans 8:15-17.

Romans 8:15–17

You did not receive the spirit of

slavery to fall back into fear, but you

received the spirit of adoption as sons

whom by whom we cry out, "Aba, Father."

The Spirit himself bears witness with

our spirit that we're children of God.

The Spirit bears witness with us with

our spirit that we have a father God

who's in heaven. And if children then

heirs and fellow heirs with Christ.

Amazing.

The Holy Spirit helps us in that way.

And we already referenced uh Galatians

Galatians 5:16

5:16.

You look at the book of Acts. I'm not

going you can jot these verses down.

Acts 13. They were full of joy of the

Holy Spirit. The spirit and joy are

constantly connected. Romans 14. The

kingdom of God is not a matter of eating

and drinking, but of righteousness and

peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 1

Thessalonians 1,

I love this. I'll just read verse 6 and

7. You became imitators. He's talking to

the church in Thessalonica. You became

imitators of us and the Lord, for you

received the word in much affliction

with the joy of the Holy Spirit. So it

it transcends your circumstances. Even

this can happen. We have the capacity

for this.

Remember God. Remember he's given us the

empowering Holy Spirit. And then uh an

amazing creation. God's given us the

creation as even in his fallen state.

Even in his fallen state, there's so

many things to enjoy.

I mean, I'll talk about milkweed. You

guys know what milkweed is? Milkweed is

a weed that nobody wants in their yard.

It's amazing. I got it and you know that

it has these little pods. They're like

little mini uh what's hang gliders or

you know like little parachutes and it

sends off seeds and it it spreads

everywhere and so people want to get rid

of it. But you know what? Milkweed is

the only thing that monarch butterflies

will lay their eggs on. So without

milkweed they die and they've been dying

off because people have been killing off

the milkweed. Well, I got some milkweed

and you know what? I got butterflies in

my backyard. It's amazing. It's so

amazing. I go out there and you know the

hornets, the the wasps try to kill them.

So I go out there with a little squirt

bottle with soap in it.

Boom, man. Nail them. But it's amazing

because the if the caterpillars survive,

then they they're sucking all this white

milk out of the milkweed that's actually

toxic for everything else. It's why

birds won't eat monarch butterflies

because they're full of toxicity.

And then they'll spin up into a cocoon

and that cocoon will then one day become

a butterfly. Amazing. Why did God do

that? Who cares? Just enjoy it. I think

that's what that's what the writer of of

of Ecclesiastes would say. Just enjoy

it. You know, you can think of all kinds

of things. Food, right? We all love

food. What if God made everything taste

like rice cakes

and water? And you know what? He could

have made us thrive on rice cakes and

water when he created the universe. He

could have been we could have been just

like the monarch butterfly. All you can

eat is rice cakes and water. But he

didn't, right? He gives us all kinds of

things. Fruits, meat, pizza, you name

it. You know, he's allowed us to create

other foods from the food that he

created. My brother has these these

fruits that are a combination of apricot

and a plum. You ever heard of that?

Amazing. They're amazing.

Why did God do that? Who cares? Just

enjoy it. Don't stress out over it.

[laughter] You know, anyway, there's so

many other things we could talk about.

And don't get me going on squirrels.

They're fun. But I you know what? We had

a bunch of baby squirrels and they're

fun to They were hopping around in the

backyard chasing each other. They were

like this big, right? I don't know.

Maybe this big. They grow up and they

tear our lawn apart.

saw lawn. They just chewing it all up.

Bonnie went bought an owl. A fake owl.

It's got It's a fake owl and it its head

spins around. It's got bright yellow

eyes that flash and it shrieks

and she put it on the front lawn and the

squirrels are playing with it. They're

just walking around like it's nothing.

Can we get our money back for that? You

think? I But anyway, it's just fun to to

see and enjoy.

God has put us on this planet under the

sun in the midst of all the unfairness,

the injustice, the toil, the worry

figuring out God. But he's given us

these gifts to enjoy. And I think that's

what the writer is telling us. Enjoy his

good gifts. Don't get sidetracked by all

this other stuff. And I got more to say,

but I'm not going to say it. The hope of

heaven. That's the fourth one. Of

course, I would just encourage you,

listen to Josh's last message on heaven.

When we see God face to face,

that is the best thing that you will

ever experience in life. You will, you

can't even comprehend these little

pleasures that we experience along the

way, watching the squirrels and enjoying

the butterflies and having a hamburger.

They're just a taste of what we will see

and what we'll experience when one day

we see God face to face in heaven. And

that's what we have to look forward to.

So those four things I hope will help

you to cultivate joy in your life. God,

the Holy Spirit, creation, and heaven.

And I'm going to close with a a quote

from

Ray Ortland Jr. who wrote a book called

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry. Just came out

this year. I think he writes this

thinking of the eternal state when we're

in heaven with God.

Our joy will not be worked up by us. It

will come down on us. Our joy will not

be our willpower striving up to God. It

will be God's grace smiling down on us.

Our joy will not be a subjective wish

fulfillment.

It will be an objective reality.

And we will not have to keep it up

somehow. It will come down. It will keep

coming down on us in an endless

freshness and fullness.

This joy will not be our achievement. It

will be his bestowment.

It will not be our mood of the moment.

It will be the endless gift of God. It

will not be us

doing our duty. It will be him pouring

out his mercy from a happy heart. And he

quotes Zephaniah 3:17.

Zephaniah 3:17

We will fully know and feel how

overflowingly

he really does love us. And that's what

we have to look forward to. But we can

taste it now. You want that now? I I do.

Let's pray.