No One Understands God’s Mysterious Plan I have seen the business God gives to ?humans? to preoccupy them. 11 He has made everything suitable in its time. He also has put ?the past? in their hearts, yet no one can grasp what God does from the beginning to the end. 12 So I realized that there is ?nothing better? for them than to ?rejoice and enjoy themselves? during their lives. 13 And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, ?to enjoy the fruit of all his toil?, this also is a gift of God…
+ DAILY PRAYER +
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55:12-19
Psa 55:12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
then I could bear it; it is not an adversary
who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him.
Psa 55:13 But it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
Psa 55:14 We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God’s house we walked in the throng.
Psa 55:15 Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive;
for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
Psa 55:16 But I call to God, and the LORD will save me.
Psa 55:17 Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
Psa 55:18 He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage,
for many are arrayed against me.
Psa 55:19 God will give ear and humble them,
he who is enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not change and do not fear God.
Reading for Thursday September 25th Eccl 3:10-22
No One Understands God’s Mysterious Plan
10 I have seen the business God gives to ?humans? to preoccupy them. 11 He has made everything suitable in its time. He also has put ?the past? in their hearts, yet no one can grasp what God does from the beginning to the end. 12 So I realized that there is ?nothing better? for them than to ?rejoice and enjoy themselves? during their lives. 13 And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, ?to enjoy the fruit of all his toil?, this also is a gift of God.
14 I know everything God does endures forever;
nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it,
for God so acts that humans might stand in awe before him.
15 What is—it already was,
and what will be—it already is,
for ?God will do what he has done.?
God’s Mysterious Plan Allows Injustice to Exist in the World
16 I saw something else under the sun: instead of justice there was evil; instead of righteousness there was wickedness. 17 So I said ?to myself?, “God will surely judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time of judgment for every deed and every work.”
18 I said to myself concerning ?humans?, “God sifts them in order to show them that they are like beasts.” 19 For the fate of ?humans? and the fate of the beast is ?the same?. The death of the one is like the death of the other, for ?both are mortal?. Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting. 20 Both go to one place—both came from dust and both return to dust. 21 For no one knows whether the spirit of a human ascends to heaven and whether the spirit of the beast descends to the ground!
22 So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy the fruit of his labor, for this is his lot in life. ?For no one knows what will happen in the future.?
Lord’s Prayer
Daily Prayer
Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Concluding Prayer
Heavenly Father, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts to direct and rule us to do Your will, to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
