The end of a matter is better than its beginning; patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit. Ecclesiastes 7:8 Let me encourage you on something. This rather insightful verse came from Solomon while he was in a backslidden state. Although he experienced wisdom from God—and knowledge and favor—he would veer into these tangents and sow to his flesh, indulging in all kinds of foolish decisions. But he does come up with a very, very important conclusion here. Solomon sees that in God, the end of a matter is better than the beginning.

I heard Lester Sumrall say, "We don't have any say over how we started." You might have been birthed in some circumstances that were rough. Maybe things were a bit (or even a lot) dysfunctional. We don't have a lot to say about our past, but we do have something to say about what we're going to do right now, how we respond to things, and how we face the future. The Bible says in Proverbs 31 that a virtuous woman smiles at the future. We all can learn to adopt that attitude since there is neither male nor female in Christ. I don't have what's up ahead all figured out, but I'm smiling at the future.

The end of the matter is better than the beginning. As long as life exists, there's going to be seed time and harvest—toil, labor, patience, and the reward of those things. The sowing and exerting effort and seeing nothing visible is the challenge of the beginning of seed time. But the end? At the end we get to enjoy the excellence of the harvest—great, big, nourishing, beautiful fruit! In the Amplified version, Ezekiel 36:11 says, "I will do better for you than at your beginnings." Hebrews 8:6 says, "He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises." Hebrews 7:22 says, "Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant." And Hebrews 11:40a says, "God had provided something better for us . . ." Be encouraged. God is calling us to understand that better days are ahead!

Press on,
Pastor Jeff


© 2007 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.