Transcription of 20ID4039

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 "Some Wisdom for a Better Life" July 12, 2020

All right. Let open our Bibles this morning to the book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 7, verse 1.

We've mentioned to you before, this book is part of the poetic books in the Bible. They start at the book of Job and then run forward to the Song of Solomon. They're unique in the sense that they're written in the present tense. They also make the presumption that you want to get closer to the Lord, so you'll take what you learn and apply them presently. And so that's the way they are written.

Solomon, David's son, wrote this book, this journal, kept these notes at a time when he was far away from the Lord. Later on in his life he had married a lot of women who were idolaters. He began to build idol temples. He hoped to find life out in this world apart from a relationship with God, which he had early on. God used him greatly. And fortunately, there's a Chapter 12 to this book, and it says that before he died, he came back to where he began. But these are his ventures into the world to try to see if there's anything out there that you can find if God isn't a part of it. And his answers I think would keep you out of the world, would certainly warn the world there's nothing there to find except you need a relationship with God who made you.

So that's what we've been going through. We're going to look at the first 14 verses this morning.

Have you ever misjudged anyone? You know, like you met them and you go, I know what this guy's all about, and then you were wrong, I mean totally wrong? I read a story a while back that I thought was very interesting of a woman who had gone to the airport one night, and she was supposed to have an 8 o'clock flight, but her flight didn't leave until 10:00. And she was pretty upset. She got there way too early. She had brought a book with her to read though on 1

the flight, so she went to the airport store, bought a bag of cookies, sat down at one of those tables, just got her book out and started to read. And as she was engrossed in her book, she realized that a man kind of across the table from her, but sitting there waiting for the same flight, as she was reading would reach over and help himself to a cookie. And she thought, you know, this is ridiculous. Maybe I should say something. But she didn't want to make a big deal about it in the airport, so she kind of just kept her head down. And once in a while he grabbed two. And so this went or for some quite some time, and finally she was not reading anymore, but was kind of keeping an eye on this guy. And it got down to where there was one cookie left in the bag. She thought, I wonder what he's going to do now. Well, he kind of sheepishly, nervous laugh, reached over, took the last cookie, broke it in half and offered her half of it. And she took it, and just then they announced her flight, so she got up angry, didn't want to look this guy in the eye, and just got on her plane and got to her seat, and sat down, buckled up, bent over to pick up her purse and get her book out, and realized that in her purse there was her bag of cookies. She'd not been eating hers; she's been eating his. Made a bad judgment.

I think sometimes we will do that with the Lord. God will allow certain things in our lives that we just think is the worst break that we could have ever had. This is not fair. This isn't right. And yet, you know, though I would vote unanimously with you to get rid of every trial in my life, that would be the way I'd like to live, God knows better, and He watches over me well. So what I end up doing is looking at life sometimes and making bad judgments about what I'm facing. I misjudge God's goodness, God's plans, God's ways, and I wrestle and fight with the things that God allows.

Back in Chapter 1 of this book, Chapter 1 verse 18, Solomon, in kind of making an introduction, because he was given wisdom by the Lord more than any man that ever lived, he said along with that wisdom comes lots of pain. Sometimes it's not so good to know too much. But that's his view from the back-slidden seat in which he was sitting. He misjudged a lot of things about life under the world, or under the sun, in the world. He went after all these good experiences early on. He threw himself into them: Getting money, pursuing fame, wanting the 2

praise of others, got into intellectualism for quite some time. But with every experience, he couldn't find any satisfaction.

So all of these good experiences didn't turn out to be very good at all, so in Chapter 7 he turns to bad experiences. But then he looks at them and says, these things have been nothing but good for me, and God has used them greatly.

We've told you that much of what this book is is Solomon sitting under the sun; right? And under the sun in terms of away from God. But once in a while he comes up and he looks at life over the sun and out of this world, and that's certainly Chapter 7. He comes to his senses, much like the prodigal. He speaks very clearly and wisely, very assertively, with great confidence. And this morning we're going to look at these 14 verses, and we've entitled these verses, "Wisdom for a Better Life." In fact, the word "better" is used in -- is used eight times in these 14 verses to say to us, here's a better way to live. Aside from that life in the world, here's a way a believer can live a life that is far better because of his relationship with God.

So here's seven steps in 14 verses, seven ways, seven biblical truths that you can embrace so that you can live a better life. And I hope you'll write them down. And if not, if you can remember them, that's great. I'm not good at them. I wrote them down.

But we'll start with this in verse 1: Be a person of character. Verse 1 says this: "A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death and the day of one's birth."

You know, if you lived in Solomon's day, precious ointment was really used more than anything else to cover the smell of the day. Imagine living in the desert. There's not always access to water. You're certainly not taking a shower every day. You walk down dusty, sweaty roads. It's hot. You sit on the back of a donkey, or a horse, or a camel. You get the idea. You're probably not smelling too good coming in the house. But you would buy these wonderful oils, and they would cover up the smell of life, if you will. You know, you could walk into somebody's home and bring a sweet fragrance with you, not just the smell of the donkey you rode all day, 3

and you would bring this sweet-smelling savor. They became precious to you. They were valuable in life.

Sometimes these ointments were extremely valuable. You might remember Mary at dinner with Jesus in Bethany the week before He was to be crucified, that after dinner she brought out her bottle of ointment, her perfume. It was a family heirloom. It was very expensive. And with great joy, she poured them out upon Jesus, preparing Him for His death that was coming just a week away. The scoundrel Judas, you know, he complained out loud and said, "Look, that's an expensive waste of money there. That could have been sold for a year's worth of income." But Jesus put him in his place and said, "She knows what she's doing." And Mary is one of those few people in the gospels before the cross that seemed to be greatly aware of Jesus' mission, and she was sensitive to it, and the Lord pointed that out. She was aware.

Solomon takes that concept here in verse 1, and he says to have a good name, or a good reputation, is greater than, or better than, if you will, value than smelling good for a while. Or if you will, what you apply on the outside is of far less value than what you are on the inside; that character is a greater value and better quality than any kind of outward show.

You know, we have a phrase that we use in our culture that we say of someone, they have made a name for themselves. If you go out in the parking lot, you might see some fancy cars here. There’re some folks that drive some beautiful Porsches. I always like looking at them. But you usually don't look at Porsches and go, "Junk." You usually say craftsmanship and speed and cost, because they've made a name for themselves, and that's just the way that you relate to them.

Your name or your character is important, because if you have a good character, a good reputation, you can live a better life is what the Lord says here. Perfume may attract someone's attention initially. Oh, who smells good? But it doesn't last. Soon it'll fade. You'll have to reapply it. But your character is permanent. It's dependable, it's long-lasting, it's enduring.

We were at the beach yesterday, went by a restaurant that was cooking. I went, "ah." If you're hungry, restaurants can smell really good when you go by; right? 4

You go, "ah." However, just because it smells good doesn't mean it is good. You know, you walk in and sometimes the food isn't very good, or the place isn't very clean, or the service is poor, there's no really ambience, you know. You just kind of go, I don't like this place. But it smelled good. Thus, the difference between the smell test and the life. You're known by your life. When people hear your name, what do they think? I mean, we care about what people think. In this term, we really should.

So Solomon starts off his better list by saying it is better to have a good name than to smell good. Have something permanent in your life. And he adds in verse 1 there at the end, "And it is better your day of death than the day of your birth." Don't misread this by, you know, forgetting that that's a modifying clause to the word "better," the comparisons. And by the way, Hebrew poetry is not about rhymes, it's about contrasting or complementary thought. So, you know, one is better than two, two is better than four. There's always that escalation. Or the other way around, there are things that define or there are things that contrast to give you a better sense of things. So here his comparison is that character and reputation, which take a time to develop, makes it sure that the child who you have great hopes for, by the time he's done living, will have developed that character, if you will. Most parents when they have kids, pray for them to turn out good, pray for their -- you know, they're honorable when they grow up. At their birth, it's only a prayer. At their death, hopefully it will have been fully realized.

There's an old Indian saying that at your birth, you come out crying, while the world rejoices; and at your death, the world cries as you leave with joy. So that should be the case for us. Be a person of character, number one.

Secondly, verse 2, attend a funeral, pay attention. "Better it is to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart." A house of mourning, if you will, in terms of our modern English, a funeral home or a cemetery, or just the funeral, because that is the end of all men. Your end is a funeral. In ancient days and certainly in Jesus' time as well, the Jews would bury you -- in fact, they'll still try to do that today - - the same day you die. And then the habit was for years 5

you would take off as friends or family a week from work and you would stay with the family, in their home. You'd cook for them, you'd run errands, you'd comfort. It's just, you know, to help them through that time of loss. Solomon says, when it comes to better living, it's better that you go to a funeral than to a party. Now, you might read that and say, well, he's lost his mind. I would much rather go to a wedding than a funeral. Much rather go to a birthday party than a funeral. But his counsel is, when it comes to wisdom and living a better life, you go to a funeral, you'll grow, because you'll be reminded, notice what it says, that your life is pretty short; there is a temporary nature to life; that death is inevitable; and that we should live this life with that in mind. Realizing that this life doesn't go on forever. The living, he said, will take it to heart that this is the end of every man. Want to live a better life, be aware of the fact that this life is very short. Be aware of your mortality.

While we sit here in church for a little while, roughly 6,400 people are going to die. 6,400 families are going to plan funerals in the hour that you sit in here together. 155,000 people a day, every day. 100 people a minute every day die. One day you'll be a part of that statistic. That day we'll get to 155 by counting you, or counting me. And we will benefit by being aware of that. Our life will be far better if we'll live with that understanding, that this isn't going on forever.

I've been amazed at the church's reaction to this pandemic. I get people are afraid in the world. I don't get people in the church being afraid. Cautious, sure. Careful, of course. But afraid? Never. I might die. Yeah, that would be tough. You go right to Heaven forever. That's tough. I can understand why you're all upset. There shouldn't be that fear. But I think it's because most folks do not want to live with the concept or the idea that this life is short.

Maybe you'll make it to 100, if you want. Some folks in my life that got to be 100 really wanted to leave about 90. "Why does God still have me here?" The fellow that adopted me as my dad died at 95, I believe he was. But about 88 he started complaining. He goes, "Why am I still here? I can't do anything. Why does the Lord still got me here?" And I said, "Bob, you pray for me every day?" He goes, "I pray for you every day." I 6

said, "Then get someone to replace you. Then you can go. Because I need it."

Attend a funeral, pay attention. A walk through a cemetery is far more valuable than a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.

And maybe if you are aware that your life is short, then you'll live differently. You won't hold onto your anger so long. You'll forgive someone a little quicker. Maybe you won't waste so much time with needless things. Maybe you'll redeem the time.

The statistics, by the way, on death are pretty impressive. One out of one. People dying everywhere that have never died before. And there they go. I think it was Daniel Hawthorne who wrote one time that every -- how did he say? -- every grave is a small sermon to the soul.

So if you know you are going to die, you'll live a better life. Not a worse life, a better life. Because if you just spend your life in the house of feasting, and a lot of people want to, you'll arrive at that day unprepared, facing judgment without adequate preparation. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 90 verse 12, "Lord, teach us to number our days, so that we can give our hearts to wisdom." In other words, let us know. You know, this life, it goes by quickly. We should be ready.

So attend a funeral, pay attention. Number three, embrace sadness and let it have an effect upon you. Verse 3, "Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." Again, comparatives. How do you live a better life?

The Bible, by the way, is filled with injunctions from the Lord to you that would communicate to all of us that God wants you happy. Happy in a biblical sense, joyful. In fact, most all of the feast days but one are designed even in the Jewish calendar to be thankful, to be rejoicing, to sing at the top of your lungs. God wants to have you have that kind of heart. Solomon will write in the Proverbs, "A merry heart brings a joyful countenance, while a sad heart just shows a spirit that's 7

been broken." And so it goes. I mean, he's forever quoting to us reasons that we should embrace a life that is happy and satisfied and rejoicing. So that's really not the issue here, but the issue is, and his point is, you'll learn more in times of sorrow than you will in times of just laughter.

If you go on vacation, your idea about vacation for most people is I don't want to think about work or responsibility or next week or problems. I'm going to rest and abandon things and release things. And that's great, and you need it, and so does everyone else. However, it is usually in times of sorrow that people learn the best lessons, because you're forced in sorrow to assess things that you would never think about otherwise, to determine things that matter or don't matter.

We've done a lot of funerals. I'll bet I've done thousands of funerals over the years. But I'm always impressed that when people come to funerals, nobody's talking about gas prices, or politics. They just want to talk about the individual, their loss, their hurt, their -- how are they going to survive, what these people meant to them. All of a sudden, life gets boiled down to things that matter, relationship usually, faith, assurances of the future; things that really hold impact. But people tend to go there only when they have to, because laughter can hide even a -- veneer can be over a lot of pain.

Jesus, when He was talking about the way of salvation, said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." And by that He meant, look, if you can come to a place in your life where you're sad over what you see in your own life, how sin, you know, disabled your ability to do the right thing, how sin ruins lives, and how you wish it was different, but don't know how to get out of it, and then you can look up because now you're suffering, and that mourning drives you to look for answers, and that answer is found in His son, who will comfort you and give you life, will enable you. Blessed are those who mourn.

So embracing sadness is a good move. You know, sorrow is one of life's best teachers, because it makes you dig deep and boils things down to the basics. There's an old Arab saying that you hear in Israel sometimes, "All 8

sunshine creates only a desert." And that's true. A little rain usually helps some days.

The poet Robert Browning wrote a little poem that goes like this: I walked a mile with Pleasure, she chatted all the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. So I walked a mile with Sorrow, and never a word said she, but oh, the things I learned from her, as the Sorrow walked with me."

Solomon is right. Embrace sorrow. Let those times be teaching times. You'll live a better life.

Number four, verse 5, be open to be rebuke, or be teachable. Verse 5, "It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. For like the crackling of the thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool. It's emptiness," or vanity.

How many of you like being criticized? How many of you look forward to being corrected? I say none of us. I don't think anybody's ever walked up to you and say, "Hey, look, I haven't been beat down for a while. Could you just lay into me? I miss it."

Do you remember what it was like when, you know, you were a kid and your parents would tell you something and try to correct you, how your attitude was? Or maybe you have kids and you see them as you are talking rolling their eyes or mouthing, "Whatever. Whatever." We're not good at accepting correction, and yet Solomon writes a rebuke from the wise is better for your life. It'll allow you to live a better life than to be sang about by fools, who could care less about you. In fact, he compared the praises of fools to the thorns that you might throw in a fireplace. They crackle really loud, they break up in a moment, but they never keep the fire going. They're just noise. They come, they go. But rebuke, especially wise and caring and from the Lord, can leave a lasting impression on your life. It can change the course of your life. You can straighten out because of something somebody was willing to share with you.

In Hebrew, and I know we lose it in English obviously, but in Hebrew, these two verses are kind of like a play on words. The word for song is "shîyrâr," and the word for pot is "cir," and the word for thorns is "sirim." So I think it's an Old Testament rap song disguised in 9

English.

Do you remember when Solomon's father David, who had, you know, gotten in big trouble with Bathsheba, got her pregnant, killed her husband, and then took her into his house as his own wife, and then that love baby, that love child was a year old and David is devastated. You don't see him in public. His son uses it as an opportunity to try to steal his dad's throne with the people. I mean, he was miserable. He writes in Psalm 32 and in Psalm 51 that he felt he was going to die every day. In fact, he felt like maybe that was a better idea. He was so overwhelmed in his sin. But he couldn't bring himself to confess it to the Lord. He was afraid. You know, both of those things that he did came with a death penalty. And then came the prophet Nathan one day, who boldly got in David's face and said, "This is you." And David said, "I have sinned." And the confession that David was able to bring forth as a result of the confrontation of the prophet healed his depression, delivered him from fear. The prophet said, "You're not going to die, but you're going to suffer because of this. Sin has consequence." But it brought David to a place on his knees, and he was able to just repent and was restored. In fact, he would write in Psalm 141 verse 5, "Let the righteous strike me. It would be a kindness to me. And let him rebuke me. It would be like excellent oil. Don't hold back." He saw it as a delivering part of his life. I don't think we usually see things like that.

You can't correct a scoffer, he'll hate you, we read in Proverbs, but a wise man when he's rebuked will love you for it. Will love you for it. Rebuke is effective for a wise man, but 100 blows to the fool will do him absolutely no good. Open rebuke is better than silent love, we read. So there's something to be said.

Want to live a better life? Then be open to be corrected by people that care for you, that walk with God. Not just the offhanded smart-aleck comment. You know, just go right by those. But when somebody cares for you and you realize they're trying to help you, you can live a better life that way. You can get ahead of it.

When Paul was with Peter in Galatia, and Peter had found the grace of God even in his food, that as a Jew, you know, those rigid laws of dietary laws he didn't follow anymore. He was free, man. And he'd ate the hamburgers 10

with the Gentiles. And then came the news that there's some Jewish believers from Jerusalem, from James' church, coming to town. And James' church was pretty legalistic for a while. You know, they didn't let go of those things too easily. They were right in the heart of Judaism there in Jerusalem. And Peter, without saying much, got up and went to sit at the kosher table. It stumbled Barnabas and others that looked up to Peter. And Peter began, yeah, I'm over here eating, you know, the things that he's supposed to. And it stumbled people. And Paul just couldn't stomach it, and he called Peter out publicly about it and said, "Look, if you're a Jew but you're eating like a gentile, what are you doing over there with the Jews now? Be somebody. Be right. You're a stumbling block." And it helped Peter, and he mentioned Paul as being a man that he could look up to later on in Peter's own writings.

You want to live a better life? Be willing to hear some constructive God-like criticism that can help you.

Everyone needs a hug. Sometimes it's not bad to get kicked in the pants though. I think it was John Wesley who, you know, he preached so many sermons, but yet he said there was a lady in his church for years -- and he never named her. He just called her through the Bible studies he gave, he just always called her the critic. Imagine having someone in your church that you just go, ah, there's the critic. Come to think of it, we have a couple of those. But he showed up one day with a bow tie that I guess was tied a little weird, and the lady, she just -- and she came up to him and she says, "You know, you should have your mom dress you better, because this is really awful." And he got mad and he says, "Well, bring some shears out." And he gave it to her and says, "Trim it." And she did, and she said, "Now that looks a whole lot better." He said, "Before you leave, I think your tongue is too long. If you could just stick it out, I'd like to trim it to my liking."

Solomon says to be rebuked is a better life than adulation of people who just could care less about you, but they'll applaud you like crackling in the fire. A better life is found when you're willing to take rebuke.

How many is that? One, two, three, four, five maybe? Four? Four, five, six, seven. Four! Here's number five: Learn to wait patiently upon the Lord. Learn to 11

wait patiently upon the Lord, verse 7. "Surely oppression will destroy a wise man's reason, and bribery will debase his heart. The end of a thing is better than the beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Don't hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. And don't say, 'Why were the former days better than before?' For you do not inquire wisely concerning this."

Learn to be patient. He starts in verse 7 and 8 by saying, get the idea that the long haul, the long process, is superior to a shortcut. And he gives us a couple of shortcuts that people oftentimes use to get what they want; things like oppression, or bribery, or just anger, where you're just pushing your weight around. But they're all shortcuts; right? They don't bring you wisdom. They may get you what you think you want, but they're not the way that the Lord works. In fact, he describes them as debasing and destructive. You think you're getting ahead, but you're really destroying yourself in the process. So he says, look, the end is better than the beginning. It's the process that God wants to work you through. So learn to be patiently waiting upon the Lord. Don't short-circuit His plans by impatience or by sin. Wait upon Him. Let Him work it out. Play by the rules. The end is better than the beginning.

We do a lot of weddings here, and I'm always impressed -- I'll tell you anyway -- by how much work goes into weddings, and I must say that guys do very little. I've noticed that guys show up at weddings on their wedding day, "Okay. Where do you want me to stand?" Now, girls have just worked for six months, a year, planning, pretty invitations, where we going to meet, what are we going to eat. They're consumed with the wedding. The guy is lost. Been hit in the head or something. But it's an amazing work of planning. And usually when the wedding gets close and we have, like, the last meeting, you'll hear the girl saying things like this: What if they don't show up for it? What if this goes wrong? What if these things -- and they got 100 worries. And so I always am -- the patient pastor, I say this: "Well, it doesn't matter. It can all fall apart. You'll be married in 45 minutes once we start." "Oh, thanks, Pastor. That's not helping me at all." But how much work goes into it, and then in one day it's over. It's over. The thousands of dollars, the hours of planning, 12

the meetings, the phone calls, the schedules, and it's over -- and yet it's better. The planning was good; the wedding was better. It's nice to be done. All the work has been put in, and now you've gotten to where you're going. The end of the thing is better than the beginning.

And yet you read in verse 9, how many projects do you think are ended because someone has lacked patience? Relationships are undermined because someone has a short fuse. You know, you're not patient. You're not willing to wait. You get angry. You want to quit. But the value is found not in starting, but in finishing.

Patience is certainly one of the most important gifts from God, fruits of the Spirit in our lives. It's what God wants to work in your life. And it's an interesting thing.

You know, I don't know if you've ever prayed for patience, but usually those prayers include the words "right now." Lord, give me patience, right now. I need it right now. And that's just not the way patience works. Doesn't even, you know, identify. I remember a guy showing up for prayer and wanting -- "Could you pray for patience?" So you begin to pray like this: Lord, give this guy lots of trouble and trials and difficulty and setbacks. "Hey, what are you doing? I told you I wanted to pray for patience." That's exactly what I'm praying for. And you read in James Chapter 1 about the testing of your faith works patience. Well, that's not what I want. We just like to get patience handed to us.

Jesus, when He was describing how the word of God, the seed falls on different soils of the heart, when He gets to the good seed He said, "Now, here's the good heart, the good soil. They hear the word of God, they embrace it, they keep it, and they bring forth fruit with patience." He said in Luke 21 verse 19 to His disciples, "Possess your souls in patience."

The problem with patience is, you can't acquire it through study. You can learn a lot of stuff. I fix stuff at my house with a YouTube video. You don't know how to fix it? Here's me (looking at phone, doing stuff). That still doesn't work, but I feel smarter because I'm doing it this way. Then I call them up and tell them all the stuff I did. But you can't learn 13

patience that way. Patience comes as a fruit of walking by faith. You just have to go through it. You have to wait upon the Lord; not to short-circuit the whole process. You just got to live through it and wait upon God. And if you'll do that, you'll stick with relationships, and you'll see things through, and you'll finish them. You won't be quitting, because you'll keep your eye on the Lord. Here's a better way to live.

In fact, he ends with verse 10 and he says, "Don't ever say yesterday's better than today, because that's not wise." It's interesting when things get hard, people oftentimes say, well, back in the day. Like it was better then; right? Well, I remember back in the day.

If you go back and look at the Solomon temple that was so beautiful and spent so much money on, when it was destroyed, 70 years later they came to rebuild it. Or actually 50 years from when it was destroyed. But in any event, when Nehemiah was there and they built the second temple, the guys that were old enough to remember the first one kind of scoffed at it, went, "This is ugly. You should have been here back in the day." The young kids, who only knew that temple, thought it was beautiful. They were thrilled. The old people were crying. They went, "Yes! Look what we did." And Nehemiah goes out of his way to say the second temple was far better than the first, because the second one is the one Jesus would come to to present himself. But they were stuck in this, oh, you know, this was better before.

I'm old enough now to hang around people that would like to say to me things like, "Well, back in the day." But here's my definition of back in the day: Back in the day is a combination of bad memory and a good imagination, because back in the day wasn't all that good. That's why I came to Jesus, because back in the day stunk. I made a mess of things back in the day. I was unfaithful to people back in the day. I was very selfish back in the day. I was a druggy back in the day. I'm glad for this day, and that God has brought me this far. If it's so good, why did I come to Jesus?

You can read in Numbers 11 about the mixed multitudes that were among those that came out of Egypt, and how they walked around the people one time and they said, "Look, I sure miss the meat that we used to eat in Egypt, all of the fish and the garlic and the leeks and the 14

melons and the cucumbers. Oh, man. Now this whole food thing is dried up. All we got is this stinking manna." But go back and read about living in Egypt, how you had to make a quota of bricks every day with spit because they wouldn't give you any water; and if you didn't make your quota, you could die; and if you had a male child, they would just take and drown him, take him from your arms. Back in the day. No, back in the day stunk. Solomon says that too, don't you say back in the day.

If you've got a -- when someone says to you, what's the Lord been doing in your life, and you go, "back in '85 -- " just so you know, that was 35 years ago. Back in the day. If the Lord hasn't done anything for the last 35 years, you're the one who's having problems. What is He doing for you lately?

So wait upon the Lord. Let God have His perfect work. Because the best days are today, and what is coming, because He's still not finished. The end, not the beginning is the best.

Number six, verse 11, let His wisdom be your confidence and your defense in the world. Verse 11 says this: "Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and profitable to those who see the sun. And wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom will also give life to those who have it." The new living translation reads this way: "Being wise is as good as being rich. In fact, it's better. Wisdom or money can buy you almost everything you want, but the important thing to remember is only wisdom will bring you life."

Pretty interesting insight. God gives you something money can't buy: Life. Now, wherever you go in Solomon's writings, wisdom is a big part of his vocabulary. He uses it constantly in this book. He'll use it, I think, 125 more times in the book of Proverbs. He said, this is what you want, man. With knowledge, get wisdom. That's all you want. You want to know what to do and how to do it. That's wisdom. Find God's heart on what to do and how to do it. And it has nothing to do I.Q. or your S.A.T. scores. You can be very wise and be very stupid. But biblical wisdom has to do with embracing what God says and following it. I look at life and I follow His direction in it for my life. And Solomon said, there's even a greater wisdom, there's even 15

-- you want to live a greater life, a better life, wisdom will deliver what riches can't. It will give you eternal life. It will deliver eternal life to you.

So Solomon says, look, let wisdom be your defense in life. When the world says, hey, this what is you need for happiness, you go, yep, Bible says no. Well, this is what -- if you had one of these, you'd be happy. Yep, God says no. That's an error. Don't let it be dragged away by the things of the world. That'll hurt you, because God's wise. Let His light be a light to your path. You'll live a better life. Let wisdom be your confidence and your defense.

And finally, verse 13, number seven, consider God is involved in everything. Verse 13, "Consider the work of God; who can make straight what He's made crooked? And in days of your prosperity, rejoice, and in the days of your adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after him."

The word "consider" means to think clearly or to contemplate; or in this context, don't lose sight of it, or keep it in mind. Because there's something that you have that the world doesn't know about, and that is you have a providential relationship with God. In other words, He tells you that all things work together for good in your life for those who love the Lord. He's at work behind the scenes. You may not see it, you might not always agree with it, but trust me, God is at work for your own benefit, so you should learn to cooperate with Him. You want to have a better life? Relinquish yourself to the Lord. You've been bought with a price.

And notice what he writes here in verse 13 and in verse 14, God's going to have his way and you can't straighten what He's made crooked, so whether it's prosperity days or adversity days, remember this: God appoints both. And He does so for one reason: So that you're kept off balance in the sense that you don't know what's coming next, but you know who is in charge of what's coming next. Here's the cool thing: You have eternal life secured. You just don't know what's happening tomorrow. Eternity is fixed; tomorrow is still up in the air. What's God going to do? And the better life is to rest. You may have a five year plan that God's going to upset. You may lay out your -- this is what I'm going to do next 16

week and then the next, and you don't get to it because God shakes things up. Hey, rest. Consider Him in everything. The great physician will give you the prescription you need, whether it's feasting or mourning or laughing or sorrow or praise or rebuke. Enough blessings to keep you happy, enough burdens to keep you humble. It's the way He works. Consider God.

When Job lost his children in one day through these horrible tragedies, his wife, distraught, said to him, "We should just curse God and die." And Job, as confused as he was -- and trust me, for 14 chapters he tried to figure it out -- he did say to his wife, "Shall I not receive this from the Lord, both blessing and cursing?" In other words, God knows what He's doing, so let Him be the Lord. If you consider Him, you'll live a better life. If you're fighting all the time, bad breaks, things didn't work out, this isn't working, you're going to just struggle. God will still be in charge, but you just won't rest in it. So come to the place where you rest in Him.

And don't make the mistake the lady did at the airport. Maybe you're the cookie thief. Amen?

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