Study Desk

Be very careful when you go to worship God. It is better to listen to God than to give sacrifices like fools. Fools often do bad things, and they don't even know it.

Be careful when you make promises to God. Be careful about what you say to him. Don't let your feelings cause you to speak too soon. God is in heaven, and you are on the earth. So you need to say only a few things to him. This saying is true:

If you make a promise to God, keep your promise. Don't be slow to do what you promised. God is not happy with fools. Give God what you promised to give him.

So don't let your words cause you to sin. Don't say to the priest, "I didn't mean what I said." If you do this, God might become angry with your words and destroy everything you have worked for.

You should not let your useless dreams and bragging bring you trouble. You should respect God.

I have seen what is best for people to do on earth: They should eat, drink, and enjoy the work they have during their short time here. God has given them these few days, and that is all they have.

If God gives some people wealth, property, and the power to enjoy those things, they should enjoy them. They should accept the things they have and enjoy their work—that is a gift from God.

People don't have many years to live, so they must remember these things all their life. God will keep them busy with the work they love to do.

God gives some people great wealth, riches, and honor. They have everything they need and everything they could ever want. But then God does not let them enjoy those things. Some stranger comes and takes everything. This is a very bad and senseless thing.

The baby never saw the sun and never knew anything. But the baby finds more rest than the man who never enjoyed what God gave him.

You are only what you were created to be—a human, and it is useless to argue about it. People cannot argue with God about this because he is more powerful than they are, and a long argument will not change that fact.

Look at what God has made. You cannot change a thing, even if you think it is wrong.

When life is good, enjoy it. But when life is hard, remember that God gives us good times and hard times. And no one knows what will happen in the future.

"There is one other thing I have learned. God made people good, but they have found many ways to be bad."

I say you should always obey the king's command. Do this because you made a promise to God.

A sinner might do a hundred evil things and still live a long time. But I know that it is still better to obey and respect God.

Evil people don't respect God, so they will not get good things or live long lives. Their lives will not be like the shadows that become longer and longer as the sun goes down.

So I decided it was more important to enjoy life because the best thing people can do in this life is to eat, drink, and enjoy life. At least that will help people enjoy the hard work God gave them to do during their life on earth.

I also saw that no one can understand all that God does. People can try and try to understand the things that happen here on earth, but they cannot. There may be wise people who claim to understand the meaning of these things, but they are wrong. No one can understand it all.

I thought about all this very carefully. I saw that God controls what happens to the good and wise people and what they do. People don't know if they will be loved or hated, and they don't know what will happen in the future.