Madness or Grace

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

MADNESS OR GRACE

Eccl 10:12-15

12 Words from a wise man's mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips. 13 At the beginning his words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness —   14 and the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming — who can tell him what will happen after him? 15 A fool's work wearies him; he does not know the way to town.

NIV

What kind of words do we speak, wise or unwise? It would seem the fool simply talks about himself all the time. The wise man talks about the other person, but not just about them, but has gracious words for them. Words that lift someone up, build them up, encouraging words. The foolish man spends all his conversation relating how great he is, or how holy he is, or how spiritual, that is if that fool is a believer. The non-believing fool simply expounds on his accomplishments. Its madness because it does not matter what he says, it is all folly. Some fools claim they do not sin. Oops. Should not say that, it does not build up. But the truth is the truth. We have to know our words can either damage or heal. Let us be gracious in our speech. However there is still more to these words of ours within the context of the thought about no one knowing what is coming, the who can tell him what will happen after him and the wearisome of the fools work and how he does not know his way to town. It seems it speaks of the hereafter, the way to heaven, to eternal life. The fool simply does not know his way to eternal life. He considers being a good person, he wears himself out trying to attain enough goodness to make it to heaven. This might even relate to those who call themselves Christian, as it is all about good works. It just wears them out. No one can do enough good works. We have to be wise about things, and speak of grace, our words should to be about grace, not about works, not about what we do, but about what God did. Grace does not wear us out, works do. If we are consumed with what we do, then we are not speaking gracefully. So let us keep our words about the grace of God. Let us always remember to speak and act with grace toward others. Grace does not judge. Grace does not condemn. Grace does not gossip. Grace does not envy or keep a record of wrongs. Grace is not rude. Grace does not boast. Grace is not prideful. Grace is one of the definitions or character traits of God. We should examine our words carefully and make sure they are not folly or madness, but of grace.

Standing Our Ground

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

STANDING OUR GROUND

Eccl 10:8-11

8 Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. 9 Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them. 10 If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success. 11 If a snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.

NIV

 These are somewhat difficult to understand as they speak of issues not common to ordinary people, but rather are analogies with another meaning. Like who of us would actually dig a pit? That might have been a method of trapping animals in the past and maybe some even do that today, but this is speaking about setting a trap, digging a pit to cause harm to another person. We can’t image someone doing that, however, we can image Satan digging a pit for us and we know he is going to fall into a pit himself. As far as that hidden snake behind the wall, we cannot image anyone other than it referring to Satan, that old serpent. But what is the breaking through the wall mean? It could mean the concept of envy, jealously and finally the exercise of lust, trying to take that which belongs to another, like breaking in as a thief would. Of course we would not actually break into someone’s home, breaking down the wall. But that desire for what is not ours amounts to the same thing and when we lust after something, we are bitten by Satan. We know it is wrong to crave after the things of the world, to make things the subject of our desires, and yet it is so difficult to not want more than we have, so we try to break through the wall. This same concept seems to carry through into the way we conduct business or our affairs among others. The idea of quarrying stones and splitting logs could refer to those kind of endeavors. Same goes for the arm that swings the ax and the charmer of snakes. These are analogies for other means of conducting ourselves in the affairs with others. It does not matter is we are the sharpest blade in the group, that is the smartest, most educated, or most highly regarded, if we conduct ourselves in the wisdom of the Lord we are successful. But when it comes to the snake charmer, we might be talking about something else. Could charming the snake have anything to do with charming Satan? That is how we deal with him, how we control or influence him rather than the reverse. If we do not charm him rightly, or control him, keep him at bay, and he bites us, we gain nothing. Even though we are in Christ it does not mean that slimy snake, the serpent of old is not going to dig a pit for us, or try to break us down, or injure us in some financial matter, or try to dull our senses, or give us a bite, injecting his venom of evil within us. So we are to take our stand, with the full armor of God and stand our ground.    

Which Ruler?

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

WHICH RULER

Eccl 10:5-7

5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler: 6 Fools are put in many high positions, while the rich occupy the low ones. 7 I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.

NIV

We are going to embark on a bunch of quick little sayings, each with their own character or separate look at the life of mankind. Here Solomon thinks how evil a certain situation that exists and the error is its way. The major fault of this error is in the life of the ruler. Who is this ruler who is in error? We are going to see the error that arises, but does the identity of the ruler matter? We cannot say the ruler is God in any way, for no error ever arises from his rule. So the ruler has to be a person. Could we say that Satan is the ruler? He is known as the prince of the power of the air, ruler of demons, and god of this world. It would not be improbable that he would be the one to put fools in many high places, while the rich occupy the low ones. Although it seems for the most part the rich are the ones who grab the power, becoming the ruling class. But then maybe that is the error that arises from this ruler. Just because one has wealth does not mean they are rich. Maybe they are still a bunch of fools, thinking their wealth has brought them to power, but in reality it is their ruler, Satan who has accomplished putting them in those positions. That is not to say all who are in high places are under the influence or rule of Satan. Surely some have to be good people, even some must be believers, we would think. We do have to look at this truth from a world perspective as well as in reference to all times in history. The idea of the slaves on horseback while princes go in foot does fit into the idea that Satan is this ruler from which error arises. Those who are his slaves, slaves to sin, slaves to the god of the world, rise to power, ride upon the horse. Those who are princes, the righteous, believers, go on foot. Satan would want us to be oppressed by the powerful. He has brought evil men to power throughout the ages, who he used to oppress believers. We can even see situations around the world like that today. Yet even with all the evil that exists in the world, we have a path set before us by God.  It does not matter how things play out in the world, our life is set toward God. If we spent too much time thinking about all the evil, the injustice in the world, it can become depressing. Surely we should not be apathetic toward all the injustices in the world, but at the same time we have to remember we serve a living God who rules and reigns with justice. He will reward each according to what they have done. Our task is simply to follow after Jesus, to proclaim him as our Lord and Savior, our King, the ruler of our hearts, our life. No error arises from him.  Everyone must make the choice which ruler to follow.

Left or Right

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

LEFT OR RIGHT

Eccl 10:1-4

10:1 As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. 3 Even as he walks along the road, the fool lacks sense and shows everyone how stupid he is. 4 If a ruler's anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great errors to rest.

NIV

Life is not a grey area, it is either black or white. There is no fudging in this. We are either in or out, right or left, no middle of the road walking permitted. Things just cannot be both, they are either one or the other. Just a little folly outweights wisdom and honor. To think oneself wise and worthy of honor is rather prideful because who can abstain from folly one hundred percent at all times. It would seem folly is in our nature as humans. But there is a difference in messing up once and a while than living a life of folly. But still that once still makes the perfume smell bad. However, Solomon does make the case regarding the main direction of the heart. Which way is our heart bent, to the right or the left? Because we do desire to live for God, which is the wise course, or to the right, we are not headed to the left thus being foolish. The course to the left is full of people who show everyone their stupidity. This is the way of the fool. They think they can control that which is only under the control of God. Although it is true we can make our own choice in life, which direction we travel, either to the right or the left, once we head out in one of those directions the rest of our life determined by that choice. Even when a storm comes up, if we decided to walk to the right we do not leave that post. The angry ruler can represent many things, moments in life that are difficult, persecution in any form should not persuade us to turn from the course, the right, toward wisdom. So we failed, we forget to control of tongue, we said something wrong, or we did something that we should not have, or even thought something which is not good, or Christ like. The accuser is not far to rise up against us charging us, trying his best to make us feel guilty and headed to the left. But,  we stay calm, stay the course, and keep on the right path. We know God forgives us, if we seek him. So we stay the course, we walk rightly, seeking wisdom. We put our trust in the Lord, for he brings us safely through life. The fool may think himself wise, but he lacks the common sense to trust God. At least we can say we have enough sense to see the error of walking left, and so we walk to the right.

Healing Words

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

HEALING WORDS

Eccl 9:13-18

13 I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: 14 there was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. 15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. 16 So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. 17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

NIV

There are many ideas as to what this story of the little city is about, but in truth they are just ideas, for who really knows if it is fact or fiction. It could be fact, but it could be a parable to illustrate the point being made that wisdom is better than strength. How do we utilize this truth for our lives? It would certainly bear well upon how we share the gospel message or have conversations regarding the scriptures. The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. There it is. There is no purpose in arguments over any issue, shouting at each other over something neither will agree upon. At times it is simply best, the wisest course of action to quietly suggest a change in topic. It might also be better to slow down in discussing any topic, think through the words before speaking them. All too often words spoken in a hurry are the wrong words and they can even be hurtful to the hearer. We have to try to remember a soft answer turns away wrath. There is also what seems to be some injustice in many cases. The wealthy seem to be heard more than the poor. It that the meaning of “Money talks”? Some people get the idea a person is wise just because they know how to attain wealth. Those of great wealth get national attention, are interviewed, even on their political views as if they are so wise about those matters. The poor man, or the common man is ignored or forgotten, maybe even seen as just a pawn is the game of life. It does seem wealth affords power, or control, a weapon of war, so to speak. But then that is the way of the world and we believers do live in that world, but we do not have to join in the fray. It is wiser to consider eternal matters then those of temporary standing. Yes, we have to earn money to eat and clothe ourselves as well as to provide shelter and even a few nice things. But what is our life goal? Is it  the things of wisdom or of strength? So we need to think about our speech, our words, whether they contain words of war or of wisdom. It is not a matter of how much wealth we have, strength, it is a matter of how much wisdom we have. Wisdom can save the day, but the words of a sinner, a fool can destroy everything, but most of all a relationship. How we speak to each other matters. Words of fools injure, but words of wisdom heal.  

By the Will of God

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

BY THE WILL OF GOD

Eccl 9:11-12

11 I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. 12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

NIV

Again, such a sad situation to be in. It just seems like life is just a meaningless useless thing and why bother going on. Life is just one of chance. We haven’t a single say as to what it holds for us. Life might bring us whatever and we just get whatever it brings. It doesn’t matter if we are swift or slow, strong or weak, wise or stupid, wealthy or poor. It does not matter if we are brilliant or have many degrees of higher learning. It is just a matter of time and chance that happens to us all. Wow, that is so depressing. How did Solomon ever get up in the morning? How did he make it through the day? Of course he was born into royalty. He was born into wealth. Once he ascended to the throne of his father, he had people from all over the world bringing him more wealth, presents of great value and he married hundreds of women to solidify treaties with other lands. Was that all by chance? It does not seem so, he made his way, changed his life when he asked God for a discerning heart so he could govern the people with justice and wisdom. God caused him to be wise and wealthy beyond measure. But, again it appears he is speaking from the view of the common people, those who do not have the relationship with God as he did. Still he does speak of the life of every person in that sense as well. We do not know when our hour will come. Life is somewhat of a chance unless, we give it over to the Lord. We can change the course of our life. We have changed it. Had we not accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are convinced we would have died years ago. Our life have changed dramatically since accepting Jesus. Do we still sin? Sure, but we do not live in sin, in a life dedicated to sin, captive to it. We have been set free from that kind of life and thus that kind of death. Do evil times still fall upon us? It can be said that just because we are a believer, it does not mean we cannot have difficulty in life. There are believers in other parts of the world who are being murdered by the hundreds. Some have been killed in hideous ways. Evil has had its day with them. There are people in this country who believe, yet they are homeless, taking refuge in a shelter, or depend on charity for their food. Maybe in some sense life is just a chance. We did not have a choice as to what family setting we were born into. We were not able to pick our parents or siblings. Some were born with less of an advantage then others. Some were born with what some would call a handicap. What choice did we have? It seems the only real choice we have in life is to live with or without God. Yet there is this truth that God knit us together in our mother’s womb, so we could say that he determined our life before we were born. He knows all of our days before they started. He knew who we would be and how we would live, and where we would be. Does that qualify as chance? Does that qualify as predestination? It does qualify as the foreknowledge of God, but not of either those other two. Chance implies we spin the wheel and see where it stops. Predestination implies we have no say at all in our life or where the wheel stops. However, we do have a choice as whether we accept or reject Jesus as Our Lord and Savior, even if some think that we are predestined to make that choice, it is still not by chance, but by the will of God. So then our life is not set in stone. We can live in evil or in Christ, it is a choice not a chance. Our life is in some sense a partnership with God, our will and his will. We surrender ours to his, so our life is governed by the will of God.   

Saved from the Grave

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

SAVED FROM THE GRAVE

Eccl 9:1-10

9:1 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. 2 All share a common destiny — the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. 3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope-even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. 7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

NIV

What a sad commentary on life. We cannot forget Solomon is approaching the matter of life from the view of a human who does not know God, even though he uses the terms righteous and wicked. Sometimes it appears the righteous refer to us, the believers in Christ and sometimes just to people who live rightly as opposed to those who live in a wicked, or evil way, doing wrong to others. But then it could be us and them and it is a fact that death waits for both of us. However, they difference is whether love or hate awaits us in death. So He does seem to be speaking about those who love God and those who do not. Those who love the Lord will receive the love of God in death, while the rest will receive his wrath. Yet that may not be exactly what Solomon is saying as he makes it clean the both the righteous and wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who do sacrifices and those who don’t and as it is with a good man and so with a sinner, the same destiny awaits us both. We will join the dead. He says the hearts of men are full of evil. Does that include us? It would seem so and we know that is true. How can we say we have no evil in our heart? Is our heart pure one hundred percent of the time? Do we not sin? If we sin, it is because of evil in our heart, and who is sinless? That sounds just wrong, to think we harbor evil in our heart. How can we if Christ is in our heart? Well he really isn’t in there, he is in heaven at the right hand of the Father. The Spirit dwells within us, so how then can he be there and evil also? That is the mystery. But how can we say we have never had envy, or jealously or greed? How can we say we have not lusted after something, desired something so much we just had to have it.?  How can we say we never have been angry, or did not want to forgive someone? Can we say we have never gossiped? Can we say we have never offended someone, or entered into idle talk, or jokes or made comments we shouldn’t? No, we sin, so evil does reside in our hearts. Thank God Jesus took our sin upon him and paid the price for any evil in our heart. Otherwise we would be in real trouble. We would just be dead and forgotten, gone to never more live. If we do not have Jesus, we have nothing. Without Christ, life is just life and we should just go about eating and drinking, dancing, whooping it up, for tomorrow we die and nothing else happens. Without Jesus there is nothing. So then we live it up, do it all with all our might and enjoy every moment we have breath for one in the grave we can do nothing. What a sad way to live, it is meaningless. But we are in Christ, we have many promises of God. We have the promise that the grave cannot hold us. Because Jesus was resurrected from the dead, the grave, so will we who believe. Oh death, where is thy sting? Up from the grave he arose, and so shall we, Hallelujah, praise the Lord! Did Solomon know about the resurrection? Perhaps not, even being the wisest man to live. The question is whether Solomon knew of the afterlife, which is the term they would have used in their days. Just as the Egyptians Pharaohs prepared for the afterlife, it appears the Israelites did not speak of resurrection but an afterlife. However, we have Jesus and we have a resurrection and we will live on for eternity in the presence of God. Let us not be weighted down with the burden of life, with the depression that it seems Solomon paints the picture of. Let us rejoice because we are in Christ! Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised for he has done it, he has saved us from the fate of the grave.   

Our God

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

OUR GOD

Eccl 8:9-17

9 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried — those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless. 11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. 14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. 16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth — his eyes not seeing sleep day or night— 17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.

NIV

Life happens, sometimes things just seem like they are the way they are supposed to be, at least how we think they are supposed to be. There are people who use others for their own benefit, but instead it is to their own hurt or it turns out evil for them as the Hebrew word implies. We might think this is what the wicked do, but not the righteous. Yet who is it that comes and goes from the holy place? Are they just the church goes, the pretenders of religion, or are they actually the righteous? It seems they would be the pretenders, for what they do is so they can get praise from men. Righteous people would not do that. We would not do that, doing works for the praise of men, would we?  No, we would do things for the praise from God. Solomon is inspired to voice a thought about civil or criminal law and the need for swift court judgement and the punishment of wrong doers. It seems in the day of Solomon it was not much different than in our days. When wrong doing is not punished, then people think they can get away with wrong doing. Just think how many people exceed the speed limit, no one gets caught and so everyone speeds, although it is still against the law. It seems the same way with bigger crimes as well. No swift punishment and more people commit crimes thinking it will be years before they receive their due punishment. Living to please God, to revere God is always the better course of life. This type of life does lengthen our days, like forever, for all eternity will our days be. Surely we will face death in the flesh, but we will live as the shadow lengthens. It just keeps getting longer and longer as long as it is day. The wicked will not enjoy that experience no matter how great their life seems at the moment. But then sometimes it seems the opposite is true. As far as this life in the flesh is concerned, the righteous could die young and the wicked could live a long and prosperous life. It’s meaningless, in the grand scheme of things, according to God. The best we can do is to live our life pleasing to God, but at the same time enjoying the life he has given us. Enjoy our spouse, our children, our work, the labor of our hands, enjoy the provisions of the Lord. Enjoy knowing he loves us and cares about us. Living with joy is so much better than with gloom. Being content in life is so much better than living with wanting more and more, always being discontent with our lot in life. Man might labor, but what has God done? It is better to trust in God than in our labor. Yet in all our efforts we still cannot fully comprehend all that God has done. No matter how long we study and apply all the skill and knowledge of all who have gone before us and add the great minds of today, we will never completely grasp everything that goes on under the sun. God has created far more than we will ever be able to understand. How awesome is God? Far more awesome than we can ever imagine. So we live with the peace of knowing we are his people and he is our God.

How to Live, How to Die

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

HOW TO LIVE, HOW TO DIE

Eccl 8:1-8

8:1 Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things? Wisdom brightens a man's face and changes its hard appearance.

2 Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?" 5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. 6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him.

7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? 8 No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

NIV

There are two basic ways to live, one as a wise person, the other as a wicked or foolish person.  There are two ways to die, one as a wise person the other as a fool. The foolish one never enjoys the total peace of mind the wise person does. This is what is meant by being wise for wisdom brightens a man’s face. Wisdom only comes from God and so as we enter into a personal relationship with God we are changed from a dull face to a brightened face. The hard exterior of the fool, or wicked is changed and softened because of being in Christ. Living as a wise person recognizes our need for forgiveness and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Living as a wicked person, although they may be nice people, they refuse to see the need for forgiveness and accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. We do not call them wicked, God does. He says their face is hard, against him. Then who is the king we are to obey? It would appear this was a custom among the Jewish people to swear an oath before their king. This remark about obeying the king’s command could make reference to the event of Solomon ascending to the throne of his Father David. The Jewish people were the people of God and they would have sworn this oath before God. Today, as new citizens of our country, during their naturalization ceremony, they swear to obey the laws of this land. We as citizens also are expected and commanded by God to obey the laws of the land, in essence the commands of the king. The idea of standing up for a bad cause is the same as breaking the law. In that sense the king, the law will do to us what it will do, the law is final in all civil matters. If we break the law we can expect to get punished in some form or another. If we are wise, that is if we are believers, Christians then we will know the proper time and procedure in following the commands of the law. Sometimes that may not be convenient, especially if we leave the house a little late, and it requires breaking the speed limit to arrive on time. But there is another law at work in the soul of a man, the law of God. Here too we could apply all that has been said. The wise man obeys the law of or command of God and wicked does not. The key to the whole of the command of God is in the gospel message. Those of us who have accepted Jesus have nothing to fear from God, but those who break his command, refuse to follow Jesus, they will see the punishment due them. What comes next is the truth of life, death. There is not a single person who knows that future, the hour of their death. It is not as if we can live as the wicked all our life and then a couple of hours before we know we are going to die, we repent, get saved and receive the crown of life. The fact is our next breath could be our last, it can happen at a split second and then what happens. We either live for God or not. At the hour of death, if we have been living for God, wonderful. But if we have been living for wickedness, we will not be released from it at death. It then is too late to do anything about it. So the truth is that we should live in wisdom not foolishness.

Uprightness or Schemes

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

UPRIGHTNESS OR SCHEMES

Eccl 7:27-29

27 "Look," says the Teacher, this is what I have discovered:

"Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things— 28 while I was still searching but not finding — I found one [upright] man among a thousand, but not one [upright] woman among them all. 29 This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes."

NIV

It might be one of the interesting points of this saying about the Teacher that we should consider. The Hebrew word used here for Teacher means an assembler or preacher, but the most interesting thing is this particular word is a feminine active participle of another word for preacher. Then this “Teacher” Solomon speaks of is a woman preacher. Considering what he has just said about women being a snare who traps a man’s heart and her hands put him in chains, it is strange, in sort of a way that he is listening to what the woman teacher has to say. So, what is she saying? Not only all that Solomon just said about women, but that she is adding one more thing to discover about the scheme of things. We like the NLT version of these next few verses the best, as it does seem to see a clearer picture. 

Eccl 7:27-29

"I came to this result after looking into the matter from every possible angle. 28 Just one out of every thousand men I interviewed can be said to be upright, but not one woman! 29 I discovered that God created people to be upright, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path."

NLT

Just one man in a thousand is not very good at all. We would think there should be more than that. It is not even 1 percent, it is more like .001 percent. Yet the teacher, a women herself could not find one single woman who was upright. Now that is a sad state of affairs. What does this say about mankind? It appears the whole of the idea is that God created man to be upright, to be pure and holy. Adam was innocent of evil as so was Eve. They were pure without fault. They knew no guilt and no shame. But the temptation presented to them was too desirable and they submitted to its claim of being like God. They knew God as their creator, their Father who knew everything. They wanted to be like him, but with the wrong motives. We say we want to be like Jesus, but not in the same sense. We know we are man and he is God. We understand he is everything and we are not. We were upright in the beginning but Adam went down his own path. This is how we must be as well. Who among us can say, “I am upright”? If we were, we would not need Jesus. No, we have gone in search of many schemes. There are so many schemes it would take nearly a book to enumerate all the ways in which we try to find happiness, peace and contentment, but all of them, the material, emotional and even religious schemes leave us wanting. Mankind lives with a God shaped hole in its being. No matter the scheme we try, the God shaped void is still there. The only one who can fill that void, is God, and he is not a scheme. Confession of our emptiness, our constant searching, and our scheming to gain whatever is our first step to recovery of this empty life and filling that void. Once we have done that, we can accept Christ into our life and find everything we have ever needed. We cannot afford to go down that path of searching for some scheme. We cannot afford to go down any other path other than the one who leads to God. Because we are in Christ we have regained the condition of being upright, but only as we are in Christ. It is his uprightness which we are in.

Live in Wisdom

DEVOTION

                                                                                 ECCLESIASTES         

LIVE IN WISDOM

Eccl 7:23-26

23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

"I am determined to be wise"— but this was beyond me. 24 Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound — who can discover it? 25 So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly. 26 I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.

NIV

Indeed, in our humanity we will never find any wisdom, for if it is to be found, it will be in the divine. It does not matter if we try to be wise, or act as if we are wise, the fact is we are not, and it does not matter how much we determine to be wise, it will always evade us, it is beyond our reach as humans. However, as we know Solomon was made the wisest of all men who had ever lived and who will ever live after him from the hand of God. He asked God for a discerning heart in order to govern as king over the people. God provided him more wisdom then anyone ever had or will have. Yet, there still is wisdom to be had from the hand of God. We will never be as wise as Solomon, but God still has wisdom to hand out to those who seek it from him. In our humanity we will never discover this wisdom, but in the word of God it abounds. As we turn to search out this wisdom within God, within his word, we too can find understanding, and investigate where this wisdom is. But through some investigation we can also understand the scheme of things and the stupidity of wickedness. This too we can find in the word of God. He is very specific as to the outcome of living the wicked life. When we see how God clearly states the wicked will never stand in the assembly of the righteous, and their fate is the lake of burning sulfur, why would anyone chose to be stupid and live as the wicked. It is surprising how so many of the wicked think they are the wise and we who are the righteous, are the stupid ones. It is amazing how they think they possess wisdom and we do not because we believe in something we cannot see, a god of our making, or imagination. They think it is foolish to trust in God, when we can achieve so much for ourselves. But we know the madness of their folly. The devil would try to convince us to join the fray, and trust in ourselves more than God. But we know his schemes, the word of God exposes them to us. So we stand firm, we stay put and continue to seek God and his wisdom. One of those schemes is given to us by Solomon in the next verses. The snare of a woman, whose heart is a trap and hands are chains. Solomon says she is more bitter then death. That is harsh. God designed us to want a woman. He made man and then saw that man should not be alone and created woman to be his mate. How can Solomon say those thing against a woman? It would seem he is not talking about our mates, our life partners, but of the wiles of lust for others. Sexuality is a fact of our life, but it also can be a trap, a snare, a chain that binds us up and keeps us imprisoned, if we endeavor to live outside the boundaries God has established in that area. But there is freedom to be had within how he established us to live alongside his chosen mate for us. He has established our life and keeps us safe within it. When we desire to please God we can escape her temptation, but the sinner, those who do not desire to please God will be ensnared by her. Let us live as God intended. Then we live in wisdom.  

Attention

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

ATTENTION

Eccl 7:19-22

19 Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city. 20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. 21 Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you— 22 for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.

NIV

Lots of little tidbits within all that Solomon writes as he is inspired by God. Evidently it does not take a lot of brains to be a ruler, or rather we should say wisdom. There are a whole lot of people who have attained some degree of education and have much knowledge on certain matters, such as governance, or how to be a politician, but that does not imply they have wisdom. However, the person who is wise has far greater power, or authority than those ten politicians do. However, no matter how much education or wisdom a person has, both of them are not without sin. Even those of us who would be considered by some, or maybe by ourselves, as righteous are still not without sin. If we think for one minute that we have no sin within us, or that we can live one day without committing sin we deceive ourselves and call God a liar. Who do we think we are, Jesus? How can we ever think we don’t sin? Maybe some get confused about this original and personal sin issue some denominations include in their statement of faith. But the fact is as a human being it is impossible to attain perfection and be sinless. However, we can say that because we are in Christ, God sees us as holy and blameless. Still, we have to understand being seen as blameless, does not make us blameless. God sees us through the work of Christ on the cross. He sees us through the blood of Jesus. The test would be if we got out from under the blood, then how would God see us? Certainly not holy and blameless. So there we go. The need of being in Christ is essential to life itself. As far as paying attention to all the words of people, we could be driven crazy. People might say some nasty things about us, even just because we are Christians. Although even setting our beliefs aside, we can find some people just do not like us and are rather nasty to us, even curse us. We know we have never done that, or have we? The key is in the meaning of the Hebrew word this translation uses curse. It is not really a cursing as a curse word, or a vulgar cuss word, or putting a curse on someone. This Hebrew word might better be seen as to make light of, to laugh at, to be of little account, to be trifling. So then it might be better to see how we treat each other, or consider how little we see others as. Which would then be considering ourselves more highly then we ought. When we make light of someone, we dismiss them as not meaning much as a person. We disrespect them, and in essence then disrespect God, for they too, like us, are the creation of God and he loves them just as he loves us. So then if they make light of us, or dismiss us, they are the ones failing to see the creation of God correctly and we should not pay much attention to this dismissal of us. But we surely need to pay attention, that we do not dismiss or make light of others, at least to the best of our ability to pay attention to the Spirit.

Finding Joy

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

FINDING JOY

Eccl 7:13-18

13 Consider what God has done:

Who can straighten what he has made crooked? 14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.

15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness. 16 Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise — why destroy yourself? 17 Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool — why die before your time? 18 It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all [extremes].  

NIV

How difficult is it to consider we have no effect on the real things that matter. We cannot change that which God has established. Just sit back and consider all that God has done. Who of us can change how the earth turns or the angle it sits at, or its orbit? Who of us can change how the moon orbits the earth or how the moon makes the tides of the ocean? Who of us can make it rain, snow, hail, lighting or thunder? Who of us can cause a tornado, a hurricane, or a rainbow? Who of us can cause the wind to blow or to stop blowing? How vain man can become in his accomplishments and yet we have done nothing when we consider all that God has done. So we are left with this life that, yes, even God gave. When we experience those good times in life, be happy. All too often we are so consumed with our next years, or future, we barely take time to stop and smell the roses. We have to make ready for our golden years and miss out on the good times of the now. That is not to say we should just sit back and do nothing, but the idea is we should enjoy our life because we have a lot of good days to enjoy. But if there are some days that are not so good, so what, God has made both those days. There is always something to learn about our life, from the good and the bad days. Our relationship with God is the primary concern and not our future. There are so many verses which talk about not be anxious for tomorrow, we would think we would get the point and just live in the joy of the Lord and enjoy each day God gives us to the fullest. Now Solomon seeing how vain all of life can be continues to consider the aspects of life. If we think we truly have control over the number of our days, we are deceiving ourselves. Of course someone can take their own life, and circumvent any aspect of God, but who would do that being of sound mind? Yet the fact remains God has our days numbered. It really does not matter if we are among the righteous or the wicked, he still has our days numbered. Because we are righteous, it does not guarantee a long life nor because someone is wicked it does not mean they will die early in life. Which of us can add a day to his life, or an inch to his height or his future?

Matt 6:25-34

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

NIV

This whole idea of not being overly wise or overly foolish, being so self-centered in all that we do, it all is meaningless or vanity and it brings no more days to our life. There is no point in being over righteous, or over wise. That is vanity. It is self-destructive. We spend so much time in trying to act righteous or getting so much knowledge, education, wisdom that we simply miss out on the joy of the Lord and end up destroying ourselves, or not being happy in the good days. There is no point in being over wicked either for that only brings us death and sooner than later. Certain behaviors can shorten our days, at least that is how it sounds. But if we fear the Lord, if we live in reverence of the Lord, considering all he has done and his almighty power and sovereignty, then we will avoid all those extremes and live the life God intended us to live, in his grace and peace, with joy in our hearts, content with what God is doing in our life. This is a life of real freedom. Free from worry, free from anxiety, stress, discontentment, sadness, greed, and whatever else that would bind us up and keep us from the joy of the Lord.  

Preserving Life

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

PRESERVING LIFE

Eccl 7:7-12

7 Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart. 8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. 9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.

10 Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions. 11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. 12 Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.

NIV

There are a lot of different individual sayings that maybe we should have taken them just one by one, but at the same time they could be seem all together. This word translated as extortion might also be translated fraud and it has to do with being oppressed. The bribe is in the center of this fraud or oppression. The bribe is the promise of something of value for a certain activity. It is usually seen as a promise of wealth in the context of Solomon’s writings. This is the promise that can corrupt the heart of a wise man. The wise man seeks God, the corrupt heart seeks the promised bribe. Sometime the beginning of this situation can seem alright, but it is far better to get it over with, to get to the end of foolishness, put it to rest and get back to the way it was before the bride came alone. In the Hebrew the word spirit is attached to this choice of being patient or prideful. To have patience in spirit is far better than to be high minded in the spirit. This is back to the wise and foolish. Only a fool would think more highly of himself then he ought, especially in spiritual matters. But the idea is that the high minded can be easily provoked, quickly provoked into anger which is foolish. It is far better to live with patience, to keep from those dumb conversations which lead to heated arguments over issues which will not be resolved. Those kind of words reside in the lap of fools. In addition, it is not a good thing to look back to the past thinking how the “good ole days” were. We have often said that if we are chained to our past we cannot move into our future. This is the meaning regarding the words God inspired Solomon to speak about the old days. Then he goes on to speak of the benefit of wisdom which is an inheritance, what is ahead, the rest of life. Wisdom is a benefit for us that are alive, or see the sun. It could be a play on words about the sun, if we were to spell it “Son”. The Hebrew means to be brilliant, as the sun, or we could see it as the brilliance of God. Nevertheless the idea is wisdom looks to the future, not the past, it is a shelter, as wealth is a form of shelter. However, as Solomon has said many times already about the foolishness of trying to make wealth our shelter, he goes on to say that wisdom is what is going to preserve our life. The wise man puts his trust in God, the fool in wealth. Let us put an end to foolishness and live with wisdom, thus preserving life.

Which is Better

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

WHICH IS BETTER

Eccl 7:1-6

7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. 5 It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke than to listen to the song of fools. 6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.

NIV

Once again Solomon makes some comparisons between several things, such as life and death, a wise man and a foolish man, and sorrow and laughter, mourning and feasting. There are more but let us take a look at each one as they are spoken. There is something to be said about having a good name, although we are not very interested in fine perfume. However in the day of Solomon as even during the life of Jesus fine perfume was a very expensive commodity. When Mary poured perfume on Jesus, even his disciples were indignant because they said it could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor. That was a big deal, very expensive stuff. So a good name is better than all the money it costs to buy that expensive perfume. A good name means we mean what we say, our name is our word. People either know we always speak the truth or they don’t. It is not good to be known as having a bad name, or people to think badly about us. Why would the day of death be better than the day of life? We celebrate life usually a lot more than death.  When someone dies, we usually mourn, or go to the house of mourning. When someone is born we usually have a party of sorts, we go to the house of feasting. So then why does Solomon think the opposite is better, to mourn because of a birth and feast because of a death? Is this from a human perspective or a divine one? Certainly God is the giver of life. Yet as a believer we might think death, at least the death of this body, would be better than being born. We are not certain we would like to live all our life all over again, starting at birth. But the day we step into eternity should be a day of rejoicing. We all are going to die. There is not one person alive, not one person who has been born that is going to not die. Death is inevitable, there is nothing we can do to escape it. It will claim every person. So then, during these few moments of life, we should take to heart the destiny that awaits us, death. Are we going to go down to the grave, or are we going to rise to meet the Lord. The choice seems simple enough yet many have decided to live for all they can get in life and refuse to accept what death brings, or just don’t care. Some who do not believe in God, or heaven and hell, could not care less about what happens after death, so live it up, make merry, feast away while they can. The rest of this saying is about the fool and the wise. It is a wise thing, it is true wisdom to see the truth of God and that he is the only hope for life after death. Sorrow is better than laughter. That is the idea that thinking with wisdom about eternal matters is far better than the fools who simply live for the temporary pleasures of this short life. No, we will not listen to the song of the fool, we will listen to the word of God. Their lot, their destiny is so horrible to even think about. Yet we should in the sense that we have a new song they could sing, if only they heard it. If we remain silent and do not sing the new song, the music of God, they cannot hear it and if they do not hear, they cannot believe. So let us sing our song, the song of the Lord, let us spread his song wherever we go. That is living with wisdom, rather than with foolishness. This is better.

He Is

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

HE IS

Eccl 6:7-12

7 All man's efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied. 8 What advantage has a wise man over a fool? What does a poor man gain by knowing how to conduct himself before others? 9 Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 10 Whatever exists has already been named, and what man is has been known; no man can contend with one who is stronger than he. 11 The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone? 12 For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?

NIV

It is sort of sad as to how Solomon sees the life of a man, but again he is looking at man from man’s point of view. God has a totally different view of man, than Solomon has. Yet Solomon is inspired by God to write these words about the futility of the man who lives for himself. This is the idea of all his efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied. The point is about all living for self and self always needs more. When we live and put all our efforts into satisfying our own wants, we never have enough, and it does not matter if a person is wise or foolish, the result is the same. Rich or poor, wise or foolish, if driven by greed, neither are ever satisfied. It is better to be content with what we can see, what we have, then to always have roving eyes, always looking to the more we can have, always trying to fulfill our craving for more. It is sort of like the craving for a White Castle, one is just not enough. But alas all that type of lifestyle is just a chasing after the wind. It is meaningless, or as in the Hebrew, vanity. We are not sure about the rest of this section. What does it mean that whatever exists has already been named and what man is has been known? We think it has to be seen in light of the next few words about no man can contend with one who is stronger than he. This stronger one would have to be God. What man can contend with God? God knew everything before he created man. He knew Adam before he formed him. Everything regarding man, God has already known, which would include us. He knew every, all the days of our life, before we were born. How can we contend with that? How can we judge that as the direct meaning of the Hebrew implies? How do we rightly determine, judge, the idea that God is. He has no past, or future, he just is. He has no beginning, no end, he just is. He has always been and will always be, he just is. Is denotes present tense, he is always in the present, thus he knows before what we think before we think it. It would not matter how many words we could write. Whole books have been written about the omnipresence of God and yet they have less meaning then those two words, he is. No man can tell the future, most certainly his own. Only God knows what will happen in our life. We can make all our plans and they might be meaningless, as God has something else in store for us. How vain to think we have our life all planned out accordingly as if we are the masters of our own course. Do we think God just sits up there and waits to see what we try to do? He already knows what we will try to do, he ordained our life, and he is the master of our life. If he even stops thinking about us, poof, we don’t exist anymore. We actually have no clue what life will bring our way, and we have no clue what will happen in the life of others after we are gone. No one can predict anything will happen, not even the next day, or for that matter the next hour. Sure, the weather people might be able to predict it will rain in the next hour or so, but then they could be wrong, it has happened. But we are talking about our life. We don’t even know if we will be alive tomorrow, much less what will happen during the day. Sure we know we are supposed to go to work, and what that work consists of. But do we know we will get there? Anything could happen which interrupts what we think we will do the next day, or the next hour. But God knows because he is. So we need to live with the “I AM” as our main source of everything, our daily life, our whole life, for simply put, He is.

To Enjoy or Not to Enjoy

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

TO ENJOY OR NOT TO ENJOY

Eccl 6:1-6

6:1 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: 2 God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. 5 Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

NIV

It seems Solomon is inspired to write a whole lot of about wealth and its result upon a man. Again, we need to remember he is the wisest and the riches man to every live. He also seems to be a man who knows God quite well, who sought God out in prayer. But he is writing from this human perspective, man simply living as man in the world and living by the standard of the world. However, he does see what man has is a gift of God, such as he speaks here about God being the one who gives man wealth. Some men would say their wealth is because of their smarts, their efforts, their wisdom in managing their portfolio, their investments. But that is not the case, for God is specific in this matter. He is the one who gives man wisdom, wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires. But there is a catch. God does not enable him to enjoy them. The Hebrew carries the meaning of permit to enjoy or the power or dominion over them.  Solomon says it is a grievous evil. God does not do evil. But it is an evil thing for man to have all those desires and get everything and not get to enjoy them, but to leave them behind so a stranger enjoys them. Again this is all about making that wealth and possession and honor the central focus of life. Even among us Christians, we can have this same problem. We can get catch up in the world’s ways of wanting wealth and possessions and even honor. Do we not want people to think highly of us? Do we not want to be seen as upright holy, spiritually righteous believers in Christ? Do we not want people to think we know our bible, quoting verses as if we have it all memorized. Do we not get all dressed up for the benefit of looking good to others? Then this whole idea of either writing checks, or having our giving recorded so somebody knows how much we give, is it not all about seeking honor? Some churches give special honor to the big givers. We have seen it happen. Again God inspires Solomon to consider the matter of a man living many years, having many children, being blessed beyond measure by God and still no matter how long he lives he cannot enjoy all he has, and he does not get a proper burial. What does that mean? What is a proper burial? We all get put in the ground, somehow. Well some get cremated and their ashes either get kept on the mantel or thrown to the winds or in the sea. Nevertheless the man’s life is over and if he spent it all in the pursuit of increasing his wealth, making it his focus, his idol, then God says he is worst off then a stillborn child. Although a stillborn never sees life, the sun, it has more rest then this man who chases after wealth and never stops to smell the roses, never stops to enjoy his prosperity, he just keeps wanting more, never satisfied with what he has. How awful to live like that. What use is life if it is chasing after that which perishes? When we focus on God, when we live for Christ, we find true joy. God gives us a peace of mind, a restful spirit. He gives us contentment within, freeing us from anxiety, worry and stress about life. This is a life we can enjoy.

Gladness of Heart

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

GLADNESS OF HEART

Eccl 5:13-20

13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:

Wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,   14 or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him. 15 Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. 16 This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind? 17 All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.

18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him — for this is his lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work — this is a gift of God. 20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.

NIV

Although we are very aware that many times the scripture speaks of the danger of chasing after wealth, here Solomon, under the inspiration of the Lord, says wealth is actually harmful to its owner. Why is that? What harm can there be in having some extra money? It may not be harmful to have a little extra, but it appears this is speaking to greed. The constant chasing after wealth, the hoarding of it, trying always to find ways to gain more. Some have chased after wealth to their death and to what gain? In the more modern times many have invested their money in an effort to gain more without laboring for it. This can also cause wealth lost through some misfortune. Although it is true the wealthy have a more personal possessions and far better and bigger than we have, they still leave it all behind as we do. It would also appear they enjoy life with all the trappings of wealth. What the point seems to be is that we cannot make wealth an idol for it is just good for the temporary span of life in the world. Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven. We have even struggled getting a tiny thread through the eye of a needle, and know it would be no harder, but impossible to get a camel through it. Sure, some have tried to make the case that Jesus was taking about some gate to the city which when closed only had a small opening one man at a time could still enter. But that is false teaching. Jesus meant the eye of a sewing needle, the Greek words bear that out. Wealth has its way of becoming the god of people and thus prohibit them from seeing the kingdom of God. That is harsh. But anything which becomes an idol replaces faith in God, especially wealth, because it is too easy to put our trust in wealth. So how should we live? First we have to seek first the kingdom of God above all else. There can be nothing worth as much as that. In all reality we are born naked with nothing and we leave naked, with nothing. Everything in between is vanity, meaningless, unless we are pursuing God. Solomon gives this advice to us about how to live with gladness of heart. First he tells those who chase after wealth they eat all the days of their lives in darkness, with great frustration affliction and anger. Wow, that is harsh, just because they wanted wealth instead of God. But for us we are to just enjoy each day, enjoy our labor, our jobs, and our work. Enjoy the food on our table and the drink in our mouths. We are to find satisfaction in our labor, it is a gift from God. Even for those who God does give wealth and possessions, and as a side note, in comparison to many people we are wealthy and have many possessions. True, there are a lot who have far more than we do, but still when we look around we have much to enjoy. Yet there is a difference. What do they reflect on and what do we reflect on? If we sit around reflecting on wealth and possession we see we need more and desire to increase our wealth and possession. We become occupied in the pursuit of more, we have to have enough to enjoy whatever we what now as well as enough to store up for later years. It becomes an obsession, it dominates our thinking, our reason to work. This is that danger which leads to the frustration, affliction and anger, eating in darkness. But, when God provides us with wealth and possession it is because we chose to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and so we do not have to sit and reflect on our wealth, we do not always look to our wealth for support, or trust in it because God keeps us occupied with gladness of heart.

A Sweet Night's Sleep

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

A SWEET NIGHT’S SLEEP

Eccl 5:10-12

10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.

NIV

Although we ended with verse 10 yesterday, it really fits with the rest of these phrases. The idea of the goods increase and do they that consume them has to do with the everyday problems of business. Let’s say a wealthy man employees ten workers in his shop and produces one hundred items to sell. Because he wants more, he hires 10 more workers and now he has two hundred items to sell, but his expenses increased at the same rate so he has the same amount of profit, all he can do it just look at how big is shop is. He has gained nothing because his cost of goods sold has increased. It is just vanity that he wanted that bigger shop. But he keeps at it because he is never satisfied with what he had, never enough wealth. The workers go home and enjoy their evening, their family, and they get a good night’s sleep, all is well. No worries, no troubles about how the next day’s business will be. The abundance of the rich man keeps him up at night, he tosses and turns, concerned about his profit margins, how he can make them better, how can he gain more wealth. Does it sound like sour grapes because we have little wealth, and we are but the worker? How can it be sour grapes? We did not write these verses, Solomon did, under the inspiration of God. The Lord did not intent for man to be so consumed with wealth, that it becomes an idol, a mini god, a treasure of value, which is stored up or hoarded for some future needs. Those needs never come because they never have enough wealth, never have enough stored up. That is God’s thoughts, not ours. Maybe we should take heed to his thoughts. Maybe?  "Maybe" is a horrible idea. We should take heed of his thoughts. We are supposed to listen to God. So we go to work and enjoy our labor as we labor as if we labor for the Lord. We have enough, we get paid just the right amount and we trust in the Lord for all we have. He provides us with the right job, career, profession or position that he knows is best for us. We can go home without concern for the next day, without anxiety, without stress. Life is good living content in the Lord. Do we have enough? Absolutely, we have far more than many others and far less than many others. But what concern is that of ours, we need only be content with what we have. No envy, no jealously, no greed or lust for more is far better than the alternative. Always discontent with what we have, always looking for a way to get more. It is a vicious cycle, the more we have, the more we want, and that is not enough, so we want more and on and on it goes, until we die, and leave it all behind. Even if it is not money, we want the things it buys, we store up stuff. We have to rent places to store our stuff so we can go open the door once and a while and look at all our stuff. Sure, sometimes there is no other way to do it, but it is the same idea, how much do we want to store up? We need to see the Lord as the greatest treasure, the pearl of great price. He is the only one who can give us life. He is the only one we can find true joy and contentment, peace and security in. Nothing else really matters.  We live as he provides. We have what his hand gives. We have learned to be content in whatever situation in life we are in. We have learned to be content with much and with little, life is more than how much we have, how much we have to eat, how many clothes we have to wear, or what kind of house we have, or car we drive. Life is more than our position, our station, our profession, our title, or the amount of education we have, or degrees. Even if we have all of that, our life is about our relationship with the Lord. There is a gauge we can use to see how our life measures up.  What is our main focus? What do we spend the most of our thought life about? What do we spend the most of our energy on? Do we get a sweet night’s sleep?

The Treasure Hunt

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

THE TREASURE HUNT

Eccl 5:8-10

8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. 9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

NIV

If we think the government is actually caring for the poor, we are in for a big surprise. For the whole of mankind’s existence the rich and powerful have always oppressed the poor. It is the way of the world. Solomon saw that in his time, but we also have to remember this is the word of God. Solomon was inspired by God to write about this oppression of the poor by the official, and the official over him and the official over him. This is the definition of government. They always keep the poor oppressed for the benefit of power over them, always promising to give them everything, but giving them nothing, no justice and no rights. God has seen this from the beginning of man’s interaction with other men, even between the first two brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain did not give Abel justice and he denied him his rights, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Well that did not come to thousands of years later in a land far away from the field of blood in Cain’s time. But the point is the same, one man oppresses the other for his own personal benefit. This increase in the land being taken by all expresses the idea that individual profit does not exist, as it has to be shared with everyone else. Again a definition of government, especially in our post-modern era in this land. The redistribution  of wealth has become the motto or mantra as of late, with the promise of free everything for all, except those who are the officials and the officials over them, for they take everything and as much as possible for themselves at the expense of others. This idea of never having enough money has been a curse on mankind by the devil himself. Everything of late is about how much money do we have. Radio ads are full of money managers, or sellers of gold. “What does your portfolio look like” “Will you have enough to live the good life in your retirement?” It is all about sowing the seeds of discontentment for the profit of those either selling their services or their gold. This whole idea just creates more greed, more of wanting more and more, never being satisfied. The world’s way is all haywire, upside down, designed to drive men mad for money, power and sensual pleasures. We have seen it over and over again. Those in power abuse it for their pleasure and they have an insatiable appetite for more, never able to satisfy their need for more money, which allows them more power and the ability to oppress the poor even more. Everything is topsy-turvey, a world of turmoil. This is also meaningless, or as the Hebrew word means full of vanity. It means nothing. It has no real value. This is not the design of God and we who believe should not be partakers in this insanity. Although we have to live within the world we are not to be of this world. We are not to allow vanity, greed, and the love of money to influence how we live. When the question of why do we exist is asked, who of the greedy will answer correctly? Let us live to please the Lord, the giver of true life, where we find what is of true value. Where our treasure is there also will our heart be. Where is our treasure?