“PROSPERITY and ADVERSITY!”

Ecclesiastes 7:14                                                       (ESV)

“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.”

How often have I proclaimed that “GOD certainly has blessed me”?  Most everyone that hears the account of the Brain Hemorrhage in 2007 readily admits that ALMIGHTY GOD has other Plans for my life.  Was that a day of prosperity or a day of adversity though?  How could something as serious as a Brain Hemorrhage be considered a day of prosperity?  It HAD to be a day of adversity...........DIDN’T IT???

The Spiritual lessons that GOD continues to teach me as a result of the Brain Hemorrhage are endless.  To say that GOD IS IN CONTROL and say that HE couldn’t have allowed the enemy to cause my brain to leak so that HE would receive Glory from it is a contradiction, in my humble opinion.  The Children of Israel were exactly where ALMIGHTY GOD directed them to be in Exodus 14:1-2.  But then Pharaoh and his army (Exodus 14:9-10) pinned them at the Red Sea and their demise was looking rather certain!  Of course l we know what happened next.  

Exodus 14:19-20 states “Then the angel of GOD who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And IT LIT UP THE NIGHT WITHOUT ONE COMING NEAR THE OTHER ALL NIGHT.”  How could the Egyptian army be deterred from overtaking the Israelites ALL NIGHT after pursuing them from Egypt?  GOD had to allow them (Egyptians) to catch up with the Israelites so HE would be able to receive GLORY over them.  

Exodus 14:4 is rather plain when it says “And I (GOD) will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he (Pharaoh) will pursue them (the Israelites), and I (GOD) will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD." And they did so.”  Yes, GOD does make the day of “PROSPERITY” and the day of “ADVERSITY”, but HE does so to be GLORIFIED!  It is not about our “PROSPERITY” or our “ADVERSITY.   It is, however, ALL about HIM being GLORIFIED!!!