I am enjoying the cooler fall weather and the beauty of the fall trees :-).
I haven't read Ecclesiastes in a long time and I am finding it somewhat like proverbs. The theme through out this book is that without God live is meaningless. Our lives are very short in the big scheme of things. I think as a child and young person we never give thought to being a mere mortal but as we age, we do tend to look back and wonder how the time flew by. If you are young you will wisely take heed to the author's writings and if you are old, today IS a new day, we CAN change our ways it's never too late to have a relationship with God and he will guide you to a new better life with him. The journey will still be hard but you will live with a different perspective.
Chapter 7 This chapter's theme is on wisdom
Verses 1-7 discusses the contrast between the fool and the wise. I think in the book The Purpose Driven Life the beginning of it has us think about the end in mind, the end of our lives. Or am I thinking of the 7 habits book? Homework for me to get back with this! (I looked in both books later and it was in neither). Anyway if we were to write our obituary what would we want people to know about our life? I don't mean to be morbid but at the end of our lives, what WILL others say about us. I knew one woman who when her mother died - person after person came up to her and told her her Mom lied a lot. She was not well liked. Another friend - I went to her Mom's funeral and it was more like a celebration. In this little country church person after person shared what her Mom had done to help others. Both of these women lived similar lives, both went to church every Sunday, but LIVED with totally different mindsets. One lived and loved the Lord, one lived and just went through the motions. I like verse 7 - like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of fools. What a visual picture isn't it?
Verses 8-10 The end is better than the beginning. All summer long I stressed and worried about my unborn twin grandchildren. I had the hope that God was in charge but it didn't stop me from worrying about them. They are a month old old now, home and doing great! Was an awful lesson in patience though. This situation did have me in prayer a lot so maybe that was a good thing? And verse 10 don't look back at "the good old days." Maybe they weren't so good after all. We can't look back we need to look forward.
Verses 11-12 Wow powerful words about wisdom! One good thing about talking three years to read the bible is you get to spend more time READING the bible. Taking time to smell the roses. What a nugget of truth about wisdom. Wisdom like an inheritance is a good thing .....Wisdom is a shelter .... Wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.
Verses 13-14 Consider what God has done .... In our marriage vows we promise to be together in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, until in death do we part. We promise this to one another. God is our perfect partner - his promise is more enduring than our marriage vows. He will never leave us. He will be there through thick and thin.
Verses 15-18 The author recounts what he has seen both of: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness and a wicked man living long in his wickedness. We see this happening today! We al wonder why bad things happen to good people and why the wicked seem to get away with murder. The verses go on to say do not be over righteous or over wicked but have balance. As for being too righteous - oh yes it does happen! People think they are better than others because they don't do that awful sin.
Verse 19 - one man with wisdom is more powerful than 10 rulers in a city. Oh to have one tenth the wisdom would be great.
Verse 20 There is not one man who doesn't sin. That is humbling. We should not think we are too righteous not to stumble and fall.
Verses 21-22 Don't listen too closely to what everyone says. I wonder if he means we shouldn't listen in order to get hear worth gossiping about. Or our feelings may get hurt. Like everything else - keep it in moderation. People have shared confidences with me and it is difficult at time not to say something to someone else. And ditto for us - there are some things in our lives that others don't need to know. Be discerning what we tell others.
Verses 23-25 Solomon sought wisdom and the foolishness of wickedness and folly.
Verses 26 This is a difficult verse to figure out. I did a little searching on the Internet and a couple people think he was referring to Eve or an adulteress woman. My thought is this is like anything else - to avoid temptations and seek wisdom from God. A person filled with wisdom is rare, whether it is a man or a woman.
Verses 27-29 Solomon found it difficult to find a wise person.
Chapter 8
Verse 1- Wisdom brightens a man's face and changes its hard appearance. Wondering how my face looks today. This almost goes with the end of chapter 7. Do you ever wonder why bible verses were split like they were? This is one that I wonder what the reason was behind it.
Verses 2-6 Well, I find these verses confusing. We are to obey the king but verse 3 says do not stand up for a bad cause. No harm will come to those who obey the king's commands, but the wise (godly?) will know what to do.
Verses 7-8 We do not know the future nor when we will die. We live for today doing our best for God.
Verses 9-13 - another difficult passage. I think what has been written is this - just be cause we didn't get punished for doing evil at the time it happened doesn't mean it won't be remembered on our judgement day.
Verses 14-15 Again we can't judge what others do - we should focus on Jesus and the good works he has given us to do.
Verses 16-17 Even the wisest man can not comprehend the wisdom of God. For God never sleeps but he knows us all one by one.
Father God This is so hard to understand. I understand Solomon warning against wickedness and seeking wisdom and righteousness. I ask that when we wake up in the morning our goal is to focus on you. Many days we slip and fall but can start over the next day. And let us not assume we are better than others too. We thank you that you are our wise counselor, comforter, father of all of us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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