SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/22/2013 10:49 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Wisdom Helps
Us Face Life PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl.
7:26-29
Message
of the verses: “26 And I discovered
more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands
are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner
will be captured by her. 27 “Behold, I have discovered this," says the
Preacher, ‘adding one thing to another to find an explanation, 28 which I am
still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I
have not found a woman among all these. 29 “Behold, I have found only this,
that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.’” NASB
Dr. Wiersbe writes at the beginning
of this sub-section these words to give us a flavor of what this section is all
about: “Finally, the wise person must
deal with the sinfulness of humanity in general.” “26 I discovered that a seductive woman is a
trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are
chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be
caught in her snare. 27 “This is my conclusion,’’says the Teacher. “I discovered
this after looking at the matter from every possible angle. 28 Though I have
searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a
thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman! 29 But I did find this: God
created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own
downward path.’” NLT
Solomon begins with the woman who is
a prostitute, something he wrote extensively in the book of Proverbs. Solomon also fell into this same trap with
foreign women leading him to the worship of false gods, “3 He had seven hundred
wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. 4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned
his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the
LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 For Solomon went
after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable
idol of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,
and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon
built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain
which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of
Ammon. 8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and
sacrificed to their gods, (1Kings 11:3-8).”
How do we escape these types of women?
Fear the Lord!
When you read this passage you may
come to the conclusion that Solomon did not think highly of women, but if you
look at the good things that Solomon wrote about women in the book of Proverbs,
and also in Eccl. 9:9 “Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of
your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your
reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.” Solomon also wrote the book of Song of Songs
which speaks highly of women too. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “But keep in mind that women in that day had neither the freedom
nor the status that they have today, and it would be unusual for a woman to
have learning equal to that of a man. It
was considered a judgment of God for women to rule over the land (Isa. 3:12,
but remember Miriam and Deborah, two women who had great leadership ability).”
Man has had the ability to advance
and do good things with their advancements, but along with these good
advancements comes bad things that come from them. Today we live in a very small world where we
can communicate with people all around the world in seconds, communicate the
good news of the Gospel so people can come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as
their personal Savior. Using these same
technologies sin can be transported around the world in seconds. Man is born into sin because of the original
sin that was committed by Adam and Eve and because of this man is in a position
to only sin if they do not come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that man is in a similar position
that they were in when God scrambled the languages at the tower of Babel. “5 ¶ The LORD came down to see the city and
the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The LORD said, "Behold, they
are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they
began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for
them. 7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they
will not understand one another’s speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them
abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building
the city. 9 Therefore its name was
called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth;
and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth
(Gen. 11:5-9).” I believe that God
causing the languages of people to become different that He stopped technology
to grow as fast as if we all spoke the one language. Today with computers and the modern technology
that we have we are right back where we were when God scrambled the languages,
and just as man was using their technology to do wrong things then they are
doing it now, and this is because man is sinful.
Dr. Wiersbe ends his commentary on
these verses by writing, “Yes, there are many snares and temptations in this
evil world, but the person with godly wisdom will have the power to
overcome. Solomon has proved his
point: wisdom can make our lives better
and clearer and stronger. We may not
fully understand all that God is doing, but we will have enough wisdom to live
for the good of others and the glory of God.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Wisdom
that comes only from God will help me in my battle to live a godly life, to
fight against the evil one and the old nature that lives within me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: As I began
to work on my devotions this morning I got a phone call that completely changed
what I had planned to do today and it took me a while to get back to finish
them. I know that the Lord is in control
of things like this and knew about this before it even happened and for this I
am thankful.
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 world 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: “A ladder
reaching to heaven.” (Genesis 28:10-12)
Today’s
Bible Question: “As what was Christ both
merciful and faithful?
Answer
in tomorrow’s SD.
5/22/2013
4:02 PM
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