8/13/12. Ecclesiastes 7:1-14. WISDOM PRESERVES THOSE WHO HAVE IT Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
8/13/12. Ecclesiastes 7:1-14. WISDOM PRESERVES THOSE WHO HAVE IT
Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF Monday August 13, 2012
Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 Key Verse: 7:8
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”
Dear Lord heavenly Father, thank you for the Gospel that saves us from our sins and grants us eternal life. Thank you for granting meaning and mission to our lives and true hope in our lives. Lord, I pray that you help me to share with others, about the work of God in Uganda. May it inspire others to live as missionaries. Lord, please put your word in my heart today. Help me to focus on Jesus and our word. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!
Part 1: What The Living Should Take To Heart (1-12).
Verses 1-12 read, “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 everyone; the living should take this to heart. 3 Frustration 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 the rebuke of a wise person 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. 7 Extortion turns a wise person 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: Wisdom preserves those who have it.”
The Teacher sets forth that one who does not contemplate his death, as part of his life, is not living a meaningful life. One who lives ignoring the reality of his death must live for momentary pleasures in order to forget about the reality of living in a fallen world. Hard times teach us more than happy times. When we live like we will not die, we live with pride and live a lie. We can live our life with patient hearts and await our departure from this world without anxiety. When we live with wisdom we live our lives in a calm shelter and our lives are actually preserved for eternity.
What I get out of this is that I must live my life with the end of my life in perspective. I am not living in this world forever. I am a pilgrim, just passing through. I may extend my life 10-15 years with the proper diet and exercise, but I am still just passing through on my way to the kingdom of God. People, without a hope in the Kingdom of God try to forget about this reality in many ways. In this passage we see that they seek out luxury (perfume) and focus on the beginning of life (birth) and not the end. They feast, they laugh, they live for pleasure, they “sing the song of fools”, they extort and give and take bribes in order to get rich in this world, they are proud and get angry, they reminisce about the past only, not thinking about eternal life in the Kingdom of God, nor what God will do. They just yearn for how easy it was for them in the past. The Bible says that this is all foolishness, if that is all we have in our hearts.
I thank God for showing me the truth and teaching me the way I need to see life. Please Lord show me the end of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am. Help me to place all my hope in you and live in joyful expectation of your coming and eternal life in your kingdom. When this perspective becomes a reality in my life, my life becomes filled with God’s wisdom which is a shelter to my mind and my heart and preserves me all the way to the Kingdom of God. What a great gift! What a joy!
Part 2: Consider What God Has Done (13-14).
Verses 13-14 read, “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 this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.”
All things are under God’s sovereignty. There are no accidents with God. He has led our lives until now. Our future is in his hand. Both the good times and the bad have a purpose in his plan. When we see crooked things, like injustice or violence, we may come up with creative methods to fix them, but sometimes these things are beyond our control. We need to ultimately trust God for all things. I need to trust in God in the changes in my spiritual life. I need to trust God in the constant demands for more and more money. I need to trust God with establishing the right relationships with my family. I need to trust God with the long string of night shifts at work. I need to trust God in all things in my life.
Prayer: Lord, life and death are in your hands. Give me a patient heart. May I find shelter in your wisdom and preserve my life unto eternity with you.
One Word: Consider what God has done
Interact with us using Facebook