Ecclesiastes

Do not Fear the Speedbumps

Dan

It was my observation while reading Solomon, He delivers a powerful call for us to embrace the wisdom of God (Ecclesiastes 8). It is difficult to read this chapter and not be affected by the clarity of God’s wisdom, the assurance of his grace, the power of service, and the outcome for evil.

He wrote an overview of God’s wisdom in Ecclesiastes 8:1-5 — Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things? A person’s wisdom brightens their face and changes their hard appearance. Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence; … Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?” Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure [NIV].

The judicious person seeks a wise heart. Finding the wise heart, we move with prudence, looking for the opportunities granted by God’s grace to help others. We use that wise heart to help us understand what needs to be done, when to act, and how to act. We use that wise heart to identify someone who needs help. Consider Mother Theresa’s decision theorem — How did she know who the help next? She just looked forward and noted who was standing in front of her. That person was the person that God has placed in her life, that was the person she helped.

What do we do with the person in front of us? We simply need to ask that person – what can I do to be helpful? God will provide the means to be helpful. Solomon clearly states our heart, properly infused by the Spirit of God, is able to discern both the right time to act and the right thing to do. It is the Father’s mercy that empowers this action, the blood of Jesus that justifies this action, and God’s Spirit that teaches us strategy and tactics. We will know how to prepare and move forward. God’s plan will prevail.

Consider the actions of Ester. We read in Esther 4:12-16 — When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. … I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish [NIV].

A person guided by God’s wisdom knows — be helpful. A simple mantra, but an incredibly powerful watch phrase to live by. We are to love others as Jesus loved us. We are to ‘be helpful’ in a manner driven by Gods love. When we are in the zone, we will be effective and find the right solution. Esther moved with haste and purpose. She was in the zone.  Alas, sometimes we miss the guidepost.

Therefore, we are wise to always respect the king. We must pay attention to what we say and what we do. Proverbs 30:32 says — If you play the fool and exalt yourself, or if you plan evil, clap your hand over your mouth! For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife [NIV]. We are wise not to race out of his sight at the first sign of displeasure with us, or when we are displeased with the outcome of his action.

As we walk through life, we may miss God’s guidepost and be drawn into a dark path. When this happens, immediately confess the sin and pull back. Do not stand in the sin. Recede to safe ground and then deal with the aftermath. God will light a path. He will love you back to safety. Wisdom and mercy will prevail. In God’s Grace, be helpful to others. Do not fear the speedbump, embrace wisdom.

I choose Jesus.

Not one Thing

Dan

It was my observation that Solomon understood the need to gather wisdom and build a compendium of sayings, yet he also was aware that too many books on any subject would numb the mind and lose the reader in a sea of weariness and daydreaming.

Solomon penned in Ecclesiastes 12:11-12 — The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body [NIV].

I mused at the visual scene created by the idea that wise words are like goads. Why? A goad was a long stick with a sharp point much like a nail, used by herders to move a stubborn animal. The goad is similar to wisdom shared with a person who is resisting change, the goad helps to reduce resistance to the nudge of God. When the pain exceeds the gain of resistance, movement begins.

The things that Solomon gleaned from Elohim have been used with great advantage by the children of Abraham. Solomon understood and built the messaging around this idea — wisdom from God is profitable to build clear statements of God’s intent, defense of the message, correction of the misguided, and expansion of our understanding of God’s way.

God’s wisdom can be received in humility, or it can be a goad. The effect is the same. God’s wisdom pulls us away from trouble, focusing our thoughts, amending our focus to glorify God. We all know the truth of God can be confrontive (Acts 2:37), it can lead us to a viewpoint we were not initially considering. The notion of a nail mentioned in Ecclesiastes 12:11-12 seems to be telling us that knowing the truth will ‘nail down’ our wavering and bobbling when navigating life. Where the goads are temporary pokes, the nails are a much more persistent navigational aid, guiding lights, boundaries on our activities that keep us safe in God. How is truth communicated? By the simple spoken word between friends, by writing (books and letters) and by mass meetings (church services, bible studies).

Spoken word. We call up a friend, set up a meeting at a coffee shop or in our back yard with a few chairs, and we share ideas. We talk about our needs, wants and troubles. We trade insight from God, and we help each other find the way forward. Wisdom is shared, God is glorified.

Written word. Letters and ideas are written down. The letters are passed around, the interest grows, and people realize that God’s wisdom is respected in the letter. During the days of the early church, in a very few cases, the letter becomes scripture. Did Paul understand the endgame when he started writing? I am not sure he understood at first; but I suspect later in his ministry he knew.

Oration. We gather as a community and appoint a wise leader to share insights with us. We draw strength from each other. Wisdom is shared. People are uplifted, lives are enriched. We, as a community honor the things of God, and grow together understanding the deeper truths of God.

I suspect if we had all the books ever written on wisdom, we would find it difficult to gain much value – data overload would arrest assimilation. We have as much as Elohim has seen fit to reveal, we can barely wrap our mind around scripture. It has been the goal of secular writers to generate tons of paper with advice of how to live our life without scripture – mere chaff. I am convinced no one can provide better instructions on wisdom than the Word of God. Nada. Not one other book.

I choose Jesus.

Finding the Right Words

Dan

It was my observation while reading the closing statements of the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon seemed to be frustrated in his quest for the right words. Even in his quest for the proper name of this book, he settled with Qoheleth, a Hebrew term that suggests the assembler of students and collector of wisdom. Notice he does not take credit for originating the wisdom, he knew everything he documented ultimately came from God, not his own thoughts or others.

We find this message in Ecclesiastes 12:8-10 — Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher, everything is meaningless! The Conclusion of the Matter. Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true [NIV].

This message of word selection was part of the closing themes in this wonderful book. Solomon tells us to find a place of rest, be clear in our actions, look to Elohim for answers. Solomon seems to be saying — I have been everywhere, tried everything, seen everything, and heard everything. He concluded; it was all meaningless. He tells us to talk with our friends, exchange ideas, help each other, and walk with God.

Solomon made it his business to follow the precepts of wisdom he had learned over the years. He knew from experience, even the ‘long in tooth’ needed guidance, there was always something deeper to explore in the truth. He knew that God’s thoughts will always outrun our best day of thinking. He took pleasure in the hunt for proverbs that could be used to teach wise actions. He moved beyond the obvious and trite. Solomon mined knowledge, he found the deeper thoughts of God with regards to subjects such as relationships, moral values, business actions, and government administration. Then Solomon dug deep inside of his heart to hear the best choice of words to express God’s wisdom.

When I was first learning how to string words together in a useful manner, I recall a senior engineer who would say to me – mean what you say and say what you mean. This had a profound effect during my fledgling days as an engineer writing stuff for satellite systems. He also helped me to understand, sentences should build on each other, they should gradually lead the reader from nothing into something useful to know. Later, I learned from Paul how to build a good argument (for status briefing slides) by looking at how Paul expressed ideas in his letters. Paul was trained in the art of logic in his early days. Paul was a master communicator – the right choice to document the New Covenant.

Solomon took the time to find acceptable phrases and terms, he looked for words that would delight and inform at the same time. He was careful to avoid incongruity within his expression. Both Solomon and David use repetition to reinforce and improve retention. You may have noted they often make a point and then repeat the statement in different words. I was taught in Officers Training School that repetition in a briefing improves listener retention. Retention of the plan leads to greater mission success.

Solomon learned an impeccable model and writing template from God when learning how to communicate. Writers have used Solomon’s teaching models and templates for thousands of years. There is no finer collection of wisdom than Solomon’s. Of course, we know he had a little help getting things gathered and finding just the right way to express the message. Solomon’s message is pure truth (Isaiah 30:10). Solomon’s model was easy to follow — Gather the facts. Break complex ideas down and present the ideas in the proper order to convey the complex idea. Use clear statements and logic to persuade men of the truth. During this process, always move man’s thoughts from himself to Elohim. This model is the first step to expressing truth as defined by the wisdom of God. It has stood the test of time. I choose Jesus.

Solomon

Dan

It was my observation while reading Ecclesiastes 12 that there was a significant amount of oxygen used by Solomon in the first few verses of the chapter on issues with old age. I get the sense that he is feeling his age, and the awareness that men in my age bracket have many more days behind us than are in front of us. It becomes prudent to pay careful attention to how we use the days we still have. I think when you read the section from Solomon I want to examine, it is easy to get lost in the sadness. Let us manage our thoughts and look for the wisdom present.

Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 — when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred.  Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets [NIV].

Solomon was living in the epicenter of Jerusalem, God’s land, God’s city, near God’s temple, the temple that Solomon had constructed. When the strong men stoop, they are in the streets that are full of the noise of life, children running back and forth, playing tag and tossing balls back and forth. They are laughing with life brimming over. The sound of animals is everywhere. Birds are chirping and the wide assortment of animals are calling us with their wonderful songs. Yet Solomon also sees the frightened looks of people who are afraid of the shadows in the streets. This is his land, he is responsible for their safety, yet he sees the fear. Almond trees are blooming, fragrance fills the air, grasshoppers are moving about. People are looking at high places and fear what they cannot see. Death happens, life moves forward, people mourn, and the streets are cleared for a moment as the mourners pass by. Then the children resume playing, things return to normal.

What does Solomon see? People who are lost no longer have a desire to get things done. When Solomon speaks of the melodies from the local birds, he could be musing that old people wake up at the slightest disturbance, they are not working so much so their sleep is light. Trivial things disturbed them that they did not notice in their younger years. God made the birds beautiful, the children’s play exciting, yet they are a reminder of what we (the old) no longer have – youth.

But I would be remiss if I did not point out an alternate passage that takes the same view and includes encouragement Solomon did not mention in Ecclesiastes 12:3-5. Let us review Isaiah 46:3-4. He writes –You whom I have upheld since your birth and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hair, I am He. I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you [NIV].

So, in Isaiah we find the rest of the story, it is God who sustains us – even in our old age, with our gray hair, and tottering walk, he sustains us. There is meaning, a purpose for life. We can look at the troubles of the day or we can listen to the extraordinary gifts that were freely given – the song of the bird, the warmth of the sun, the rain in the desert, the shade of a beautiful tree, an afternoon nap, children to ask us questions, people who seek our help when resolving their issues. People to pray for, people to encourage, wisdom to share. Elohim has provided – he has carried us; he has sustained us for the duration. We should find our place of contentment, take time to enjoy God’s creation, and embrace the plan of God for our remaining days. That is the message of Solomon.

I choose Jesus.

Avoiding the Traps

Dan

It was my observation while reading Ecclesiastes 12, in the first few verses we have an interesting call to action from Solomon for the young men of his generation (and for us). He tells young men to get focused now, find your cadence, your walk with God, get to know Elohim, and become comfortable with his yoke before trouble starts. Learn to trust him now, so when the days fill up with trouble, we do not lose sight of hope or stray from his path. He paints a sense of urgency, that we should not wait until we are getting older to find the path; we need to get started now.

Solomon comments in Ecclesiastes 12:1-2 – Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, I find no pleasure in them [the activities of the day] — [So, do this] before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark [before your vision fades], and the clouds return after the rain [find your cadence] (paraphrased, NIV).

He encourages us to consider our actions, choose things of merit, avoid foolish activities that do not feed the soul and others around us. He encourages us to focus on Elohim, delivering the honor and respect due to the King of all Kings. Troubles come and go, but God stays the same. When he speaks of dark days and clouds coming after the rain, we are reminded that our health is tenuous. We need to get things done while we can move forward. Solomon knows that trouble is coming; our processing ability will wane, even though Elohim is long-suffering, providing ample space and time for restoration of our walk; we do not have unlimited time.

Job 35:9-12 says — People cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful. But no one says, where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than he teaches the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?’ He does not answer when people cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked [NIV].

Oppression is difficult for the old and blind, our useful days are behind us, our strength is diminished. Friends are few, we gradually decline. If we were fortunate to meet wise people who helped us to prepare for the autumn of our life, then we can reflect and teach how to embrace the good life and how to find a forever life on the golden streets of the City of God. Life continues, death eventually arrives, and the cycle of life continues with the next generation. We are wise to draw close to God now when it is easy, rather than waiting until we get a little fuzzy in our thinking. Job tells us that we are wise to not lose sight of God, we do not want to fall into the troubles of the wicked and stop hearing God’s advice.

Psalms 71:17-18 says — Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come [NIV].

I know some of us do not have a clear idea of God’s plan. Now, today, this moment is the time to start searching the scripture, looking for clues about the nature of this God we serve and to find the plan he has put into place for us. Easy? Not so easy. Doable? Yes. Patience and a focused heart will bring the will of God for you to light. I am and old guy, I can see seasons in my life where I was productive for my family but not very productive for God. I still can serve God, and do engage, but the psalmist says much of my role at this stage is to declare the power available to the next generation, to help paint the path for others, to help others avoid the traps I stepped into.

I choose Jesus.

Are we are Remembered?

Dan

It was my observation, while reading Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes (chapter 12), that Solomon expresses an ardent desire for us to remember him and his life. I suspect that is true of most of us, we all want to leave things behind that stand the test of time, which are of some sort of value. It can be houses we built, children we taught, families we raised, records of achievement we set – it can be as varied as there are butterfly species, but we all wonder; did we have influence? Death brings a momentous change to us — are we remembered?

Solomon asks us in Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 to — remember him, before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it [NIV].

Pepper told me a parable about a guy who tried to barter with God on the topic of creation. This guy seemed to think that any of us could do what God did. He talked about the marvels of technology, the things we do now that were not conceivable in the day of Moses. He mused that we had more thinking power in our hand (cell phone) that every person existent during the time Moses could muster in the aggregate. This guy bragged that our medical advancement had negated the need for healing. He accused God of being a foolish dated relic. The Man claimed we had moved far beyond God’s primitive sense of morality; our understanding of human relationships and genetics are far more enlightened than Gods. Then the man said to God – give me a few days – I will make a better human than you made. The man bent over and started to pick up a little dirt to build a new human. God, who was silent until now, said – You can’t use that dirt. The man asked, why? It’s just dirt. God replied, well, that is my dirt, I made it. Make your own dirt, and while you’re at it, make your own earth and your own air.

Psalms 49:10-14 — For all can see that the wise die, that the foolish and the senseless also perish, leaving their wealth to others. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve of their sayings. They are like sheep and are destined to die; death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning). Their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions [NIV].

We are a strange sort of a creation, we are created in God’s image, yet we are made from dirt. With Jesus, our body may decay in the grave, but our soul communes with God on gold streets. We could live our entire life like the Frank Sinatra song – I did it my Way (see Genesis 3:19). But we all will eventually answer for our foolishness. Our mortal bodies are a mere transportation device.

But our soul, that is a different matter. We are like a beam of light that returns to God. He raised us from dust, breathed life into us, and placed the soul inside of us (Genesis 2:7). The soul does not perish with the body; it is redeemed by the blood of the Lamb from the darkness of the grave (Psalm 49:15). The soul can subsist without the body and will flourish in heaven (as a candle burns brighter in the open space rather than in a lantern). On Judgement Day, if we are among the redeemed, we do not endure death, we stand in front of the living God, the one who owns the dirt, the one who owns us. We are defended by the mediator (Jesus) and found not guilty – our debt paid. Are we remembered? Oh yes. In the most important event of our existence, the mediator remembers us forever. We live forever, our body and soul are reunited just after death.

I choose Jesus.

Thou Taught Me to Say

Dan

It was my observation that some men experience a lifelong struggle trying to reconcile the success of wicked and the struggles of the godly with the nature of God (holiness, justice, goodness, and mercy). Solomon takes a look at this issue in Ecclesiastes.

He wrote — There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. So, I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night— then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it (Ecclesiastes 8:14-17, NIV).

Solomon set the pace for his thoughts with a classic thesis-antithesis message. Good people get what evil people deserve, the evil people get what good people deserve. Why? He immediately starts talking about being content with what you have. Huh?

Consider this. I once read about a lawyer named H Spafford. His investments and assets were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire; then his son died from scarlet fever. Planning a missionary trip to Europe with DL Moody, he sent his wife and four daughters ahead on a ship. Several days later, he heard from his wife – ‘only I survived’ an accident at sea. Devastated, Spafford sailed to join his wife. As he approached the deadly location, he pondered on his family and created the song, “It is Well with My Soul”. He wrote, “When peace like a river attends my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”  Spafford was standing in the eye of a Hurricane.

Solomon knew we suffer greatly from time to time. He was honest by saying it does not seem fair. The wicked seemed to live happily as if they had been rewarded, we the troubled, the run-down, the abused, we struggle to find stability. Then he changes our focus. We should let God be God. We should not be second guessing his actions. We need to focus on his will for us, not for everybody else.  When we say too much about others, we quickly move towards accusing God with unjust behavior. Please understand the larger situation — Free will makes life messy. Not all things happen the way WE desire.

We are wise to look closely and focus on the concrete things God has done for us. We are wise to carefully remove the rather large sticks from our eyes and leave the splinters in other people’s eyes for the professionals to remove. Furthermore, we should be extremely aware that the things of this world are not the best stuff to rely upon for happiness and peace. We are wise to seek the things of God. If the things of this world were extremely useful for us to pursue, then God would not have distributed so much of the worldly things to his enemies. I think we are wise to find troubles as an opportunity to serve God. We are unlikely to understand the goodness of God without living through the struggles of life.

Our plan? We should not spend time fretting and grappling with the trouble of the day, the only outcome of that effort will be uneasy angst. Rather we are to quietly accept our situation and stay in the eye of the hurricane — focus on God. We should take pleasure in the things that God has given us. Unnecessary striving suggests that you have become unsatisfied with Gods gifts. We should be content with God’s gifts. Be careful with the things you think about – the things you desire. Please be careful.

I choose Jesus.