These
2 passages are rather long, but are written similar to how Solomon writes in the book
of Proverbs on the value of wisdom. Solomon connects a variety of situations
and thoughts together to give a wide-ranging vision of what wisdom looks like,
contrasting it with folly and wickedness. Solomon begins by reminding us of the
value of a good name, and then how death is a good day since our time of
suffering is finished, while birth is only the beginning. There’s a sadness in
looking at the world from the perspective of living under the sun. Solomon then
says something I thought humorous, “Do not say,
“Why are the old days better than these?” He tells us it’s not wise to
ask these kinds of questions, to live in the past rather than in today with an
eye to living for the future. We reflected on this a bit last week when looking
at how God has place eternity in our hearts and to enjoy today while investing
in our children for the future. While we’re called to not look back to the old
days with rose coloured glasses, we do look back in order to remember and
believe in God and his providence, protection, and presence.
Scripture
describes wisdom as living well with God, others, and ourselves, living according to
God’s will. J.A Louder observes, “Wisdom is concerned with the correct
ordering of life. Wise action is that which integrates people harmoniously into
the order God has created. The rules of life that prescribe how human beings
must integrate themselves into that order are the precept of wisdom.”
Wisdom is living according to who God created us to be as his image of him in
his world. Ecclesiastes calls us to an awareness and a fear of God that helps
us live within God’s design and plan for creation. Truth Seekers are taught how
to study the Bible, how to read it and understand it so they can learn the
truth of who God is, how we’re saved from our sins, and our sinful nature is
renewed. Basically, truth seekers are seeking wisdom and going to the right
place to find it: Scriptures.
Wisdom
teaches us how to see the world through God’s eyes. Solomon recognizes this in
verse 13, “Consider what God has
done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be
happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as
the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.”
Living wisely is usually developed by living in today rather than the past, or
too far into the future, as Jesus reminds us in Matthew
Wisdom
sees the world through the eyes of reality, good people often die for being good,
while many wicked people prosper and live long lives. Many wise people are not
always listened to, “wisdom is better than weapons
of war, but one sinner destroys much good.” Under the sun, there’s a
great deal of meaningless, much ‘hevel’ or
mist. This is how Solomon has been approaching wisdom in most of Ecclesiastes;
using his rational intellect to examine the world. He's studying wisdom itself;
what it looks like, how it works. He often uses contrast to examine and
describe what wisdom looks like, a common way of showing how wisdom works in
life, something we often find in the book of Proverbs. He’s also looking to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness
of folly, and ultimately, he finds it all absurd, craziness.
Solomon tests everything in order to find a better
wisdom, but he can’t find it. He found few wise people; he
sees that even though we’ve been created upright, we are easily mislead by
schemes, schemes to get rich, power, influence, the desires of our hearts. As Solomon looks at folly,
he sees that the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure, extortion turns a
wise man into a fool, patience is better than pride, anger sits in the lap of
fools, and calls us not to be over-righteous or overwise, to not be
over-wicked, avoid extremes. Don’t pay attention to every word people say for
you have often cursed others yourself, be careful of the woman who’s a snare, or
searching out many schemes for your own profit. He
concludes that wisdom’s definitely better than folly if we desire a good life,
that there’s more to gain from wisdom than folly. This may seem like common
sense, yet that’s really what wisdom is, common sense rooted in knowing God.
Solomon
knows that there will be times of suffering and adversity, there will be times
of success and in all times, we are called to live as wise people; seeking out
God’s wisdom rather than the wisdom found under the sun. Solomon sees some good
coming out of difficult things: death, sorrow, the house of mourning,
adversity. Our hearts are often shaped by God through times of struggle. In
Jesus’ teaching, especially in the Beatitudes, we see a similar thought
developed, that there are some good aspects to suffering here on earth, those
who suffer are “blessed,” Matthew 5:3–12, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted…. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say
all kinds of evil against you because of me….” Times of struggle and
suffering can lead us back to following God’s ways again, as we see in the stories
of Israel falling away from God, only to come back during times of punishment.
Struggle and suffering also shape our character, as Paul tells us: suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character;
and character, hope. Often in suffering, we experience the presence of
God and his grace and glory in us and even through us.
Solomon
often talks about death. The hope of the resurrection doesn’t rest in denying
death, but in embracing its full scope: it’s a punishment as the result of sin,
it’s an enemy, however, it’s been defeated through Jesus’ death and
resurrection. For Solomon, acknowledging the reality of death is the beginning
of wisdom as it creates a humbleness in recognizing that in the end, we all
meet the same end, at least if you’re looking at life under the sun. This is
part of why the church celebrates the sacraments. The sacraments are signs pointing
us to Jesus. In our baptism, we acknowledge that in Jesus, baptism symbolizes
the beginning of the journey of faith as we die to our old selves and are
raised up to new life in Jesus; in the Lord’s Supper we recognize that Jesus’
death and resurrection bring new life and that as members of his body, we also
participate in his death and resurrection and have eternal life in and through
Jesus. This gives us the strength and hope to commit our lives to Jesus’ way
and teaching.
If
we’re looking for understanding, we’ll not always find it as we live under the
sun since humanity isn’t very rational, we’re easily seduced by Satan. Wisdom’s
valuable if rooted in God and his ways, yet it will seem at times that
foolishness and wickedness do better. This calls for trusting in God’s wisdom
and timing. Living according to God’s way brings peace and good to those around
you by how we treat and respond to others, by doing our daily work and toil and
enjoying the blessings of each day with our loved ones.
Wisdom
tells us who God is:
wisdom’s more than knowledge, it sees all of creation and finds God’s
fingerprints over all of it. We see God at work in the structure of creation,
in the beauty around us, in the moral order that’s consistent across most
cultures. Wisdom tells us who we are: when we know God, we can see
ourselves in light of his greatness. As Calvin said, the more we know God, the
more we know ourselves. Wisdom shows us how glorious it is for God to care for
us. We see and hear God’s wisdom in his Word: wisdom always
begins and ends with God, so we must be people willing to listen to God’s Word
and root our lives in it, because then our lives are rooted in Jesus, grafted
onto him as our source of life.
Wisdom
means acting on what we know: wisdom without action is meaningless. Lives
that show God’s wisdom become strengthened in God’s power.
Jesus’ ministry involved a great deal of teaching, offering
wisdom to the people. At the end of his sermon on the mountainside, in Matthew 7:24–25 Jesus
tells his listeners, “Therefore everyone who
hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who
built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its
foundation on the rock.” Wisdom is not of much use if it’s not lived out
in real life, and we’ve been offered the greatest wisdom in the world in the
Bible. Take the Word, read it, study it together, allow its words and guidance
to soak deep within your minds, hearts, and souls, and then live it out in our
world that desperately needs wisdom from above rather than what is being
offered up here under the sun.
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