SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/25/2013
9:54 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Mystery
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl.
8:15-17
Message of the
verses: Today we will look at the
third area of evil that Solomon looks at in this 8th chapter of Ecclesiastes,
(Mystery).
“15 So I commended
pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and
to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout
the days of his life which God has given him under the sun. 16 When I gave my
heart to know wisdom and to see the task which has been done on the earth (even
though one should never sleep day or night), 17 and I saw every work of God, I
concluded that man cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun.
Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not discover; and though the
wise man should say, "I know," he cannot discover.”
As we look at this passage it does not take us long to
understand that Solomon did not understand everything. Here is a though that has come to mind as I
think about this subject of the mystery of knowing all that God is doing under
the sun. Solomon was the wisest man on
earth, other that the Lord Jesus Christ, and so if Solomon with all of his
wisdom that God gave him does not know the answers to difficult questions that
he is bringing up then we don’t have a chance of knowing the answers
either. I was also thinking about the
Apostle Paul who said that He is the chief of sinners, and God save Him and I
think that we can conclude from this is that if God could save the worse sinner
He could save anyone. These two little
stories have something in common and that is they are all about God, for He is
the One who will solve all mysteries that we don’t understand.
Dr. Wiersbe uses two verses in his commentary on this
section to show us that just because we don’t know everything does not mean
that we need to plead ignorance and give up for Deut. 29:29 says “The secret
things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong
unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” We don’t know it all and we will never know
it all, but what God has given to us to know we had better follow it. “17 “If
anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is
of God or whether I speak from Myself, (John 7:17).” Jesus is saying that if we are willing to do
what we already know He will teach us more.
If we are going to learn something then we first have to
acknowledge that we don’t know it so we can learn something. It is hard to teach a know it all
anything.
Dr. Wiersbe quote a French philosopher named Blaise
Pascal “If there were no obscurity, a man would not feel his corruption; if
there were not light, man could not hope for a cure. Thus it is not only right but useful for us
that God should be partly concealed and partly revealed, since it is equally
dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness as to know
his wretchedness without knowing God.”
We see something in verse fifteen that we have seen three
other times, and that is Solomon told his congregation to enjoy life and
delight in the fruit of their labors.
Dr. Wiersbe states that “This admonition is not the foolish ‘eat, drink,
and be merry’ philosophy of the unbelieving hedonist. Rather, it is the positive ‘faith outlook’ of
God’s children who accept life as God’s special gift and know that He gives us ‘all
thing richly to enjoy’ (1Tim. 6:17).
Instead of complaining about what we don’t have, we give thanks for what
we do have and enjoy it.
“this ends Solomon’s re-examination of ‘the vanity of
wisdom’ (1:12-18). Instead of rejecting
wisdom, the king concludes that wisdom is important to the person who wants to
get the most out of life. While wisdom
can’t explain every mystery or solve every problem, it can help us exercise
discernment in our decisions. ‘Yes there
is a time and a way for everything’ (8:6, TLB), and the wise person knows what
to do at just the right time.”
Lord willing we will begin to look at the ninth chapter
of Ecclesiastes and then if it is close to the end of May when we finish that
chapter that we will move onto the forth chapter of Daniel for our monthly
chapter in that wonderful book.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I think that one
of the things that wisdom is to do for me is to cause me to learn from the Word
of God, and then have the Word of God change my life so that I am more and more
like the Lord Jesus Christ: “For those
whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so
that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to have the Word of God change my
life, and be open to the Lord to make the necessary changes.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Cor. 5:17-20
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who
reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of
reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf
of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Jacob.” (Genesis 43:14)
Today’s Bible
Question: “Where did the third angel in
Revelations 16:4 pour out his vial?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD. 5/25/2013 11:12 AM
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