Ecclesiastes 7:14

Be joyful in prosperity and reflective in adversity, knowing God sends both so we cannot foresee the future. It matters because God ordains both good and hard times to keep us humble and dependent on Him.

Cross-references · 26

• Eccl 3:4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
• Eccl 3:22Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
• Deut 8:3And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
• Eccl 12:13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
• Jas 5:13Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
• Deut 28:47Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
• Isa 26:11LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
• 2 Chr 33:12–13And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
• Ps 119:71It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
• Matt 9:13But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
• Ps 40:3And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
• Ps 94:12–13Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
• 1 Kgs 17:17–18And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
• Jer 23:20The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
• Job 10:1–2My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
• John 16:22–23And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
• Ps 30:11–12Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
• Mic 6:9The LORD’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
• Luke 15:17–18And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
• Acts 14:22Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
• Hos 2:6–7Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
• 1 Kgs 8:47Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
• Isa 22:12–14And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
• Isa 42:25Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
• Eccl 12:8Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
• Hag 1:5–7Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

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