WISDOM AND FAITH
Opening Prayer
Almighty God, thank you that I can come to your Word waiting on you to teach me, expecting you to change me, and trusting you to use me for your glory.
Read ECCLESIASTES 7:19–8:17
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
19 Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
than ten rulers in a city.
20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
no one who does what is right and never sins.
21 Do not pay attention to every word people say,
or you may hear your servant cursing you—
22 for you know in your heart
that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,
“I am determined to be wise”—
but this was beyond me.
24 Whatever exists is far off and most profound—
who can discover it?
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
and the madness of folly.
26 I find more bitter than death
the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
but the sinner she will ensnare.
27 “Look,” says the Teacher,[a] “this is what I have discovered:
“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
28 while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found:
God created mankind upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
8 Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
Obey the King
2 Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
7 Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8 As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
so[b] no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own[c] hurt. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise[d] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 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. 15 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.
16 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— 17 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.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 7:27 Or the leader of the assembly
- Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
- Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
- Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten
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
Today’s reading is challenging. Ask the Lord to help you understand it.The teacher continued his writings about wisdom, reflecting on how it provided insight into human nature (7:19–22). But it is difficult to grasp. Wisdom cannot answer all our life-and-death questions (7:23, 24). God’s thoughts and control of the world are beyond us (see Isaiah 55:8, 9). Yet, lack of wisdom leads to sinfulness (7:25–29). Using extremes common to his day, he concluded that wisdom was rare (7:28). Then, verse 29 forces us to look closely at our own hearts. How might these words apply in your life? The softening effect of wisdom (8:1) concludes this section.
Chapter 8 revisits the themes of Ecclesiastes 1:2 to 3:22. The teacher looked at the need to obey an unjust king (8:2–8) due to an oath of loyalty. Notice the other reasons given for tolerating an unjust ruler. Then he reflected on the injustices people suffer and the questions these raise (8:9–11, 14). Yet, faith in God provides answers to the questions of meaning in life (8:12, 13, 15). We are reminded that joy can be found in work and pleasure when they are seen as God’s gift (8:15). The teacher concluded that human wisdom is limited, and no one can fully understand the intricacies of life except God himself (8:16, 17).
Apply
Read Isaiah 55:8, 9 again. Where do you need the Lord to help you trust him with the intricacies of your life?
Closing prayer
Lord God, I confess that your wisdom is unsearchable and that I must continue learning to trust in your providence and care. Thank you for your Spirit who is committed to teach me.
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