SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/30/2013
8:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus: In the
Palace
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl.
4:13-16
Message
of the verses: We begin to look at
the last place where Solomon was observing people and that place is in the
palace.
“13 ¶ A poor youngster with some wisdom is better
off than an old but foolish king who doesn’t know which end is up. 14 I saw a youth just like this start with
nothing and go from rags to riches, 15
and I saw everyone rally to the rule of this young successor to the
king. 16 Even so, the excitement died
quickly, the throngs of people soon lost interest. Can’t you see it’s only
smoke? And spitting into the wind? (The Message).”
“13 ¶ A poor
yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to
receive instruction. 14 For he has come
out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom.
15 I have seen all the living under the
sun throng to the side of the second lad who replaces him. 16 There is no end to all the people, to all who
were before them, and even the ones who will come later will not be happy with
him, for this too is vanity and striving after wind.”
This section gives us Solomon’s forth “better”
statement in this chapter. We saw the
others in verses 3, 6, and 9. We see in
this story a king who has gotten old and probably was only ruling to help
himself, and not the people he was to care for and so he is ousted and a new
young king who was in prison takes over and the people adore him. We can speculate that the old king had
something to do with his imprisonment.
So what we see is a wise youth taking over for an unwise, old king.
This young king was born poor, but he then becomes
rich, while the old king was rich but his riches did not make him wiser, so he
may as well been poor. Dr. Wiersbe says “So
far, the moral of the story is: Wealth and position are no guarantee of
success, and poverty and seeming failure are no barriers to achievement. The key is wisdom.”
The story does not end there for apparently the
young man got out of prison and took over by popular demand as seen in verse
fifteen. The young king’s popularity did
not last too long and he too was replaced because the younger generation had
grown up and did not like this new king either and so he was changed too. Oliver Cromwell, the man who took over for
Charles I had this to say to a friend “Do not trust to the cheering, for those
persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged.” I know that our Lord can attest to this
statement.
Dr. Wiersbe writes in kind of a conclusion to what
we have been taught in chapters three and four the following: “No matter where Solomon went, no matter what
aspect of life he studied, he learned an important lesson from the Lord. When he looked up, he saw that God was in
control of life and balanced it varied experiences (3:1-8). When he looked within, he saw that man was made
for eternity and that God would make all things beautiful in their time
(3:9-14). When he looked ahead, he saw
the last enemy, death. Then as he looked
around (4:1-16), he understood that life is complex, difficult, and not easy to
explain. One thing is sure: Not matter where you look, you see trials and
problems and people who could use some encouragement.” I suppose the question is “what are we going
to do about those people who need encouragement.”
We can learn from this chapter that it is better to
have friends than be alone, even though being alone does have some advantages,
but having friends have many more. Dr.
Wiersbe conclude with a statement that I put onto my facebook page this
morning, “It’s good to have the things that money can buy, provided you don’t
lose the things that money can’t buy.
What is it really costing you in terms
of life to get the things that are important to you? How much of the permanent are you sacrificing
to get your hands on the temporary?”
My Steps of
Faith for Today: I want to make sure that my priorities are
good and that I don’t sacrifice the permanent at the expense of the temporary.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I want to
remember that I am a spiritual being going through a human experience and not
the other way around.
Memory
verse for the week: 2 Cor. 5:17
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Answer
to Yesterday’s Bible Question: “First
Samuel”
Today’s
Bible Question: “What happened to Gehazi
after he took riches from Naaman?”
Answer
in Tomorrow’s SD.
4/30/2013
9:16 AM
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