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.