Life is a School: Learn Your Lessons (Eccl. 12:9-12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/14/2013 9:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  Life is a School: Learn Your Lessons

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Eccl. 12:9-12

            Message of the verses:  “9 In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. 11 The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.”

            As Solomon nears the end of his writing he gets down to the things that we as believers need to know, and as Dr. Wiersbe puts it “life is a school,” which is what Solomon is driving home to his students in this small section of Ecclesiastes.  Verse nine shows us that Solomon was wise and indeed he was the wisest man as we see from 1 Kings 3:3-28.  Being wise Solomon teaches wisdom as we can see from this book along with the book of Proverbs, the book he wrote the majority of.  Solomon’s teachings were not only wise but verse nine goes on to tell us that his teachings were orderly.  We can see from verse nine that Solomon taught the people things that he had pondered and searched out and we will later see that his teachings came from the Lord.

            Solomon used delightful words which are words that brought delight to those who read them.  By using these types of words he will win the attention of those who are reading them.  Let’s look at Proverbs 8:6-11 “6 “Listen, for I will speak noble things; And the opening of my lips will reveal right things. 7 “For my mouth will utter truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 “All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverted in them. 9 “They are all straightforward to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge. 10 “Take my instruction and not silver, And knowledge rather than choicest gold. 11 “For wisdom is better than jewels; And all desirable things cannot compare with her.”

            I mentioned that the words that Solomon wrote were inspired by God and this is seen in verse eleven.  Both Peter and Paul wrote about the process that God the Holy Spirit used to write His Word.  “2Pe 1:21  for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”  “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16).”  “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, ’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them,’ (Rev. 14:13).”  This is one of the miracles of God, that is using men to write down exactly what He wanted them to write, and in doing this He did actually used their own personality in the writing of His Holy Word.  Let’s look at verse eleven in the Message:  “The words of the wise prod us to live well. They’re like nails hammered home, holding life together. They are given by God, the one Shepherd.”  The word goad is used in the NASB.  Both the goad and the nail are necessary for people to learn God’s truth.  Goads can bring about pain, but that is at times necessary in the school of life.  We can use nails to hang the truth of what we are learning, as our Instructor uses them to “nail things down.”

            We will finish this SD with a rather long quote from “Be Satisfied:”  “On the surface, verse 12 seems to be a negative view of learning; but such is not the case.  The statement is a warning to the student not to go beyond what God has written in His Word.  Indeed, there are many books, and studying them can be a wearisome chore.  But don’t permit man’s books to rob you of God’s wisdom.  ‘Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them [the words of the wise]’ (vs. 12, NIV).  These ‘nails’ are sure and you can depend on them.  Don’t test God’s truth by the ‘many books’ written by men; test men’s books by the truth of God’s Word.

            “Yes, life is a school, and we must humble ourselves and learn all we can.  Our textbook is the Bible, and the Holy Spirit is our Teacher (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:12-15).  The Spirit can use gifted human teachers to instruct us, but He longs to teach us personally from His Word (Ps. 119:97-104).  There are always new lessons to learn and new examinations to face as we seek to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Savior (2Peter 3:18).”

           

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The first Pastor that I had after being saved use to say when he was talking about different books that he read was “Books are life eating fish, when you come to a bone you through it out and keep on eating fish.”  I have always tried to follow this when reading different commentaries and other Bible aids in order to help me better understand the Bible.  The books that I read seem to me to be mostly fish and I am thankful for that.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to guide my steps this day so that I can bring honor and glory to the Lord in what I do today.

Memory verse for the week:  Psalm 46:1

            1 God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Wonderful, Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who said ‘What manner of man is this!  For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

6/14/2013 10:34 AM