“So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:25
Hi James and Ellen,
Are you smart? Are you wise? Do you have knowledge? What does having knowledge mean to you? Do you think that having knowledge will make you smart? Do you think that having knowledge will make you wise? What do you think would make a guy, gal or kids smart? What do you think would make a guy, gal or kid wise? Being smart does not mean that a guy, gal or kid is wise. Smart guys, gals and kids can do very unwise things. Do you remember who in the Bible asked for wisdom? Solomon asked for wisdom. God gave Solomon wisdom. How did Solomon use the wisdom that God gave him? Solomon wrote proverbs that became recorded in a book. Solomon wanted to help guys, gals and kids live a better life. Solomon did not want guys, gals and kids to make the same mistakes that he had made in his life. Solomon may have begun reflecting on his life – as a teacher, in his old age. What Solomon teaches – or what someone else who is known as the teacher is teaching, was written down in a book which now can be found in the Old Testament. This Old Testament book is called Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes means teacher or preacher. The teacher or preacher in Ecclesiastes is a pessimistic guy. A pessimistic guy or gal will look at life in a negative, unhappy way. The Ecclesiastes Book author seems to have experienced a lot of unhappy times in his life. You can learn to live a more positive, happy life from reading about the depressing experiences that the Ecclesiastes writer apparently had during his lifetime. The teacher – in Ecclesiastes 7, refers to his life as being meaningless. The teacher still has hope in his life but . . . your grandpaa thinks that the teacher wishes that he could relive his life. You will do things as you grow up which you will wish that you had not done. No matter how good that you live your lives, your lives will always have sin in them. Sinning will be one of your life teachers. You have passed a life test when after you have sinned you do not repeat that sin because you have learned the consequences of the sin. You have failed a life test when after you have sinned you repeat that sin because you are unwise.
The teacher who is writing Ecclesiastes knows that there is no way for a guy or gal to know everything. The guy tells you not to listen to or to believe in everything which is said. The teacher tells you that he did everything possible to be wise but in the end, the teacher found wisdom to be something too difficult or too profound to be found. The teacher tells you to pursue a good name instead of participating in all the fun that a guy, gal or kid can have. The teacher does not want you to act like a fool. What are some of the things that you can do that would have you acting like a fool? The teacher was very concerned about a guy pursuing an improper relationship with a gal. The teacher learned what it was like having done wicked things. You will grow up having all kinds of opportunities to do wicked things. You can decide to use drugs and/or abuse alcohol. You can decide to lie about things that you do. You can decide to cheat on tests that you take in school by looking at another kid’s answers. You can decide to spend all your time playing games on a computer and/or watching TV programs instead of keeping your room clean or doing your homework. God is Who has made man crooked per the Ecclesiastes teacher. Your grandpaa yesterday wrote about a drunk one night telling another drunk that a crooked tree can never grow straight. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were with a summer team that was staying in a house across the street from the Christ-follower church in San Jose, Bolivia. Your grandmaa and grandpaa had been awakened by a drunk who had begun to yell loudly in the street right outside the house. The summer team was to be in Bolivia for about seven weeks. One of the gals on this summer team could really sing. The drunk out in the street was yelling this gal’s name. Louisa and another gal had decided to sleep in the patio area inside the house. When Louisa heard the drunk yelling for her, Louisa and the other gal came hopping into the room – in their sleeping bags, where your grandmaa and grandpaa were sleeping. Louisa and the other gal were really scared. When your grandpaa woke up Tim Blad – to ask Tim to listen to what the drunk out in the street was saying, Tim jumped out of his sleeping bag, put up his hands like a boxer and told your grandpaa that he was ready to fight the drunk. Instead of listening to what the drunk who was out in the street was yelling, Tim began to listen to two drunks who were sitting on the corner steps right outside the house where the summer team were staying. Before Tim told your grandpaa what one of the drunks said to the other drunk – about a crooked tree not being able to grow straight again, the guys and gals on the summer team were really apprehensive as to what might happen. When your grandmaa asked your grandpaa what Tim had said, your grandpaa started to tell your grandmaa but . . . your grandpaa began to laugh. When your grandpaa could not stop laughing, the feeling of stress that the guys and gals on the summer team were feeling disappeared.
Your grandmaa and grandpaa will never forget what happened that night in San Jose. The two drunks sitting outside the house where your grandmaa and grandpaa were staying with the summer team taught your grandpaa and grandpaa what the teacher is saying in verse 25 “So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.” To drink something that will get you drunk is stupid. When a guy or gal is drunk, he or she will do stupid and bad things. If a guy or gal becomes drunk, he or she loses the ability to know what he or she is doing or saying. You were born as a crooked tree. When Jesus died on a tree, Jesus straightened out the lives of the guys, gals and kids who are His own.
Ecclesiastes 7 (84)