Practical Wisdom

You cannot learn Godly wisdom in a University and get a degree in it. It can only come to a heart in right relationship with God, and seeking it."The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” (Socrates) … More

Wisdom

Solomon, the wisest man the world has ever known confesses how difficult it has been to act and think wisely. He emphasizes that no matter how much we know there are always mysteries we will never understand. He urged his readers not to be over righteous “lest they be confounded or astonished.” He meant that they should not depend on their righteousness or wisdom to guarantee God’s blessing or they may be disappointed as some people he had known (v. 15).

Solomon’s advice should not be interpreted that he believed in halfhearted obedience to God’s commands (vv. 16-18). He never advocated folly as wickedness. Instead he advocated living life in the light of God’s judgement (11:9; 12:14). His only uncertainty about God’s judgement was the timing. Wisdom will help a wise person more than ten rulers can help a city (v. 19). No one is truly righteous and no one does right and never sins (v. 20). Don’t take everything that people say to heart (v. 21). Your conscience knows you have cursed others (v. 22). It is good to persistently pursue wisdom, but one must confess that the perfect achievement of such a goal is far from every man. He had already demonstrated the limitations of wisdom from his own experience (vv. 23, 24).

Wickedness is stupid and foolishness is madness (v. 25). The writer describes a woman whose thoughts are like traps and and hands are like chains. Whoever pleases God will escape her, but she will catch whoever continues to sin (v. 26). He is seeking for a reason for things but has not found any (v. 27). The more man employs his creativity, the prouder he becomes of his intellect and the less need he feels for the creator. Consequently, he draws further and further away from God. Solomon suggests that one man in a thousand has discovered the way of wisdom and profit (v. 28). God made people descent but they look for many ways to avoid being that way. This infers that the path that leads to wisdom is narrow and found only by a few (Matthew 7:13).

Application

Thinking that I have enough wisdom is a sure sign that I don’t.    

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29 (English Standard Version)


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