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.