Ecclesiastes 9:11-18 Better Wisdom
Solomon speaks of “time” and “chance” happening to us all. This is the sad part of his discourse. But he also sees through an example how wisdom is better that weapons of war.
I have to wholly agree with Solomon on his first major point. Time DOES get us all. A man’s strength waxes and wanes over his lifetime. Just as youth had him limited in it, his old age robs him of it. There is no stopping this process. The woman has a finite time to bear children, unless God intercedes.
Chance is in nearly everything we do or encounter. It’s not confined to dice or cards or the spinning wheels of the gambling houses. It infiltrates every corner of our lives. We can work to lessen it’s impact but we cannot eliminate it altogether, no matter how hard we try. There is a “chance” your child will ignore you this morning as you remind them to pack their homework in their backpack. There is a chance your car will fail to start in the morning. There is a good chance that my husband will ask me to do something right after I have snuggled into bed under the covers. There is a chance you will be in an accident, in the home or out of it. Just being alive is a chance. It doesn’t matter your age, your background, your financial status, your nationality, or even if you believe in chance. “Chance” is part of life.
This DOES NOT negate God’s hand on our lives. HE is big enough to use and shape ‘chance’ to His will. It’s AMAZING to watch Him do just that. We call them miracles, and when He shapes them it’s no longer ‘chance’; it’s certainty. These are the places were we see most clearly the ‘fingerprints’ of God.
Solomon now turns to wisdom. His whole adult life has been lived in search or exercise of wisdom. That was the one thing he asked God for when told he could ask for anything. That alone was probably THE wisest decision he ever made!
I’m not sure if the story Solomon shares is a real story or if it is like one of Jesus’ parables; meant to drive home a point with a practical example. We KNOW God is able to overcome unimaginable odds for His people. This could be just one more example.
One man using wisdom saved the lives of everyone in the city. This was a man of no means. He may have even been old. How he got the city to listen to him is a mystery we may never know, but they did. And as a result, the WHOLE city was delivered. I imagine the inhabitants of the city were overjoyed with this news. But the next generation, or maybe even that same bunch, didn’t remember how this man through wisdom had saved them.
Forgetting the works done by wisdom doesn’t abolish its advantages or usefulness. We ALL need a reminder of the power of God’s wisdom. Ask Him for it. He withholds no good thing from His children.
Father God, THIS is the wisdom I WANT. Man’s wisdom holds no draw for me. I want Your wisdom to rule in my life. Maybe then I would be able to get all my work done each day instead of leaving something undone. Maybe You will use wisdom to somehow keep me from falling asleep when I shouldn’t and stop eating things I shouldn’t. Better yet, use wisdom to figure out how to drive those things from my life.
Please God, let YOUR wisdom rule in my life!
