Even though I took verses 8 and 9 individually, I think I need to include those verses again with verse 10 when I look at it.
The entire excerpt of Ecclesiastes says, “The end of a thing is better than its beginning; The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools. Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.”
“Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.”
So I’m wondering if Solomon is saying this from his database of wisdom or if it comes from a reflection on a life full of anger. I’m not sure. Of course he wrote similar things in Proverbs, but the context of Ecclesiastes comes from personal experience, so perhaps Solomon struggled with anger on multiple occasions.
I wasn’t planning on looking at only this one verse, but it has so much meaning in it that I decided to meditate solely on it today. It says, “The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” Now when Solomon says that, I immediately recall all the times when he talked about death being better than birth. But other thoughts come to mind too.
After taking a break from Ecclesiastes for two weeks to focus on missions-related passages (leading up to and during Missions Conference here at Faith), I’m ready to jump back into this book. I left off at Ecclesiastes 7:4, so I will pick up right where I stopped…
Today I’m focusing on verses 5 and 7: “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools…Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason, and a bribe debases the heart.”
“Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”
What should I write about next? Are there issues that you are facing or that the church is facing today that need to be addressed? Take 15 seconds to let me know!
