Ecclesiastes 7:15-18 says,...Bible reading, week 7, day 1

Today's verses are Ecclesiastes 7:15-18, which read,

v.15 - In my futile life I have seen everything:  someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil.

Solomon gives us this morning another experience of his life.  Someone who was good died early and someone who was evil lived a long time.  In our minds it should be the other way around.  The good person should live long and the evil person should live short.  Just think of the great influence the righteous person could have over the span of a long life and the lessening of the bad influence because the wicked person was out of the picture.  We tend to paint the picture of how we want things to be but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.  I am reminded of this whenever I see a parent who has to bury their child and they stand there and say, "It's out of order, it should have been me."  

Many times I will watch or listen to the news and say, "That's not right."  Many times we get "click bait" that uses that fact to get our attention to view their story or ad.  We want things in order and we want things to make sense.  What do we do if they don't?  Solomon goes all the way to despair mode and says that this too adds to this life that is vanity and futile.  I find it a challenge to not go to the extremes when the extremes are used to "hook" me into making a judgment that only God can answer.  

v.16, 17 - Don't be excessively righteous, and don't be overly wise.  Why should you destroy yourself?  Don't be excessively wicked, and don't be foolish.  Why should you die before your time?  

Since all the good people die early and all the bad people live a long time then don't be excessively good or excessively bad is Solomon's assessment or solution to the problem.  Find the middle ground of being a little wise and a little foolish.  Be moderate in your righteousness and wickedness.  This sounds like our world today.  "Everything is moderation" has become a popular mantra.  Even though we have adopted this philosophy of moderation our world is still going south in many areas.  Moderation shows a lack of full commitment to one way or the other.  It seems to be an answer but it comes up short.  

I think this thought of Solomon's shows what he values more than anything and that is his earthly life.  He wants it to be long.  He wants to experience what is due to him before his life is over.  He wants to be in control of how long he lives and when it is okay for him to die.  He thinks that living all out for God for not going to give him his desired results so he is going to modify God's words and ways and make up his own plan.  Does this sound familiar?  We are experts at modifying God's plan.

v.18 - It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand.  For the one who fears God will end up with both of them. 

Solomon starts coming back around because he knows that wisdom is one of the goods that he has come across like that of hard work.  It is good that we grasp righteousness (right living) and do not let wisdom (knowledge applied) slip from our hands.  The one who fears God, which is the theme of the book of Proverbs, is the one who reveres who God is and follows after Him.  This is someone who submits to His plan.

His eyes go off of what he wants and his own desires to the larger picture of God's instruction.  As we said yesterday, God's instruction to love our enemies is not naturally what we would do but full commitment to Him demands it and with it comes the reward of full association with Him.  His life is more important than our own and how long we might physically live.  The glory of God always gives us more than we could ever get ourselves because we have changed our view of what is important to what is important to Him.  

Solomon keeps coming back to God.  He ventures into the thoughts and so call wisdom of the day but it doesn't measure up.  It reminds me of Jesus' actions before His trial.  When He is insulted, instead of insulting them back He "but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly."  Jesus trusted God's plan and followed through with God's ways even when it seemed that life wasn't fair or not how we would paint the picture.  A question for the day:  What isn't fair today that you have taken into your own hands that contradicts what God would have you do in the midst of what doesn't seem to add up?  Solomon is coming back following God even if his mind, body, and society says otherwise.  Let us pray.

"Lord, we are never going to have it our way because we were not created to have it our way.  We were created to love You and love others and help us today to see how we can do this in the midst of a mixed up world.  You have put Your love within in through the gift of the Holy Spirit to share with the world around us.  Amen."

Pastor Adam