Wrestled With God... Thoughts Of A Loser

God is listening

2010-04-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between worship music and non-worship music? Think about it for a second or two. What makes singing to God different than singing a fun song?..... of the many differences we could probably list one of the main differences I would like to point out is that while singing worship music we are singing to God. In a sense we are speaking to God through prayer in a melody. I mentioned this idea once to an Archeologist friend of mine and he suggested that of all the uses of worship only about two percent of them involved singing. I'm not sure about all that but in my own limited research I could only find about four different places in the Bible where worship was associated with singing or music (Daniel 3, 2 Chronicles 29, Psalm 66, and Psalm 95). There are probably more but in my short research that is what I found on a quick search.

So then I tried to see how many times prayer was associated with worship. It was too numerous to really list. To name a few though we see in Genesis 24 that while searching for a wife for Isaac the servant (26) "The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD." Also in Exodus 12 while the people are receiving instructions about the Passover which is about to come it says in verse 27 that the people "...bowed their heads and worship." And there are many more passages like this.

Now you might be asking why would I tell you all of this. It's not because I don't think we should sing songs to worship. On the contrary I think singing songs is an excellent way to worship God. Sometimes I think about our music leaders as prayer leaders. Having these people lead our music/prayer is one way to keep me from being selfish in my prayers. I'll sing prayers about God's attributes and other important topics that I might forget on my own. But the reason I am telling you this is because we are going to talk about prayer through a worship song of David's.

Before we do I want to look at a prayer many of us our familiar with. As many of you have guessed we are going to look at the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6. Many of us have heard excellent teachings on the Lord's prayer. Many of us have learned acronyms which help us know how to pray. I'm not going to say any of these are bad but rather I am going to look at more simplistic way to look at prayer. We're going to break prayer into two main parts. Both of the points will start with the letter "H" so if you're into that sort of thing you'll get a kick out of this.

The first part will be "Honor" and the second part will be "Honesty"

Matthew 6:9-10

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

In this passage Jesus shows respect and honor to the One he is praying too. Jesus does this by properly identifying who he is speaking to, that is who is worthy to speak to. Here Jesus identifies God as our father in heaven, whose name is Holy, whose kingdom is coming, and whose will is being done. This is one way to honor God. The first part of Jesus' prayer he honors God.

In the second part we see Jesus' honest request.

Matthew 6:11-13

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Again Jesus is demonstrating prayer to his disciples and Jesus is honestly assessing their needs. So he essentially says they need their daily provision, they need to be forgiven, they need to forgive, and they need to be protected. There are other elements of prayer but this is one way to look at prayer. Honor and Honesty.

Now our main text is going to be 2 Samuel chapter 22. In this passage we are going to see a similar pattern of Honor and Honesty, but we will also get a picture of God's reasoning.

2 Samuel 22:2-6

² And he said:

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

³ The God of my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation,
My stronghold and my refuge;
My Savior, You save me from violence.

⁴ I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.

⁵ “When the waves of death surrounded me,
The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁶ The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.

⁷ In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry entered His ears.

In the passage we just read we see that David is following a similar pattern as Jesus did in the Lord's prayer. In verses 2-4 we see David honor God by describing his relationship with God. One thing I must point out is the personal nature of David's honor God. "My Lord, my rock, my fortress, my shield, my savior, etc.." There was no other religion in the Ancient Near East which had a personal God like David did. Traditionally religions in the Ancient Near East worked by a series of protocols. If I sacrifice X then the deity will do Y. Even in modern day Islam you do not know where you are standing with Allah until judgment day. But not our God! Our God is different! Our God is personal and cares about us.

So in verses 2-4 we see David honor God. In verses 5-6 and probably verse 7 we see David's honesty. In 5-6 we see David's honest request. This might be slightly difficult to get out. In 5 and 6 we see David's condition. He is a tragic situation and he feels overwhelmed. Particularly he feels the floods of ungodliness and the waves of death. Essentially he says "I face death and I am afraid!" Four times he says in different ways "I face death." How many times have we or do we feel this way? How many times do we feel like we are facing death and are afraid. Sometimes it might be over something that is actually fearful and involves death and other times it might be something as simple as sharing our faith. Often in the church we talk about joy and forget to talk about the real aspect of fear and dread. We are children of light living in dark world. It makes sense that we will sometimes be afraid and overwhelmed. The scriptures repetitively tell us to "Fear Not." It does this because we often fear. We must not forget that fear is real... but we must also not forget that God will not leave us in our fear as we see in verse 7.

Before I get too far I must say that I love this passage. It does not say that David simply prayed to God. It does not even say that David boldly called out to God. Rather it says that in his distress he called upon the Lord and his cry went out to God. Sometimes this is how we must pray. Sometimes we must pray to God in our fear as we ask for courage. Sometimes in our distress we must cry out to God for a rescuing because we need it. Sometimes we need to tell God that we are broken. So here we see the honesty of David's response.

So how did God respond to this honoring and honesty request? In verse seven it says "He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears." Now again before we get too far ahead of ourselves I must point out something else. In this passage where it says "Heard" it is not a passive sort of listening. The image here is not that God was sitting in his throne and this cry happen to make it to his ear. The image here is that God was actively waiting and listening for David to cry to him. How often do we have this misunderstanding? How often while we are praying do we act as if we are asking God to do something he doesn't want to do? How often do we act as if we are more loving than God? When I pray for my wife I have to remind myself sometimes that God is her father and loves her more than I can. I am not twisting his arm begging for a favor but rather asking somebody who wants to help her to go ahead and help her.

After David honored God and honestly sent up his plea how did God respond?

2 Samuel 22:7-19

⁸ “Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.

⁹ Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.

¹⁰ He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.

¹¹ He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
And He was seen upon the wings of the wind.

¹² He made darkness canopies around Him,
Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

¹³ From the brightness before Him
Coals of fire were kindled.

¹⁴ “The LORD thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.

¹⁵ He sent out arrows and scattered them;
Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them.

¹⁶ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered,
At the rebuke of the LORD,
At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

¹⁷ “He sent from above, He took me,
He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁸ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me;
For they were too strong for me.

¹⁹ They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the LORD was my support.

Is it fair to say that God made a scene? Smoke, and fire, and shaking, and darkness, .... it sounds kind of scary. Even in verse 10 where it says "He bowed the heavens and came down" the word for bowed is better understood as ripped through. God ripped through heaven to come as quickly as he could. In verse 16 it says that "The channel of the sea were seen" this is a stark contrast to verses 5-6 where David is giving us his condition. David was saying that he was facing the "waves of death" and the "floods of ungodliness" but now we read that the channel of the sea were seen. These waves of death and floods of ungodliness are gone. This is not the easy happy go lucky God we often hear caricaturized. Rather this is a fierce and terrifying God. Even in verse 8 we are told that when God heard David's plea he was Angry.

But in this passage we see God's response but what was God's reasoning behind this. Why did God get angry. Why did God rip through heaven? Why did God come down to rescue David. Well we're told here in verse 20.

2 Samuel 22:20

²⁰ He also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.

"He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me."

Because God delighted in me. Think about it for a second. The God of heaven and earth delighted in David and I submit to you that he delights in all his children. It's quite amazing. How could God delight in us? Even David was an adulterer and a murder but yet God delighted in him? He was a filthy sinner how is it possible that God delighted in him? It's possible because through Jesus Christ we are made righteous before God. If we had time to go through another 30 verses I would demonstrate to you that Jesus Christ is why David was rescued. I would encourage you to do this on your own but suffice it to say that David trusted in the work that Christ was coming to do. We can do the same.

If this is your first time hearing that Jesus rescues people, then I have even better news. You also could be rescued. If you are alone and afraid or have doubts and questions about where you will spend eternity then call out to God and ask him to save you. If you have more questions, ask! Many would love to help you. I would love to help you. We are going to tell you how Jesus died on the cross for your sins and how you can be saved.

Rom 10:9-10 says "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." It's that simple. Simply confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

As we close I would plead with you to give your life to Jesus if you never have and for those of us who have given our lives to Jesus I would encourage you to have faith when we prayer. Pray to God with honor and honesty. You are not asking God to do something he doesn't already want to do. Please pray.

Gospel Compilation from Arizona Mission Trip

2010-03-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

Update

2010-03-09T06:54:00.001-08:00

I haven’t updated this in awhile, though I have been doing the work. I’ll probably come through during the summer and fix some of this up.

Recently though I have been reading some articles related to Exodus and found some interesting things. I found one article relating the Lord’s Supper to Communion. One article was about the necessity of Genesis prior to Exodus. A few like that. Later I’ll come back and share more information about them.

You are as counter-culture as you want to be

2009-10-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

I read this in the Southwestern Journal of Theology and it really made me think. So I just wanted to share this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Southwestern Journal of Theology. Volume 49. No. 1. Fall 2006
Russell D. Moore
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, KY.
theology@sbts.edu

Southern Baptist Sexual Revolutionaries: Cultural Accommodations, Spiritual Conflict, and the Baptist Vision of the Family.

Page 23

"We have become the people that Jesus warned us about. Southern Baptists want to more and more distance ourselves from our blue-collar, economically impoverished roots, and more wish to be seen as affluent, suburban, and politically influential. But this comes with a cost. The reason we have made peace with the sexual revolution is because we are captive to the love of money. Southern Baptist men and women want to live with the same standard of living as the culture around them and, as the Spirit warns, we will grind our churches and our families to pieces to get there (Jas 4:1-4). Why does the seemingly godly deacon in a conservative Southern Baptist church in North Georgia drive his pregnant teenage daughter to Atlanta undercover of darkness to obtain an abortion? Because, however he votes his “values,” when his crisis hits, he wants his daughter to have a “normal” life. He is “pro-life” with, as on feminist leader put it three exceptions: rape, incest, and my situation.

Why do Southern Baptist parents, contra Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 7, encourage their young adult children to delay marriage years past the time it takes to discern whether this union would be of the Lord? Why do we smiling tell them to wait until they can “afford” it? It is because, to our shame, we deem fornication a less awful reality than financial ruin. Why do Southern Baptist pastors speak bluntly about homosexuality and X-rated movies, but never address the question of whether institutionalized day-care is good for children, or for parents? It is because pastors know that couples would say that they could never afford to live on the provision on the husband alone. And they are right, if living means living in the neighborhoods in which they now live, with the technologies they now have. Christian pastors know that no godly woman will say on her death bed, “If only I had put children in daycare so that I could have pursued my career.” But do Southern Baptist pastors ever ask whether it might be better to live in a one-bedroom apartment or a trailer park than to follow this American dream? Rarely, because it seems so inconceivable to us that it doesn’t even seem like an option. When confronted with the challenge of a counter-cultural, family-affirming—but economically less acquisitive—life, too often we see what are inerrant Bibles define as the joyful life, and then we walk away saddened like another rich young ruler before us who wanted eternal life but wanted his possessions more (Luke 18:18-30).

Two ladies off to work

2009-08-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

So I watched two women today go off to work. My wife and my neighbor’s wife (I think). It really made my mind start working. I am so grateful for all the people, often women, throughout history who have been given no glory for all the work they have done.

Christianity sometimes receives a bad reputation for disregarding women. These commonly come from people outside the church. I think people outside the church critique Christianity for this because they don’t understand how much we actually value and love those whose glory is not shown. They don’t understand how the only thing that can make certain actions and behaviors better is to have them done in secret. Giving a gift is one thing, giving a gift in secret is far better.

As I thought about these two women going to work I thought about all their sacrifices that I don’t notice. My wife sacrifices so much so that I can go to school and so that we can serve God. It truly inspires me. And if I ever become anything great, which is not likely, it will only be because of God. And God has chosen to use my wife to help me. I could not do ministry work without her…. Heck I can’t imagine trying to live without her. I know God is all I need but I am so thankful that he uses these people, again often women, who won’t receive as much credit as they deserve to help the rest of us survive.

I think about the Gospel, the Good News that God came down to earth to save us from our sins and offers this forgiveness to all people, and how it has been passed down from age to age. Then I start thinking about how the saints who helped preserve and spread the gospel. Then I start thinking about how all those Saints we are grateful for (for their service to the gospel) probably had someone (male or female) in their lives (who didn’t receive as much credit as they deserved) who helped them receive and spread the gospel. I mean take someone like Martine Luther who helped spread the gospel throughout Germany. There was probably someone in his life whose glory is in secret which inspired Luther to serve. I’m not saying Luther is perfect or his mentor is perfect but I thank God for them both. Think about somebody like Saint Patrick or Billy Graham or John Piper, not that I’m trying to put them all on par with each other or saying their theology is 100%. What I’m saying is that all these influential people most likely had someone who inspired them that we’ll never know about this side of heaven. And I am Thankful for them.

My wife inspires me; but there are others who have inspired me. I’ve been blessed to have had professors who have mentored me (if they knew it or not), friends who’ve mentored me (if they knew it or not), even my oldest brother has been a sort of mentor.

I know I’m sort of rambling and going off on tangents but those are my thoughts. After my wife left for work I saw my neighbor’s wife (who I’ve only said “Hi” to once) leave for work. And I thought about how much my wife’s influence on me is probably similar to how much my neighbor’s wife influences him. And all the work I ever do and my neighbor ever does will at least in part be because of their support, love, and sacrifices. The world may not see how much I love my wife or how much I value her above myself. They may view me and say that I have a disregard for women because of certain beliefs I hold. But they do not see. Their eyes are covered.

The truth is that I need my wife and do not think higher of anybody above my wife (except for the Lord). She is the most sacred thing in my life (except for the Lord and his work). I see her go to work and/or just watch her work hard around the house for our lives and I admire her greatly. I watch what she does and I learn from her. And I believe I am not the only person who does this. I believe these things I mentioned are basic teachings of the faith. Not just for females either. There are many influential men who have inspired many people that will never receive their credit this side of heaven.

I am thankful for them. People cannot do this on their own. I did not come up with the gospel. I receive it by hearing through preaching and believing through faith. People older in the faith came along (if in person or by writings and works) and helped me fine tune my understanding. They helped me understand God a little better so I can listen for is voice a little easier.

I am grateful. And one day I hope to do the same for those who come after me until Christ returns.

Just some thoughts

2009-07-18T02:11:00.000-07:00

This won’t be my usual scripture directly related post. This is just some thoughts on my heart.

I thank God for the unique differences he has given each church. I use to believe that the amount of different denominations (including non-denominations) were such a bad terrible thing. I thought that God would be upset that we’ve separated so much; however, especially as of late, I have come to rethink that idea.

People are so different. You would expect there expression in worship to be different or rather how could you expect there expression of love for God in worship to be the same. Now I am not one of those people who believe there are multiple ways to heaven. I don’t think that at all. I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. I probably believe in more dogma than even I realize and certainly more than your average American does.

However I praise God for the diversity among the saints. I’m not even talking about the diversity among an American church and an African church. I’m talking about the diversity in America churches alone. I attend a rather conservative church where the average age for its members is probably 89, and that’s only because my wife and I dramatically lower the average. Even though our (my wife and I) demographics have been extremely different than most the congregation we’ve found great ways to serve the church and they have certainly blessed our socks off. With that said I don’t know many people who would feel comfortable in that church.

I just thank God so much for the variety among the different churches. You have outreach churches which would probably terrify most of the congregation I worship with and likewise a member from an outreach church might be terrified to be in my church worshipping. But we are all brothers and sisters of the faith.

In heaven we’ll all be equal and worshiping the same God. See down here you have some people who feel more holy because they’ve been Christian forever and know all the “Christian terms” and sayings. Then you have other people who feel more holy because they have these really awesome testimonies (the term bragimony comes to mind). Then you have people who don’t feel particularly holy because they haven’t been to terrible, certainly made some big mistakes, but nothing to write a book about. Then you have those who also don’t feel too holy because they never have a clue and are just happy to be saved. Then you have those Christians who are simply trying to figure out what is going on (spiritually speaking), through church, Bible Study, and whatever they can get their hands on whom get condemned by other Christians who are intimidated.

With all that said, when we get to heaven we will all be equal. We will all clearly understand the depravity of our sins and be hit with the sudden realization of how unworthy and unmerited our salvation was. We will see Jesus Christ and stand in complete awe of how gracious and merciful he has been to us.

John 1:14

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

BTW

2009-05-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

So I decided to go back to the orignal intent of this blog and just jot ideas down instead of trying to write full sermons or whatever. Thanks

Through one man

2009-05-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about yall but sometimes I have more spiritually minded weeks than other weeks. This week has been a week where I have a lot of spiritual things on my mind. Anyway there has been a lot going on spiritually this week for me so I thought I would share some. This week I’ve been thinking about fasting. I have a hard time understanding it. Understanding it in the sense of what place does it have in our lives, how it should be done, when it should be done, so on and so on. Anyway I’ll probably do a study on that later. However during these few days I’ve been fasting and reading scripture books straight through. For example one day I read Mark all the way through and another day I read Romans all the way thought. Romans 5:12-21 is what I want to talk about right now.

12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now this is a very common verse. However as common as this is I must confess I have had trouble understanding it sometimes. When I think of what happened with Adam, I think he sinned then it infected all mankind. So I would be confused when I would hear “…For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many” (verse 15). The reason I was confused was if Adam affected ALL mankind then I’d imagine that Jesus’ gift being “much more” than the trespass would affect ALL mankind as well. The problem is the rest of Romans doesn’t point to ALL of mankind being saved at all, and neither does the rest of scripture. So what did it mean?

When I read it straight through I seemed to have focus on a different part of the verse than I had been taught in other churches. When I was reading it the verses seemed to focus on the effect rather than on who was effect. What I mean specifically is that Adam’s contribution was that sin entered the world. Before Romans 5 the book of Romans speaks about sin getting its power from the Law; not because the Law is evil but because sin sort of had a target to attack us at. Romans 5:13-14 speaks about this matter a tad “for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.” Essentially it seems to be saying that when Adam sinned sin had come into the world and started killing, even though people didn’t have the law. If you can follow this trail of thought you can see the huge impact sin had on state of existence itself.

Now considering the effects of Adam’s sin we know that Christ’s gift had to effect “much more.” So here is what I was thinking. When Christ came, not only did he stop death but he gave us life… and not just life but life eternal. See the power of death is temporary. We physically die. However Christ’s power of life is permanent. We will live eternally. This is a bigger impact! Now all those who are gone will come back (and face judgment). But Christ’s impact is even greater still. See when sin came it only needed one instance of sin to capture you “…For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation” (part of 5:16). When you are saved by Christ it covers everything “…but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification” (the rest of 5:16). So in this way sin just needed one thing to get you, but when you are freed, even if you sin (regardless of how many times) you are still free; because Christ’s power of life is stronger than sin’s power of death.

This may have been obvious to everyone but it certainly wasn’t obvious to me… till I read it on my own.

A little while longer

2009-05-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

I was debating on writing a new post; however, I have a lot going on and I don't think I could do a good job on one so I am just going to wait till I'm ready. Thanks for patience.

No post in April

2009-05-02T01:14:00.001-07:00

I didn’t write here for the entire month of April on purpose. I decided I wanted to do things a little different. I’m going to start writing some sermons that answer questions. I know that sounds strange but hopefully it’ll make more sense as I get closer. Thanks

Ecclesiastes 7:23-29

2009-03-26T21:02:00.001-07:00

Ok so it has been a long time since I wrote one of these. My computer has been down for awhile so I didn’t have the chance to write one up. I recently formatted my computer and had to download all my stuff again. I’ll do my best here. I’m going to write about Ecclesiastes 7:23-29. I’m kind of sick so bare with me if this doesn’t make sense. This will be my shortest of all, so far… I think. Anyway please bear with me. In these last verses, after telling us the benefits of sorrow, reminding us to always trust God, and giving us advice how to live before we die, after these things King Solomon confesses his own sins and need for the Lord.

“All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, ‘I will be wise,’ but it was far from me. That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?” (Ecclesiastes 7:23-24). Solomon is saying that everything he has wrote here was tested with wisdom. He used wisdom to make sure what he wrote was correct. However he was a man and because of that he was limited with his wisdom. The more he tried to be wise the more he realized he wasn’t wise. “I said, ‘I will be wise,’ but it was far from me” (verse 23). The writer then explains that the wisdom he searched for was far away and very deep. Basically he was saying that he used wisdom before he wrote down his thoughts but that he wasn’t perfect. He was far from having any type of full knowledge. He wasn’t alone in this. No human can know everything. ‘…who can find it out?’(verse 24). This doesn’t mean we shouldn't listen to his wisdom. Only a fool would deny wisdom. “It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:5).

“I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things. And to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.” (Ecclesiastes 7:25-26). Solomon directed his studies to know about sin. He wanted to know as much as he could about sin. Partially this is what he has been writing about. Solomon also has been thought to have been the writer of Proverbs as well. Proverbs is a book of wisdom. Proverbs warns us of many sins, which is partially due to this study that was done to know “the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness”. Even still, one might wonder what might cause someone to want to study something so negative as sin. We are kind of given the answer to this question. The whole time in this text we have been hearing about the vanity of life. This author was older in life when he began writing this text. Now coming closer to the end of his life he wants to know how God will view him. He is studying about sin to be wise about it. If you have wisdom about sin you’ll know how NOT to sin. This is what the author is sharing with us.

“Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things – which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found” (verses 27-28). This is not a sexist statement as you might first think. Solomon is NOT saying that everybody is evil except for a few guys, but all women are evil. The author, now speaking to us as “the Preacher,” is going to tell us something they want to preach to us. The author is going to preach some wisdom to us. While trying to find wisdom about how to NOT sin, the Preacher failed. Solomon is more or less confessing his own sins. Even though he had great wisdom he was still trapped by sin. He didn’t know how to not give in to sin. “…but I have not found” (verse 28). He was able to discover and resist the influence some men tried to use to cause him to sin, but he could not discover or resist the influence some women tried to use. Even in 1 Kings it talks about his inability to resist women. “He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turn away his heart” (1 Kings 11:3). Solomon literally search among a 1000 women and only found evil with them. “For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 King 11:4). Solomon is not condemning women but confessing his own sins. With all his knowledge he was sill weak to sin. He, as the Preacher, is trying to teach all of us that we are weak to sin.

“See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” (verse 29). While Solomon was confessing his sin he explains his thought. God made man upright. God made man good. It is not God’s fault that Solomon sinned. It’s not God’s fault when we sin. God made man upright. We are the ones who search out many schemes. We are the ones who committed evil and reject God. When confessing sins this is a crucial thing to keep in mind. God does not cause us to sin. God made us good and, for those who have surrender control of their life to God, God continues to work on our lives to make it better. It is our own scheming that gets us in trouble. King Solomon takes the role as the preacher and shares his own sins. He is preaching his own sin to demonstrated that even those most wise in life are still weak to sin and it is not God's fault.

That’s all I have for now. My head hurts and it is getting hard to even focus on this text. Thanks. Peace.

Ecclesiastes 7:15-22

2009-03-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

This is the third section of chapter seven of Ecclesiastes. I have decided to do four sections for this chapter. It just seems easier for me this way. As a recap, so far the first section (verse 1-7) seemed to have talked about the benefits of sorrow. It mainly discussed how death causes you to consider your life. The second section (8-14) went along with the first section because it reminded us to trust God all the time, even during sorrowful days. This third section (15-22) seems to go into a different direction. This section seemed to give us overall advice about how to live before we die.

“In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in evildoing” (Ecclesiastes 7:15, English Standard Version). This section begins by giving us a reality of life. Often in life you will see ‘good’ people dying or losing because they were being ‘good’ (or honest). At the same time you see very wicked people being evil by lying and stealing, yet they seem to be quiet successful at it. This is interesting because this book was written so long ago yet it completely relevant. Almost every time we see the wicked flourishing it seems to dumbfound those who strive to live good lives. But we were already warned about this happening. We shouldn’t be shocked. The writer even describes this as vanity. “In my vain life I have seen everything…” (15). So be prepared, if you haven’t experienced it yet you will. Sometimes people who are doing the wrong thing seem to be going the right way. But remember we all die and God judges us all.

“Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?” (16). In light of these wicked people flourishing we’re told not to be ‘overly righteous’ and not to make ourselves ‘too wise.’ This is not telling us to join in on the wickedness. What this is saying is not to make yourself out to be too righteous. Don’t consider yourself so high and mighty. If you start to consider yourself so much more righteous than these wicked people you might start judging them harshly and become arrogant and conceited. People commit many grievous sins and blame it on their loyalty for the Lord. For example, bombing an abortion clinic isn’t very loving to anybody involved. To the person who considers themselves overly righteous it might seem like a good idea….but that’s stupid. Also we’re told not to make ourselves out to be too wise. When you’re surrounded by wickedness it is easy to start to think everyone is blind, but sometimes we forget we have things blocking our visions as well. It would be wise not to forget your own limitations and failures. If you make yourself out to be too wise you won’t hear the rebuke of the wise (verse 5). This is a warning to righteous people to not take wickedness of those around you as an excuse to put yourself on your pedestal. If you did start to make yourself out to be too wise or overly righteous you would not long be that little bit of righteous or wise that you reached. You would destroy who you are. “…Why should you destroy yourself?” (16).

“Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?” (17). God does not forget the unrepentant sinner. This is a call to the sinner. Don’t be overly wicked. Why continue do to evil things? Many people know they’re committing sins. They know they’re cheating on this or stealing from that. Usually there is some lame excuse they use to justify these actions to themselves. Rule of thumb, if you have to justify something to yourself maybe you should get some wise counsel. Also don’t be a fool. If this starts to make sense to somebody and it seems like it is talking about them, then they shouldn’t be foolish. They should respond to what they are hearing. Why would you want to die unprepared? You can place your trust in God. Not a get-out-of-hell-free sort of trust. That’s not trusting. Trusting God as in let him lead your life.

“It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them” (18). Here we are being instructed to learn from the wisdom we were just given. If we find ourselves with an ego larger than Texas in regards to our righteousness we can repent. If we find out that we are one of those wicked people who are stealing and lying to succeed we can repent. God can save both. “Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.” (19). Entrusting yourself to God is the greatest wisdom anyone can follow. This wisdom has the strength to protect us from all things. No amount of knowledge can compare to the insight you receive at your own brokenness.

“Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” (20) We are all broken. Nobody can avoid this reality. There is not one person on earth who never sins. I love this verse because it calls all of us out. This verse puts us all on equal playing field. If you find yourself despising wicked people you have to realize you are equal with them; which hopefully will lead you to love them more. Nobody does good and never sins. Some people are able to do good but they still sin. We all are sinners and need God. God reminds us of our short comings. We all need God even if others tell us we’re ok.

“Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.” (21-22). I love verse 21 because it assumes people are gossiping. Even more revealing it assumes you have gossiped in your life as well. Truth be told, there is almost always somebody gossiping about somebody you’re involved with, if not you directly. If you concern yourself with what people are saying you will find that there are too many things being said about you, even your ‘servant’ is cursing you. This rings so very true. You can’t spend your time worrying about what people say. It could lead you down two roads. It could lead you down one road where you are trying to ‘correct yourself’ according to what people say. This is folly because you can never accomplish that. I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said “You can please some of the people some of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time.” The other road that you can go down by concerning yourself with what people are saying is a road of anger. You can become angry with these people for all their gossiping. However you have to remind yourself that you did it yourself as well. If you realize how wrong it is you need to repent for it. Once you repent for it maybe you’ll have a little more mercy for those who are doing it too. I’m not suggesting encouraging people who are saying bad things about you. I’m just saying remember you’re a sinner like them; pray that God will help them and you.

Basically to summarize we are all sinners and it would be good for us to give our lives to God. Even if we aren’t going around committing evil, we may find ourselves hating those who do. That is just as wrong. Remember it’s always ok to repent.

Ecclesiastes 7: 8-14

2009-03-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is part two of the Ecclesiastes 7. I’m still not sure how I am going to write all of this down but hopefully I’ll figure it out before I get to the end. Just as reminder chapter seven so far has been about death. The first section (verse 1-7) seemed to have been about the benefits of sorrow. Essentially it was discussing the concept that when you are around death you have to consider your life and live according to proper values. So now we pick up in verse 8. This second section seems to remind us to truth God, even during deaths.

“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 7:8, English Standard Version). This begins with a similar tone as the last section. Verse one of this chapter told us that the day of death is better than the day of birth. The end of a thing is better than its beginning because the thing is now complete. It has fulfilled its purpose and it has grown and is now free. When something is at the beginning it is raw and of need of a lot of attention. When somebody dies they are now free and complete. They are free from the constant struggles we face in life. I think we are being reminded of this because we don’t have to pity the person who is dead. We will miss them and be sad for their departure but we don’t need to feel pity for them. Their work is now done.

This verse also tells us that it is better to be patient in spirit than proud in spirit. A person who is patient in spirit is able to learn easier than someone who is proud. In verse 5 of this chapter it says “It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.” A person who is patient in spirit will be able to heed the rebukes of the wise and take them to heart. A person who is proud in spirit will foolishly be offended by the rebukes of the wise and won’t take them to heart. The proud in spirit is dangerous to themselves. The proud in spirit will be offended easier and, as a result, will become angry easier also. “Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools” (verse 9). Someone who is quick to anger will stay angry, also if they are quick to anger they will probably make decisions out of anger. Making decisions out of anger almost always ends poorly. In the context of deaths and dying there are always big decisions to make and you don’t want to make any decisions out of anger, even if that anger is a misplaced lament.

“Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” (verse 10). The source of the question ‘why were the former days better than these’ was not wisdom, it was despair. Often during traumatic events, like deaths, we’re overcome by this despair and almost accidently we desire to relive better days. Dwelling on the past, good or bad, is not a wise thing to do. There is nothing to be accomplished by dwelling on the past. The only thing that can come from dwelling on the past is that you will feel sad. I’m not saying thinking about the past is a negative thing. I often think about the past and I praise God that I am where I am today because there were numerous opportunities for me to fall away. However when I think about the past I am not dwelling, when I am thinking about the past, in this context, it is in light of how blessed I am today. When people are in despair they dwell on the past because they want to escape where they are currently. Sadly though, they cannot escape. They need to keep their wits about them and just deal with the issues at hand. They need to be wise during this time. When a person dies there are many things to do. All the business of the deceased need to be wrapped up, however they are no present to take care of it themselves. So those of us left behind need to keep our heads on straight and use wisdom to deal with their affairs.

“Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun” (verse 11).This verse seems to be a mixture of many lessons put together. Inheritance is one of those affairs I was just talking about. When there is a death, many people who are potentially emotional wrecks have to come together to take care of the final affairs. If you are indulging in despair (verse 10), quick tempered (verse 9), or proud in spirit (verse 8) you will make poor choices in regards to the affairs of the one who passed. Any one of those people can be bribed and have their heart corrupted (verse 7). A wise person needs to heed the advice of someone with more wisdom (verse 5) and keep in mind that it is better to have a good reputation than a precious item (verse 1). A person who is wise will use the inheritance to benefit those around them. They need to make the affairs of the deceased a blessing to the living. If the person is wise they will understand that we will all die (verse2) so it is not important to take as much as you can from the inheritance. It would be better for everyone involved if the inheritance was used wisely. This does not mean a person cannot keep the inheritance. It just means use discernment in the distribution of the inheritance.

“For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.” (verse 12). Money and wisdom have many things in common. Both are motivations to work. Both can give a person advantages in life. Both can accomplish great things. However money cannot protect your life. You cannot bribe death to leave you alone. You can hire doctors to fight death but they are limited themselves. Wisdom however can preserve your life. More important than your physical life that will end, wisdom can preserve your spiritual life. In other words wisdom can preserve your afterlife. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). Wisdom requires knowledge, so wisdom requires the fear of the Lord. Fearing and obeying the Lord will preserve your spiritual life. “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?” (verse 13). When you consider the works of God you should be amazed. God is the creator of all things. “All things were made through him, and without him not anything was made that was made” (John 1:3). Consider all the stars and planets and trees and everything. God has created such great things. Who can make straight what God has made crooked? Nobody! You should fear God because and obey God because nobody can compete with him.

“In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him” (verse 14). God has made days of prosperity and adversity. During days of adversity, like the death of a loved one, we need to be wise and trust God. We should not doubt him, because God made all things, including the day of adversity. Why did God create the day of adversity? He created it so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. It is so simple it almost doesn’t make sense. God has designed life in such a way that humans are limited. We are reminded about this when somebody dies. When a person dies they have no idea what happened next. They are done. This reminds us that one day we’ll be done. We have to wonder that big question, what happens next? Not to jump ahead too much but verse 15 speaks about both the wicked and the righteous dying. All people die. So if we are all going to die what are we supposed to do? We are supposed to live with wisdom now. How do we do that? Trust God. We have days of adversity so that we can trust God above ourselves. .

This section teaches us that we need to trust God through the good times and the bad times. It reminds us that we need to live wisely to honor God. We need to fear God because he will judge us. We need to trust God now because we’ll need to trust him later.

Anyway this is all I have for now. I welcome any comments and corrections. Thank you for your time.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-7

2009-03-05T13:16:00.001-08:00

Ok I’ve been struggling with this chapter for awhile. I’ve kind of been fighting myself to do this one but I am going to do it. I downloaded E-Sword (it’s free) so I can have no excuse because the ease of working on this chapter is abundant. So I’ll do my best.

This chapter I am going to separate into three sections, possibly four. I will only write about the first one today. This section (verses 1-7) seems to explain the how sorrow can teach wisdom. This section focuses a lot on death and the benefits of it. Sometimes it is hard for us to see the mercy of God in death, but if we didn’t die we would be trapped in our sinful flesh forever. It was merciful that God placed the cherubim with the flaming sword to guard us from the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24). Death teaches us about our life and what is really important.

“A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth” (English Standard Version: Ecclesiastes. 7:1). This one seems pretty straight forward. Having a good reputation is better than having something valuable. In the context of death and dying, a good name is much better because it follows you a little longer than valuable things. People will remember somebody with a good reputation but they will care little what that person had. I will remember somebody I respect but I will most likely not remember the items they had. Even if I was jealous of an item a friend had, perhaps an awesome computer, once they die that item seems not to matter at all. The day of death is much better than the day of birth because the individual is now free from their sorrows. If the individual had a good reputation (with God) their day of death could not be more joyful. They are now free from the slavery of the flesh and are liberated into eternity with their savior. In this way death teaches us that precious items are not as important and they seem and that death isn’t a complete tragedy.

“It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. (verse 2). I have a confession. I enjoy funerals more than weddings; partially, I think, because of this verse. At a wedding people are concerned with things like seating arrangements because you don’t want to offend somebody you’re not that close to because maybe you’re supposed to be closer to them. But at a funeral, seating arrangements work themselves out. People close to the deceased will sit more towards the front, after family of course, but people who know they aren’t hurting as bad as someone else will give their seats up so those who are mourning can be closer. This is not 100% correct all the time. Sometimes people who are truly mourning just want to be out of sight in the back and watch. At funerals things like looking good in front of somebody doesn’t seem to matter as much because you’re going to die and you just lost someone important. The other good thing about funerals is that you truly start to consider your afterlife which is important. It is virtually impossible to go to a funeral and not think about your own death. This, for many, will cause them to think about God. Joyful parties don’t have the same effect. Certain aspects of joyful parties (such as weddings) will cause a person who already has a relationship with God to consider him, but it is possible to attend a wedding and not think about God, especially if you don’t have a relationship with God already. Therefore it is better to go to a house of mourning because a person will be forced to consider their afterlife, knowing that we all die.

“Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth” (verse 3-4). Sorrow is better than laughter for the same reason going to a house of mourning is better than going to a house of feasting. During extreme cases of sorrow virtually all people will call out to God or at least a god. ‘Sadness makes the heart glad’ not because the heart likes to mourn but because the heart will seek out significance. “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning…” (verse 3) because they consider what is important and will more likely behave according to their values. However the “heart of fools is in the house of mirth” (verse 3) because they are enjoying vain things that will pass and do not consider their future. These fools will behave shallowly because they are consumed with their own pleasures. Mirth is a pleasant fragrance; the thing about fragrances is that they pass rather quickly. I love incense sticks because they smell so good. The problem is that they burn out quickly. You can’t retain the smell very long. The same is true with the house of mirth or a house of joy. Joy is fleeting because you can’t really avoid tragedy, especially since we all die. Once tragedy occurs you now have to start considering your own life and fortune. It would be better if you started considering your own life earlier so you can behave properly. If there were never any negative consequences or events you would probably not consider your behavior.

“It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools, this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5-6). The rebuke of the wise will cause you to change (hopefully). I’ve had some professors in school who rebuked me and it was for my betterment. It did cause me to feel foolish and embarrassed, but that was good because I changed accordingly and now live slightly wiser. This is not the same with the “…songs of fools” (verse 5). I’ve had friends who have joked with me when one of us has done inappropriate things. This only causes us to continue being immature. We don’t try to live better because we had fun doing the stupid things. It is better for me to learn and grown than to enjoy the immaturity. With maturity I have more fulfilling joy because I have more wisdom and understand more. The writer compares the “laughter of fools” to “the crackling of thorns under a pot” (verse 6). This is a reference to heating up a pot by burning twigs. If a person is trying to heat up a pot with a fire, thorns are the worse things to have. A thorn will pop and crackle but it won’t create much heat and in turn won’t heat up the pot. Therefore if I have many ‘thorns’ my pot won’t heat and the fire was weak and pointless. Likewise if I spend my time enjoying foolish things I won’t develop a deeper, more meaningful and mature joy. In that case my life would remain shallow and immature; which the writer describes as “vanity” (verse 6).

“Surely the oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart” (verse 7). People often enjoy what they understand more. For example my wife loves lyrical dances. When I watch lyrical dances sometimes it appears as if somebody is just flopping around the stage. When my wife watches dances she can see all the proper maneuvers and techniques that I miss. She enjoys it much more than I do, however I am learning more and starting to enjoy it more. This is true for most joys in life. As you start to understand life and become wise you will enjoy what is important in life. In a house of sorrow you understand how important people are because you just lost one. As you become wise and have that more meaningful and mature joy, you will not be satisfied with oppression. It will drive you to ‘madness’ because you’ll not be able to understand why people would behave this way. This dissatisfaction will fester like a piece of broken glass in the skin. It will cause you to act and to help those people in need because life is so short and precious. The only thing that could stop that is a corrupt heart, which comes from bribery. It does not necessarily mean that somebody paid you off; instead people often won’t act because they’ll convince themselves something shallow is important; they’ll bribe themselves. Again this points to why a wise heart is in the ‘house of mourning’ (verse 3). If they are in the house of mourning they won’t be easily bribed with something less significant because they will be able to discern value a little better.

We don’t have to search deeply to understand how deaths, although sad, can benefit our lives. It is better to consider this ahead of time. That way when tragedy strikes we are not lost trying to understand why it happened. Do not forsake the house of mourning, or tragedies, because they are great teachers.

Ecclesiastes 6

2009-02-28T02:34:00.000-08:00

To me this has been an interesting chapter to ponder over. It almost seems to say, to me at least, pity the rich man. I had to think about this chapter a lot. At first the message almost seemed pointless. I had to keep reading to find any meaning and then it seemed to come slowly. I almost fear to share my thoughts in case I find myself wrong in interpretation; however I can’t be corrected until I wrong... so here I go.

I want to take the first two verses together. “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a strange enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil” (ESV Ecclesiastes 6:1-2). When I first tried to think about this I tried to ask myself “how could a person not enjoy their wealth but their wealth be enjoyed by a stranger?” I tried thinking about a rich person. I started thinking about Donald Trump; certainly he can’t be at all his businesses and properties all the time. They do make him money but he can’t spend it all and it doesn’t follow him to the afterlife. People, most of whom are strangers to him, enjoy his hotels and his wealth more than he does. I kept reading and it says “This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.” (verse 2). I was curious why this would be evil. It seems almost good that a rich person shares his wealth. But the issue isn’t the sharing; it’s the lack of contentment. In the previous chapter of Ecclesiastes we are told that it is God’s gift that we should enjoy our lot in life (Ecclesiastes 5:19). And there lies the evil. This rich person does not appreciate God’s gift and that is evil.

The chapter then describes this man more. “If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he” (verse 3). I find that verse striking for many reasons. Let’s take one thing at a time. This man fathers a hundred children yet he has no burial. How could that be? Out of his plethora of children none would bury him? How sad that he did not impact their lives enough to make them stop and mourn for him. Jeremiah describes a person who will have no burial and he makes a comment that causes me to think. “…They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground” (Jeremiah 8:2). This rich man with many children will be worth as much as fertilizer when he dies. Another thing in this verse is that this man lived many years and yet was not satisfied with life’s good things. When people are coming close to death, if they desire more time it is because they want to enjoy life’s little things. Generally speaking people don’t wish for more time on earth so they can go back to sit in their cubicle. They would rather have more time to be with their loved ones. This man has everything that is important and is not satisfied with it, so now it comes to no shock to hear the author say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

If the point is missed the next three verse try to drive it home. “For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?” (verses 4-6). The still born child, who didn’t live long enough to experience anything finds more rest in death. We all still die. Even if this rich many was able to live “…a thousand years twice over…” he would still die. However he didn’t even enjoy the things in life, and he had many things. Regardless of how much he had or didn’t have he was committing evil to forsake God’s gift.

“All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind” (verse 7-9).

This section was also really interesting. It begins by talking about basic human survival. Humans try to survive. We survive by eating and drinking. However we all die. So in regards to death what advantage has the wise man over the fool? None, at most maybe the wise man could live a little longer. But then the verse switches up “And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?” I tried to understand this statement by saying it backwards. And what does the rich man have who does not know how to conduct himself before the living. The rich man has nothing. If that is the case then the poor man who knows how to conduct himself has everything. So what does the poor man have? Well if the poor man knows how to conduct himself before the living then he probably has friends and loved ones, unlike the rich man with no burial. This helps verse 9 make more sense. “Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite.” If the sight of the eyes is better than the wandering appetite then maybe what we do and see is more important than how we feed ourselves. Surviving a long time but living for nothing is worthless. It would be better to starve with love than to feast with nothing. However the verse says “this is also vanity and a striving after wind;” I think this is because we still die.

I beg for patience because I take some latitude here but if I cross any lines please let me know. “Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?” (verses 10-12). When I read verse 10, specifically “and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he,” I ask myself “What is man?” And I almost immediately answer “Man is mortal.” We all know this. Ecclesiastes has said that “we’re going to die” over and over again. So who is stronger than man, death is stronger because it takes us all. Then verse 11 says “the more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?” Basically talking philosophically about life and death doesn’t make it better for us because we’re still going to die. So what do we do? Verse 12: “For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?” The answer to verse 12 is God knows what is good for man and what will be after us under the sun. Therefore we should trust God while we live because we shall die and return to him.

This seems to go back to verse 1. “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind” (verse 1). The evil is that God has given our lots in life and we forsake it by trying to gain this and that. Instead of enjoying our time here and loving each other we try to social climb and things of that nature. Forsaking the gift God has given us in this life is evil.

I cannot stop there. If it is evil for us not take advantage of the life God has given us how much more evil is it to forsake the second life God has offered us. God has given us his son, Jesus, so that we may have life eternal. How evil is it that any of us would not take advantage of that offer. If you have happened to stumble across these written words and you don’t know Jesus, and I don’t mean ‘know of him’ I mean ‘know him.’ Then you should ask God to teach you the truth. And accept the truth God gives you. Trust God because we will all die and return to him.

Ecclesiastes 5

2009-02-21T14:57:00.001-08:00

This is my first entry of actual scripture so please bear with me as I try to figure out a pattern in which I feel most satisfied with. I started today with Ecclesiastes 5 because I have been doing some independent Bible study time in Ecclesiastes and I am on chapter five; so I figured why not start there.

I’d like to begin with some quick words about my study in Ecclesiastes to this point. Ecclesiastes has many reputations depending on who you speak with. Most consistently it seems that most people consider this to be a very negative book. The writer often speaks about vanity and toil. I would kind of agree that the tone of the book does hold onto a negative connotation. However, so far in my study of Ecclesiastes, which as a reminder I am only on chapter five, it seems like the chapters start out negative and end positively, at least in part.

Sometimes the Bible feels this way to me overall. Even in Genesis the days start in darkness and end in light “…and there was evening and there was morning…” (Genesis 1:5,8,13,19, 23, 31 ESV). Even the course of human existence very early on starts in darkness but then ends in glorious light of Heaven “And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5 ESV). It feels to me that there is always that reminder of hope.

This chapter seems to cover everybody. It begins by giving some advice to the reader concerning behavior towards God (verse 1-7). The text then moves briefly towards the government’s behavior towards people (8-9); which is followed up by talking about how an evil person lives (10-17). Finally it ends with some advice for everyone (verses 18-20).

Within the first seven verses we are essentially told to be careful what we say to God. The first verse seems, to me, to be the overall advice to the reader. It says “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil” (ESV Ecclesiastes 5:1). The writer is compelling us to listen to God before we speak. Often in life people forget to ask God what he wants before they make their request. Since our perspective is very narrow we need God to give us direction. You may unknowingly be praying for something not to happen that God wants to happen. Verse 2 clarifies this point by even telling us “…for God is in heaven and you are on earth…” (verse 2 part). We need to be careful how we speak to God. God loves you, but God is still your sovereign King. Treat him like a King because He more than deserves it. Treat God as Holy. Verses 2-7 continued this thought by warning us about the use of our words. “Be not rash with your words, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few” (verse 2). Also “For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words” (verse 3).

Verse four begins by warning us not to say something to God we don’t mean. It would be better that we say nothing to God than to lie to him. “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay” (verse 4-5). Again the focus is being careful with what you say to God. God is the only one to be afraid of because He has dominion over you. This is picked up in verses 6-7 “Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear”.

So far the text has established that you should fear God and be careful on how you treat Him. It then appropriately moves to how the government behaves. This seems to be picking up on the concept that God is over you the way a government is over its people. Now we might ask if God is over us the way the government is over its people, why does it appear that the government does not always seem to be beneficial to its people. Verse 8 picks right up and tells us “…do not be amazed at the matter…” (verse 8 part). Here is verse 8 in full: “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.” The text then tells us what we should be seeing. “But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields” (verse 9). God is not saying that rulers need to be a farmer but that the ruler needs to care about the well being of their people. Cultivated fields equate into a people who are fed, and if the people are fed they will prosper.

Now at this point verse 8 simply says that we see these violations of justice and oppression of the poor because high officials have higher officials. Well listen to verses 10-12 “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with is income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep” (verse 10-12). If you think about it a moment does that seem to describe anybody you know? Someone who loves money and is not satisfied with the amount they have? Throughout history we have seen rulers of nations, kings and queens, whose wealth outmatched all in their land, yet they wanted more. Many wars started because one kingdom’s territory started to seep into another kingdom’s territory, not based on the need and growth of one nation but rather the greed of one nation’s leader.

It would be better to share that wealth with those around them, specifically for the betterment of their own people. Listen to verse 13-14 “There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.” This greed for wealth is not only for leaders of nations, us common people can fall into this trap as well. People save up all this wealth and out of a quest for more wealth they risk all they have to double or triple their profits. At times they are successful but when they fail they have nothing. Their children are at a lost because of this greed. The child is now poor because of the evil of their parent.

What makes the whole matter worse is that it was all pointless. If the profit doubled or tripled it would still be pointless. Eventually the person with the profit will die and the profit will belong to someone else and who knows what will happen from there. “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19). What ended up happening is that the rich person wasted their short life gaining more money that they never used. “As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger” (verse 15-17).

It is not a sin to be rich. Please don’t mistake what I am saying for that. I am also not saying it is a sin to be a leader of a nation. It is an honorable thing to be a leader. The writer teaches us all that what is good is to enjoy our lot in life. God made some of us rich, and they should accept it and rejoice. God made some of us poor and we should accept it and rejoice. We should spend our time working where God has put us. If we spend our time greedily climbing social or financial ladders we forget the people around us and at times we may, intentionally or unintentionally, take advantage of those with less.
That is why the very first point in verse one is so significant. We need to listen to God and obey Him. God may honor you and allow you to rule a nation but remember “…high officials have higher officials…” (verse 8). God is your high official and you need to listen to Him.

“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possession and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil – this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

If you are obeying God, you will be occupied and you will enjoy it. That does not mean God will not ask us to do some unpleasant things, He certainly will. But if you are obeying God you will find joy in your pleasure and your suffering. To God be the glory forever and ever.

Translation Note

2009-02-21T10:55:00.000-08:00

I’d like to share a note about translations. Throughout this blog I will post the scripture that I am going to talk about. Almost always it will be from the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. There is one main reason why I am using this translation… because I like it. I find the ESV an easy translation to comprehend. They write in a similar fashion to the way I speak so when I am done reading I can still remember certain statements (at least conceptually).

I do not despise other translations, although a few I can only read for about 2mins before I have to put it down. Truth be told normally when I read with a young believer (both in age and in Christ) I will use the New Living Translation (NLT). Before I started using the ESV I used the NLT because it was the only Bible I had. After doing some deeper studies I found that the NLT wasn’t helpful for me, but please use whatever is most useful for you. Some people may find that they struggle with the ESV and something different helps them remember more. Use whatever works best for you! Anyway that’s all to say I am not reading for the ‘home team' or anything. From time to time I may switch the translation, but generally I will use the ESV.

This whole note is practically useless because I will always try to add the translation after the text. Feel free to use a different version and maybe you can see something I did not. Happy Hunting.

I lost

2009-02-20T19:47:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

This is the first entry of my new blog. If you're a reader from before you may be wondering why I have three blogs. Well this blog is an area I want to explore passages of scripture that I read. I would like to post my thoughts and have them critiqued and refined. This will probably be a more private blog, perhaps two or three readers, but if you have stumbled on here by accident welcome all the same :-).