Tag: Old Testament

Isn’t it great to be under the control of a sovereign God? All that we can see is the present and part of the past, but the future requires trust, patience, and contentment.

Ecclesiastes 8:6-8 says, “Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, though the misery of man increases greatly. For he does not know what will happen; so who can tell him when it will occur? No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, and wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.” Read Full Post

“Who is like a wise man?” I hope I would be…

“And who knows the interpretation of a thing?” I hope I would…

“A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness of his face is changed.” I hope this would be true of me…

Wait a minute! What does this have to do with anything? Let’s take a look at the context. The context is talking about being obedient to the king and trusting him. Read Full Post

“One man among a thousand I have found, But a woman among all these I have not found.”

Solomon has looked and looked and sought and truth, and here is his conclusion about the upright man or woman. They are both extremely rare. As to why this is true, he is still unable to understand, but either way, what he does know is quite distressing. Read Full Post

“I applied my heart to know, to search out wisdom and the reason of things, to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness. And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be trapped by her.”
Searching for the truth behind wisdom and foolishness, Solomon examines his own life in which he fulfilled to the utmost his lustly flesh by gathering to himself wife after wife and concubine after concubine. What does he conclude? “I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters.”
His desires pulled him down, turned his heart away from God, and led him down a path of destruction. Yes, this was the wisest man in the world.
How much more possible is it for me today to be ensnared by these same desires? How much more possible is it for men and women today to succumb to their flesh?
What is Solomon’s conclusion? “He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be trapped by her.”
May I be one of those who “pleases God” in this way. Read Full Post

Solomon said, “I will be wise,” but even as wise as he was, he could not understand everything. “I said, ‘I will be wise’; but it was far from me. As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, who can find it out?”

About two-thirds of the way through Ecclesiastes, Solomon concedes that some things in life just cannot be understood, no matter how hard someone strives to learn them. Up to this point, Solomon has spoken about the vanity of life and offered some general principles about life just as he did in Proverbs. He now reminds his readers that he doesn’t know everything, and he also gives a preview of the book’s conclusion…too much study is wearisome to the flesh. Read Full Post