Ecclesiastes 8:1-9

Ecclesiastes 8:1-9New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Who is like the wise man?

    And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
Wisdom makes one’s face shine,
    and the hardness of one’s countenance is changed.

Keep the king’s command because of your sacred oath. Do not be terrified; go from his presence, do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he does whatever he pleases. For the word of the king is powerful, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?” Whoever obeys a command will meet no harm, and the wise mind will know the time and way. For every matter has its time and way, although the troubles of mortals lie heavy upon them. Indeed, they do not know what is to be, for who can tell them how it will be? No one has power over the wind to restrain the wind, or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from the battle, nor does wickedness deliver those who practice it. All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.

I've just come back from the annual retreat to Rehoboth Beach I go to with a fabulous and creative group of women.  It always recharges me and fills my soul. This year even more than some other years.

We talked of letting go, and in the closing worship, which I had been asked to put together, I used Ecclesiastes as the basis. 

This wasn't the passage, but it very well could have been.

Everything is vapor.

This is what we've learned so far from the Teacher.

Vapor. Vanity. Meaningless.

Meaninglessness especially is a hard word to hear, and can perhaps lead us to be depressed and fearful and anxious about this world of God's we are in.

Yet the paradox is often that when we acknowledge the meaninglessness in future context, we are open to the deep meaning of the moment.

The wind blows where it will. We know this. There is no meaning to it. It happens.

Troubles happen.

Death happens.

And yet in the midst of this we hear the most common call in scripture.

Do not be terrified.

Do not be afraid.

Do not fear.

For in the midst of troubles, winds and death...

In the midst of meaninglessness.

Life happens.

This moment happens.

Now happens.

And that is a gift. 

It can't be taken from you. It is yours.

In our retreat this weekend, I pondered those things that I can let go of that keep me from feeling and holding onto the moment I have right now.

What life can you find in the now? What meaninglessness can give you life and meaning in the present?

The wind blows as it will and no one has power to restrain it.

But breathe it in.

Right now.

And see the gift it gives you.

Lord of Life, you give meaning to each and every moment. Help me to catch my breath and notice! Amen

Ecclesiastes continues next week, so a verse for today

There are five more chapters of Ecclesiastes to go, and I'm getting ready to leave for a retreat, so I'll finish it up when I get back starting next week.

In the meantime for today, I leave you with today's verse of the day from Bible Gateway, the search engine I use for this devotional:

"For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV"


There's something in this that parallel's the teacher's call in Ecclesiastes for us to live in the moment. How often are we wondering or worrying about the future to the point where we are missing what is in front of us?

Missing the here and the now.

There might be some things weighing on you in your future. Stresses, bills, too many meetings to go to, health scares, etc.

But as scary as some of those things may be, God holds your future close to God's own heart. God provides companionship and hope as we move through the pain and suffering and stress. 

We are not alone.

We are not promised freedom from pain, but we are promised a future with hope.

Today may God's promised hope fill you with peace and bless you all the day long!

Amen!

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing. Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise; why should you destroy yourself? Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take hold of the one, without letting go of the other; for the one who fears God shall succeed with both.

Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city.

Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning.

Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you; your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.

All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness. I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters; one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, adding one thing to another to find the sum, which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes.

There's some comedy to me in that last line: God made human beings straightforward.

Because this passage is to me anything but! :-)

Do not be too righteous?

Do not act too wise?

The wisdom perhaps is in realistically knowing ourselves.

Can we be wise just by saying so?

How do we know we are righteous?

Have you ever known someone that has thought they were wiser perhaps than they actually were?

Or less righteous to your eyes than they claimed?

So likely the same is true for us.

"Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning."

There we get to the heart of the matter. It is true, is it not?

We cannot be too wise. Or too righteous.

Because at the end of the day, we do all still have our schemes.

And yet fear of God...

Awe of God...

Love of God...

Amazement of God...

makes us in the end both wise and righteous.

God gives wisdom and insight.

And God makes us righteous.

So all those other folks who don't seem all that wise or righteous to us?

Maybe we need to cut them a little slack!

Lord, you alone are wise and you alone are righteous. Thank you for loving me even when I forget that and bask in my own self-righteousness! Amen

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A good name is better than precious ointment,
    and the day of death, than the day of birth.
It is better to go to the house of mourning
    than to go to the house of feasting;
for this is the end of everyone,
    and the living will lay it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
    for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning;
    but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
    than to hear the song of fools.
For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,
    so is the laughter of fools;
    this also is vanity.
Surely oppression makes the wise foolish,
    and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;
    the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit.
Do not be quick to anger,
    for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
    For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
Wisdom is as good as an inheritance,
    an advantage to those who see the sun.
For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
    and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.
Consider the work of God;
    who can make straight what he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.

There is a lot of advice and adages here to draw your attention.

Read through this a couple of times. What are the lines that jump out for you?

What are the ones you come back to or maybe you go "hmmm..." 

Or cause you to grimace?

Or cause you to smile?

That make you ponder?

For me, the line is "better the end of a thing than its beginning."

Ponder, ponder, ponder...

I think of the excitement this summer when I was going to Italy. The anticipation of the arrival.

The seeing the countryside for the first time.

And then the sadness when I had to leave.

And yet...

I also think of the project that haunts me as I struggle to get started.

And the satisfaction when it is completed.

I wonder here if the teacher is again reminding us to be mindful of the present moment. I'm not sure about you, but when I am at the beginning of something I tend to let my mind race to the future and get ahead of myself sometimes. 

But when something is over, I can savor that moment.

Dialogue with the teacher in this passage. Ponder and mull. Read it aloud and then ponder some more.

And see what wisdom comes from it.

Lord help me to see your wisdom. Amen.

Ecclesiastes 6

Ecclesiastes 6New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy upon humankind: those to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that they lack nothing of all that they desire, yet God does not enable them to enjoy these things, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous ill. A man may beget a hundred children, and live many years; but however many are the days of his years, if he does not enjoy life’s good things, or has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For it comes into vanity and goes into darkness, and in darkness its name is covered; moreover it has not seen the sun or known anything; yet it finds rest rather than he. Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to one place?

All human toil is for the mouth, yet the appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage have the wise over fools? And what do the poor have who know how to conduct themselves before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what human beings are, and that they are not able to dispute with those who are stronger. The more words, the more vanity, so how is one the better? For who knows what is good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow? For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?

This chapter begins to border on the esoteric and abstract, doesn't it?

Yet the message as you parse it out remains on point: enjoy what you have now because the future may not be as amenable to the enjoyment of it! 

Because,...well, all is vapor...

I'm sure you see this a thousand times a week in your own life and the life of those around you.

Opportunities missed. Relationships not developed.

iPhone connections rather than face to face connections!

The one I am personally guilty of: shoving something in my mouth while standing in the panty because I'm in a hurry, rather than sitting down and enjoying the food I am fortunate enough to have.

Have you ever been with someone who takes each moment as a blessing? Holds each thing in their life with gratitude?

I have been lucky enough to visit Tanzania several times in my life, and the visits I've had with the Maasai people have been a humbling lesson. Their diet is sparse and simple. They use and do not waste virtually any part of the cow which is the most important part of their diet.

Their homes are made even out of cow dung - and yet, as I sat in one of them, I was treated to a kind of hospitality that is rare. There was not a part of their life in that small compound that was not fully lived, enjoyed, shared, and made the most of. They were positively bursting at the seams to share it with us.

There will be a moment today that you will want to live and feel fully. A moment that you will want to share with others.

Don't miss it!

Thank you Lord for this life and help me to live it fully and with abandon! Amen

Ecclesiastes 5:13-20

Ecclesiastes 5:13-20New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands. This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go; and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind? Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and resentment.

This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot. Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God. For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.

"Meaningless" is another word often used rather than futility or vapor or smoke in Ecclesiastes. And as you read this first paragraph, the meaninglessness of riches becomes apparent. "

You come in with nothing. And you go out with nothing.

And yet, says the teacher, this is what is good: to enjoy what you have when you have it.

To be present in this moment of time and savor it.

To enjoy relationship and companionship.

To share a meal and drink and gather together.

We live in a culture that instead seems always to be looking for "more" or "better." More money, more stuff, better clothing, better cars.

And yet once they come, the enjoyment often turns to vapor. 

And we look for the next thing.

Is there something you have already - or a person you care about but haven't connected with in a while; a group you've been wanting to be a part of; a class you want to take; a party you've wanted to throw - that you can reach in and enjoy now? Make the most of?

Celebrate?

Find joy with?

You have this moment. 

Make the most of it!

God of now, open my eyes and heart to what and who is before me and the possibilities of them. Amen.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-12

Ecclesiastes 5:1-12New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools; for they do not know how to keep from doing evil. Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.

For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words, and destroy the work of your hands?

With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words; but fear God.

If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. But all things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a plowed field.

The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity.

When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep.

Here we have a string of advice or proverbs. Not all of them seemingly connected.

Something I was reminded of this week was the the word "fool" in the Bible has a much stronger connotation than when we use it today. We tend to use the following definition for fool (or something like it): "a person who person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person."

In scripture when we hear or read fool, there is a darker connotation. Here is someone who not only acts unwisely, but wickedly or egotistically. The fool is rash, immoral, and prideful.

We see often in wisdom literature in the Bible how bad it is to be considered a fool, and some of that behavior we probably see on the television on a daily basis. 

Sometimes even by those who we know are supposed to be the opposite of fools!

If we read this passage closely, we see that the human condition has not changed all that much, has it?

So where today to we go to for the wisdom to know how to not be foolish?

What else guides us in our lives besides scripture?

Who else guides us?

There seems to be a rash of "fools" on the world stage. How do we wade through their rash words and find God's words of love instead?

Good and gracious God, help us to see past foolishness to your wisdom. Let that wisdom be our guide! Amen.