SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/4/2013
11:06 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Foolish
Officers
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl.
10:16-20
Message of the
verses: In this last main section
from the 10th chapter of Ecclesiastes Solomon talks about foolish
officers and he will give four characteristics of these foolish men.
Indulgence (10:16-17):
“16 ¶ Woe to you, O land, whose king is a lad and whose princes feast in
the morning..17 Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of nobility and whose
princes eat at the appropriate time-for strength and not for drunkenness.” (NASB)
“16 ¶ What sorrow for the land ruled by a servant, the land whose leaders feast in the morning. 17
Happy is the land whose king is a noble leader
and whose leaders feast at the proper time to gain strength for their work, not to get
drunk.” (NLT)
I really like what Warren Wiersbe writes on this section
of Scripture: “Real leaders use their
authority to build the nation, while mere officeholders use the nation to build
their authority. They use public funds
for their own selfish purposes, throwing parties and have a good time. It is a judgment of God when a people are
given immature leaders (Isa. 3:1-5).”
I suppose that we need not look no further than what is going
on in our country at this very time to understand the truth of what both
Solomon and Isaiah wrote in the Word of God.
When we have leaders that are both young and have no
experience they will beholden to those who helped them get into office and do
the things that those people who helped them want done. Oswald Chambers said about Christian
maturity: “Spiritual maturity is not
reached by the passing of the years, but by obedience to the will of God.”
Incompetence (10:18):
“18 Through indolence the rafters sag, and through slackness the house
leaks.” (NASB) “18 Laziness leads to a sagging roof;
idleness leads to a leaky house.” (NLT)
Again I read the following from Wiersbe’s commentary “Immature
people enjoy the privileges and ignore the responsibilities, while mature
people see the responsibilities as privileges and use them to help others.” And again we see that these things are going
on in our country as we look both at our government and in our churches.
Indifference (10:19):
“19 Men prepare a meal for enjoyment, and wine makes life merry, and
money is the answer to everything.”
(NASB) “19 Laughter and bread go
together, And wine gives sparkle to life—But it’s money that makes the world go
around.” (The Message)
We have to remember that Solomon is first of all talking
about things “under the sun,” and second of all he is talking about foolish
leaders or officers that are in power in the government, but we could also look
at foolish leaders who are in the churches today as this applies to them
also. We read in 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds
of evil.” This verse speaks of what
money can do to a person, but a believer cannot fall into this trap or else
they will be looking for trouble ahead.
We can take courage for even though those who commit these
crimes in both our government and also in our churches are not brought to
justice in the time when we would like to see them receive their due
punishment, one day the Lord will settle all accounts and justice will then be served.
Indiscretion (10:20):
“20 Furthermore, in your
bedchamber do not curse a king, and in your sleeping rooms do not curse a rich
man, for a bird of the heavens will carry the sound and the winged creature
will make the matter known.” (NASB) “20 Never make light of the king, even in
your thoughts. And don’t make fun of the
powerful, even in your own bedroom. For a little bird might deliver your message
and tell them what you said.” (NLT)
Do you ever remember hearing someone say to you when you
ask them how he got his information “A little bird told me?” Well it probably originated from this
verse. Solomon may have been thinking
about some of the officers on his staff having a drunken party and therefore
the drinks may have made their mouths open in sayings that were not complementary
to the king and then the king would hear about what was said by someone else
who heard it.
Dr. Wiersbe writes something in his commentary on this
verse that is very true, but in our day and the age we live in hard to
follow: “Even if we can’t respect the
person in the office, we must respect the office (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter
2:1-17). ‘You shall not revile God, nor
curse a ruler of your people.’ (Ex. 22:28).”
The following is a summation of what we have been looking
for some time now in the book of Ecclesiastes: “This completes Solomon’s review
of his fourth argument that life is not worth living, ‘the certainty of death’
(2:12-23). He has concluded that life is
indeed worth living, even though death is unavoidable (9:1-10) and life is
unpredictable (9:11-18). What we must do
is avoid folly (chapter 10) and live by the wisdom of God.”
I suppose that in the course of our lives we will have
feelings that life is not worth living, and we may also come to the conclusion that
we fear death as to how it will all be when we die, and all of this will
depress us. Solomon knew all of these
things and as we see has written about them and as I stated in an earlier SD
that if Solomon could not figure out all of these things from the human point
of view, for after all he was the wisest man ever, how can we figure them all
out. Well Solomon will now move into the
next part of his writings and will conclude with of of the greatest statements
found in this book when he writes in 12:13 “13 That’s the whole story. Here now
is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s
duty.” NLT) We look forward to the last two concluding
chapters from the book of Ecclesiastes, but before we move on we will look at
the forth chapter of the book of Daniel where we will see a king eat a very
large piece of humble pie.
Spiritual meaning
for my life: I suppose that after
again hearing the words from Warren Wiersbe about respecting the office and not
necessarily the one who holds the office that I was convicted of my need to
pray for all our officers in our government and especially in our church where
it is far more easier to pray for those in charge.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust in the Lord with all of my heart and do
not rely on my own understanding, in all of my decisions and all of my ways
seek the Lord’s wisdom and direction.
Memory verses for the
week: 2Cor. 5:17-21
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ; he is a new
creature; the old things have 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. 21 He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Abraham paid tithes to
Melchizedek,” (Genesis 14:18-20).
Today’s Bible
Question: “What did Esau plan to do
after his father’s death?”
Answer in Tomorrow’s SD.
6/4/2013 12:26 PM
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