SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/16/2013
11:49 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: Nothing
is Understood
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl.
1:12-18
Message of the
verses: “12 I, the Teacher, was king
of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem.”
Solomon now goes from being a historian to being a
philosopher and he tells how he went about searching for the answer to the
problem that caused him much trouble. We
must remember that he was the wisest of all men, and that he was the king of
Israel as verse twelve states, which makes him have all the means necessary to
conduct his experiments, things like enjoying physical pleasures as described
in chapter two and verses one through three, and accomplishing great and costly
works which is seen in chapter two and verses four through six. He would also experiment with accumulating
many great possessions in chapter two and verses seven through ten. The results of all these experiments were
that they were “vanity and grasping for the wind.” (2:14)
The following are some of his tentative conclusions: 1. Life is tough, but it is the gift of God
(vs. 13): “13 I devoted myself to search for understanding
and to explore by wisdom
everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a
tragic existence to the human race.”
Life is much different from when God first created man and woman, for
since the fall life has gotten tough to handle.
Romans 8:22 states the following about this subject “For we know that
the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until
now.” It will be different when the Lord
comes back to earth and does many different things to the earth, making it
similar to when He first created it, but in the mean time we have to deal with
the results of the fall. Dr. Wiersbe
said one day while he was sitting in his own backyard that he saw a robin on
top of his TV antenna singing a song and decided that it was time to preach
himself a sermon: “Since early dawn, that
bird has done nothing but try to survive.
He’s been wearing himself out hiding from enemies and looking for food
for himself and his little ones. And
yet, when he gets to the end of the day, he sings about it.
“Here I am, created in the image of God and saved by the
grace of Good, and I complain about even the little annoyances of life. One day, I will be like the Lord Jesus
Christ; for that reason alone, I should be singing God’s praises just like that
robin.”
Life doesn’t get easier if you try to run away from it (vs.
14): “14 I observed everything going on under the sun,
and really, it is all meaningless-like chasing the wind.” Here again we see the phrase “under the sun”
and things that happen in life under the sun will never truly satisfy the heart
of man for they are like “vanity and grasping for the wind” as seen in this
verse. As we look at the workaholic and
the alcoholic we see something similar, and that is that they are both trying
to run away from reality and living on substitutes, but the problem is that one
day for both of them the bubble will burst.
We should be running to God and not running away from life.
I heard a man say one day after a friend of ours committed
suicide that he answered a temporary problem with a permanent solution. Yes suicide is the ultimate door to escape,
and we have all been around people who have done this, and we wonder if we
could have helped, or said something, but perhaps we are just trying to answer
a guilty conscience. I have know
believers who have done this and it hurts me to think that a believer in Jesus
Christ could take their own life, but it does happen.
Not everything can be changed (vs. 15): “15 What is crooked cannot be straightened
and what is lacking cannot be counted.” Dr. Wiersbe paraphrases verse fifteen: The past can’t always be changed, and it is
foolish to fret over what you might have done.”
Ken Taylor paraphrases the verse “What is wrong cannot be righted; it is
water over the dam; and there is no use thinking of what might have been”
(TLB).
It seems to me that Solomon has created another proverb
in this verse for this is what 1 Kings 4:32 says of him, “He also spoke 3,000
proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.”
However this proverb seems to be what happens under the sun, and does
not take into account that God can straighten thing out, although He will not
change the past He can change the way that the past affects us. The past is different for the unbeliever than
the believer for the believer has the Holy Spirit of God living in him and has
the Bible to read and understand and has a church to go to in order to listen
to the Pastor explain the Word of God.
While living on earth the Lord Jesus Christ often
straightened out that which was twisted and provided that which was lacking: “11
And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused
by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.
12 When Jesus saw her, He called her
over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness."
13 And He laid His hands on her; and
immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. 14 But the synagogue official, indignant because
Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response,
"There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and
get healed, and not on the Sabbath day." 15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You
hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from
the stall and lead him away to water him? 16
"And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has
bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond
on the Sabbath day?" 17 As He said
this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was
rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him (Luke 13:11-17). This is just one example.
Wisdom and experience will not solve every problem (vv.
16-18): “16 I said to myself, "Behold, I have
magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me;
and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge." 17 And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know
madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. 18 Because in much wisdom there is much grief,
and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.”
Dr. Wiersbe begins his commentary on this section by
stating “Those who go through life living on explanations will always be
unhappy for at least two reasons. First
this side of heaven, there are no explanations for some things that happen and
God is not obligated to explain them anyway.
(In fact, if He did, we might not understand them!) Second, God has ordained that His people live
by promises and not by explanations,
by faith and not by sight. ‘Blessed are
they that have not seen, and yet have believed’ (John 20:29).” We know from Scripture that Solomon was the
wisest man ever to live and so if he could not explain things that are
mysteries to us then no human person can.
He probably had accumulated more money than any man in the history of
the world, and yet money did not make him happy. Being king of Israel did not truly satisfy him
either. So it is safe to say that if
Solomon could not be satisfied with life under the sun neither can anyone
else. You can read many stories of
people who have won millions of dollars from the lottery and have afterwards
said that they wished they had never bought the ticket.
Our problems go back to the garden of Eden and Satan’s
offer to Eve that, if she ate of the fruit, she would have the knowledge of
good and evil. Well both of them got
this knowledge and just like the person who bought the winning lottery ticket
they wished they had not. I suppose we
wish that too.
The answer is to take the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Savior, and even though that will not solve all of your problems, it will
solve the biggest one you have.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can see God’s
wisdom in all of this, and for those who are His children I can also see His
love and grace too.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to direct my steps, and to
teach me more about Himself.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:7-11
7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah. 8 I will instruct you and
teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon
you. 9 Do not be as the horse or as the
mule which has no understanding, whose trapping include bit and bridle to hold
them in check, otherwise they would not come near you. 10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he
who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround you. 11 Be glade in the LORD and rejoice, you
righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Feast of Purim”
Today’s Bible
Question: “Why did Moses remove his
shoes at the burning bush?
Answer in Tomorrow’s SD.
4/16/2013 1:10 PM
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