Ecclesiastes 7:19-22 says,...Bible reading, week 7, day 3

Today's verses are Ecclesiastes 7:19-22, which read,

v.19 - Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Solomon comes back to the fact that even though all is vanity there are some good things in this world.  Wisdom is one of them.  Wisdom is more important than just being a ruler in the city.  It is more important than just holding a position.  The wisdom of one is compared to the positions held by 10.  The wise one has the strength, rather more strength because of his wisdom than the 10 rulers at the gate.  Wisdom is very valuable to our society and the moral compass that keeps us on track.

I heard a speaker this last week talk about our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence in America and how those documents held us to a standard of bringing glory to God because they were based off of Scripture.  The problem is that we have too many rulers who don't follow after God in positions who lack His wisdom to maintain these documents.  Our wisdom in Him is weak among our many rulers.  Oh for 1 who of wisdom would replace the 10 who are going their own way.

v.20 - Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

 What a true statement that the Apostle Paul echoes in Romans 3:10, which reads,

...as it is written:  There is no one righteous, not even one.

We all fall.  We stumble.  Even the most righteous who is concentrating on doing good and beyond what the 10 rulers are doing or not doing falls to a sinful act here or there.  This is part of the vanity of life that Solomon is dealing with.  If we are not perfect than why try at all.  If we are going to fail and fall then why don't we just chuck all this good living stuff and just live evilly the rest of our days?  It seems futile to try.  

As Christians we know this is the point of us needing Someone who is without sin.  We need Someone who is fully righteous to stand in our place before the Holy God.  Life looks futile and full of vanity if it were not for Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for us who are sinners and fallen.

v.21,22 - Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you.  For you also have realized that you like-wise have many times cursed others.

Because we sin and we fall, our words will reflect at times things that are not to the glory of God.  Others who have fallen will sometimes say words to us that are unkind, untrue, and unloving.  What do you do when you hear those types of words?  Do you return them back?  Do you allow those words to dictate how you live?  Do they grab ahold of you so much that you are frozen to carry on?  Words do hurt.  The nursery rhyme that we learned as children is not true. 

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  

Words do hurt and many times are harder to recover from than a broken bone put in a cast.  Words are taken within us and even though we are instructed to let them bounce off of us and not to take them seriously as Solomon says it is harder done than said.  Words don't hurt as much when we take into account that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God.  We all say words that we shouldn't say at times and those words need to be followed up by other words of confession and repentance.

Solomon is helping us to have compassion for our fellow man and woman who are in the same condition that we are in.  We are to have compassion to love in the midst of their sin as they are having compassion to love in the midst of ours.  One is wise who realizes their own sinful state and the sinful state of others and that life will having cursing to deal with.  Will compassion rule during those times or will more cursing commence?  Let us pray.

"Lord, thank You for those who follow after Your wisdom.  They are few for the Scripture says that few find that narrow gate in relationship to the many who find and follow the wide road.  Help me to see my sinful state and have compassion on others who also fall to its temptations.  Thank you for those who give me compassion when I fall and need help getting back up.  Amen."

Pastor Adam