My God and My Country

Daily Devotional

17 And I understood, that of all the works of God, a man may find no reason of those things, that be done under the sun; and inasmuch as he travails more to seek, by so much, he shall find less; yea, though a wise man say that he knoweth, he shall not be able to find it.

The Book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 8:17

Brethren:

Not of creation, but of Providence; took notice of it, contemplated on it, considered it, and weighed it well; viewed the various steps and methods of it, to find out, if possible, at least, some general rule by which it proceeded: but all so various and uncertain, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun; he can find out that it is done, but not the reason why it is done: the ways of God are in the deep, and not to be traced; they are unsearchable and past finding out; there is a depth of wisdom and knowledge, in them, inscrutable by the wisest of men, ( Psalms 72:19 ) ( Romans 11:33 ) ; because, though a man labour to seek out, yet he shall not find it

Noldius and others render it "although"; not only a man that, in a slight and negligent manner, seeks after the knowledge of the works of divine Providence, and the reasons of them; but even one that is diligent and laborious at it is not able to find them out; they being purposely concealed by the Lord, to answer some ends of his; yea, further, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not
be able to find it.


A man of a great natural capacity, such an one as Solomon himself, though he proposes to himself, and determines within himself to find it out, and sets himself to the work, and uses all the means and methods he can devise, and imagines with himself he shall be able to find out the reasons of the divine procedure, in his dispensations towards the righteous and the wicked; and yet, after all, he is not able to do it. Wherefore it is best for a man to be easy and quiet, and enjoy what he has in the best manner he can, and submit to the will of God. - John Gill 18^th Century Theologian