INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Opening Prayer
“The sheep listen to his voice” (John 10:3). Ask the Lord to speak to you today.
Read Ecclesiastes 1:12–18
Wisdom Is Meaningless
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What value does knowledge have without wisdom?I’ve never actually tried to catch the wind, but it seems to be a good image of futility. No matter how far or how fast you run, the result will always be failure. As the Teacher looks back on his life, he concludes that it has all been meaningless. He uses the expression both for human works (14) and for the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom (17).
There is so much knowledge available today! We can access information on any subject in an instant, at the click of a mouse or the tap of a touchscreen. But what do we do with all this knowledge? Twenty-four-hour TV news is a good example of how increasing knowledge results in increasing pain (18, NASB): we see so much suffering that we cannot change. It is good to study, to learn and to understand, but there is a sense of futility when we are not able to apply what we have learned.
Wisdom is perhaps about how we make use of what we have learned. That might be a subject area we have studied, but it could equally be lessons learned from our experience of life. Proverbs 9:10 teaches us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” When our wisdom comes out of relationship with God, we are able to use knowledge in ways that bring blessing to ourselves and others.
Apply
Is there a situation in which you need God’s wisdom? Who do you know that is godly-wise? Ask them for their insight and prayers.
Closing prayer
God has promised to give you his wisdom (Jas. 1:5). Ask him for it now.
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