Living Wisely

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

LIVING WISELY

Eccl 1:12-18

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

15 What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

NIV

Well, we are not the king over another and in that sense we cannot relate to what Solomon is saying about being king over Israel. However, we are a nation, a royal priesthood and we should devote ourselves to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the sun. What does that mean? First what is wisdom? Does Solomon mean human wisdom or divine wisdom? From The Hebrew word used here it does implies human wit, or skillfulness. That is a heavy burden to be placed upon man. We do have some men who have a great deal of knowledge, the academics are filled with knowledge, the scientists are filled with knowledge and there are many others in all sorts of fields, engineering, medicines, mathematics, education, just to name a few, that have great knowledge of things under the sun. But wisdom alludes many people, no matter the degree of knowledge they possess. Even Solomon did not attain wisdom from human means, for it was given to him by God. What we know is that God is wisdom and he does bestow wisdom on men, however no one will ever be given as much wisdom as the Lord gave to Solomon. The Lord declared it to be so. However, Solomon is viewing everything that is done under the sun from a human perspective and all that humanity does is a chasing after the wind, and is meaningless. Again this is spoken about man’s efforts without God. If man refuses God, then man is twisted and he cannot straighten himself. Because he is lacking in the knowledge of God, in having a relationship with the Lord, his life cannot be counted in the assembly of the righteous, his name will be blotted out of the book of life. Now for humanity that engages in life outside of acknowledging the Lord, they can apply all their human wisdom and fullness of knowledge, or they can engage in madness and folly. It matters not which that choose, either one is like chasing after the wind. There is only one true course of life which yields merit, and that is chasing after the Lord. To seek the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength is the wisest pursuit in life. All the human wisdom and knowledge only product sorrow and grief, for in the last day, they will not be counted, their names will have been blotted out of the book of life and they will be cast into the lake of burning sulfur. Talk about sorrow and grief, we cannot even imagine how much they will suffer. What value is life if it is separated from God? What value is there is gaining the whole world if it is at the cost of the soul? Let us remain in our focus on life in Christ, the true value, the real treasure to behold. Even then as he did with Solomon, we may have true wisdom, not as much as Solomon, but still all true wisdom comes from the Lord. He will not withhold any good thing from those who love him. Wisdom is a good thing. Knowledge is good, but wisdom holds the key to rightly applying knowledge. Let us live wisely.