ECCLESIASTES: What is True, Divine Wisdom? Worldly Wisdom is Often Confused with the Divine Kind (Part 2)
“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” – Eccl 12:13-14
Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes are the three specific books which round out the topic of wisdom in the OT. Today, we will specifically look at the part Ecclesiastes plays in the trilogy.
As discussed last post, Proverbs offers a more generalized wisdom, assuming an ordered world, heavily focused on worldly orientation. Ecclesiastes, on the other hand, demonstrates wisdom when the order of the world simply does not seem to adequately explain life‘s circumstances (i.e. bad things happening to good people, the wicked being rewarded versus punished, etc…).
Ecclesiastes exclaims: the wise man should fear God and enjoy life according to Godly principles. If an alternative path is taken, and delight is sought outside of the Lord and obeying His commandments, a life of meaninglessness will persist, as likened to “chasing after the wind” (Eccl 1:14). Then God’s judgment will follow.
The Teacher in this book painstakingly spun in every direction, looking at every option to bring true meaning to life, as an alternative to fearing God and keeping His commandments. His investigation for worldly alternatives always led to fatal endings, reinforcing that the order of the universe simply does not and cannot adequately explain life. The Teacher does mention, “To the person who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness” (Eccl 2:25). This statement is true and the actual key to finding the fulfillment the Teacher (and all of us) long to acquire, providing divine wisdom (versus the worldly type). It is how someone truly becomes wise and attains true joy, in contrast to a person having a prideful adolescent attitude and acting foolishly in order to be happy. The fool looks for their fulfillment in worldly pleasures, utilizing their own intellect to find a short lasting and false contentment. Doing this will never satisfy them! The fool thinks they are wise, but simply acts like a fool (1 Cor 3:18), trying to attain fulfillment in life outside a true relationship with God. They try to use everything in the world they can think of and get their hands on to attain joy and fulfillment, but will always fall short.
“Fear God and keep His commandments.” That is DIVINE WISDOM! If you are doing that, then enjoying worldly things is absolutely fine, again, if they are in conformance with and fall under the umbrella of fearing the Lord and following His commandments. The Bible teaches, EVERYTHING of this world, “EVERYTHING is meaningless” (Eccl 12:8)….even worldly wisdom! “I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind” (Eccl 1:17). Worldly wisdom alone falls short….it cannot explain everything in a satisfying way. It is divine wisdom that the true Christ-follower must seek and follow in order to enjoy the things of this world in a God-honoring way and to attain divine fulfillment, and in order for things to make real sense in life. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6).
To be continued…