Wisdom better than folly

Vantage point and looking at life.

Food-Picky

Basketball-Knicks

Life- Expierences

and when that’s our vantage point someimtes we can think our ife can be shaped by confident predictions about the futre

today we see the preacher adress those things

And I want to read a few chapters but it will be good

Read Ecclesiastes 9:13-12:7

Ecclesiastes 9:13–12:7 ESV

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves. He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed. If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer. The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him? The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city. Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning! Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter. Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes, A 12-Week Study (The Place of the Passage)

Wisdom can achieve greatness and surpasses many priceless gifts, but just a little folly overwhelms whatever good has been achieved

Chapter 10:8-11 reminds us of this. That the preacher reminds us tha tfolly is not alway on purpose

he the wise acts wiswley and the fool chooses fooly

yet no one is doomed to be wise and no one id doomed to be a fool

In other words there is no guarnettes

that’s what this passage is holding out for us all.

so here is the big picture

It’s good to remember God when you are young and life is God, but don’t forget that all life is vanity, leading to death and judgement

The first gospel glimpse we get is it is important to be faithful without knowing the future

it is enoucfrfaing to know Pauls words with this idea

Philippians 2:13 ESV

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

we don’t have to know the future. but we can know that God will and works for his good pleasure

we can work hard adn be genrious without knowing all the detials but we know the why of what we are doing

it is enough to be faithful

2 Corinthians 9:6–11 ESV

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

in that we find solace in God

verse 8 of chapter 11 talkins about days of darkness. It reminds us there will be many of them

but we remember our creator and we don’t idolize the days of our youth

12:1 says that we are supose to remmeber our creator

in other words we can find solace in a broken world

This moves us forward in our search for salvion

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

that’s what we get to look forward to

but not only do we see thiese gospel glimpse we see these whole bible connections

What are some personal implications of this text?

3 things we don’t know

1. how to predict future

2. We do not now how to do tha twhich only God can do

3. We do not know how to guarntee success and avoid failure(but we would like to)

But three things we do

Wise living menas sitting loose to life and it’s possesions

Disiciples on beach

2. Wise living meants that neither success nor failure is Ultimate

THIS IS HUGE. We gott know this

3. Wise living is it’s own reward