Ecclesiastes 7:2 “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.”

Ecclesiastes 7:3 “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.”

Ecclesiastes 7:4 “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”

Particularly in our youth as we grow up, we are encouraged to have a good time, pursue good times, and live for good times. In fact for many people, their purpose for living is to have a good time.

Many people live for the weekend, for meeting up with friends, social events, having fun… and there’s nothing wrong with those things in and of themselves.

But while they are a nice part of life, they are not the substance and reason for life. In fact, Solomon in all his wisdom goes in depth on how empty that kind of life is.

Because the thing is, having a good time doesn’t actually do us that much good.

Here, the Bible is saying it’s way better to go to a hospital or a grave site… than to go clubbing or to a party. Why would that be? And who would choose that?

But it’s because it’s good for us all to see, contemplate and feel the realities of life and what matters in life. Because we will only get real when we face real.

Good times will come, good times will go. What God cares about is our character and the type of person we are. In the parable of the sower, Jesus talked about the difference of the seed’s success in shallow surface level ground versus depth of soil type ground.

Partying and events won’t give you depth of character. Going to a funeral of a loved one though or attending the bed side of someone dying from cancer is far more likely to.

Sure, hard times and bad times are not how we like it or would choose it, but its in facing them that God does the most preparing and we do most of our growing.

There’s a book in the Bible about a man called Job, who was a successful man blah blah… the good times are barely a footnote… his entire book focuses on the bad time he went through, because that was the defining time of his life.

Jesus Christ our Saviour lived these verses in Ecclesiastes. He didn’t avoid grave sites, sickness, sadness, sorrow, turmoil, trouble, trial, tragedy and tears.

So in light of all this… good times might not be so good for you! Good times might not be what you need! I wouldn’t choose it personally…

… because I tend to, and we all may spend our lives trying to avoid hard times, trouble, conflict, seriousness even… yet our character will only ever grow in facing them, as they take us into the everlasting arms of Christ “but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

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