Broken Wheel

- See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. - This verse reminds us of Genesis during the fall and those verses in Romans we don’t like to think about, no not one. We lived in a perfect paradisal state. Did we preserve it? Did we wake up every day praising God for the opportunity He had given us to live in such a beautiful world? Nope. We listened t...

- Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things—which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. - Look – I don’t pick what Solomon writes, okay? You can choose to stop reading this crazy guy at any time! I think there are two ways to read this...

- I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. - The structure present at the beginning of these verses...

- That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? - We’ve seen language to this affect back in Chapter 1. Solomon is letting us know that there is nothing new under the sun. Right before he gets to that phrase, he says what has been is what will be. What has been done, will be done. Solomon is letting us know that history repeats itself. We are doomed to repeat the mistak...

- All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. - What does Solomon mean when he says tested by wisdom? Did he start performing scientific experiments to see which of his adages proved true? Probably not exactly like that. After discovering a lesson of wisdom, he probably acted it out and then noticed the results. Was his life better? Did he have access to new...

- Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. - Gossiping is a human universal. I do not mean that all cultures have some form of gossiping within them. I mean all of humanity gossips. Why? It’s not right to say it is sin and we love sinning. Not all human beings (even those we would...

- Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. - Recognize the last verse? I’ll give you a hint. One of the apostle’s says something similar to this in one of his letters. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23. Right, Paul’s famous passage on everyone being a...

- Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. - One way is pretty easy. Don’t be a martyr. Like you, I’m pretty sure that is not...

- In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. - I think I’m having a midlife crisis now. Working hard is something to admire. If given the choice, we prefer to work with others who put in similar or more effort than we do. We never want to work with people who are willing to co...

- In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. - It is good and right to enjoy our blessings. We should not take these for granted when they come our way and use them as touchstones to praise and worship God. Not only this, but we should use them to remind others ar...

- Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? - Remember, we are supposed to be considering the lessons and benefits of wisdom. What does that have to do with verse 13? You may have heard of this guy called Socrates. He used to ask people a lot of questions. Then all the rulers of Athens got really mad about all the questions and killed him. Don’t believe me? Go read...

-Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. - Vanity of Vanities. All is Vanity. But wisdom is good if you get the chance to see the sun. Why? Well, it’s obvious but wisdom protects you. It keeps you from making foolish mi...

- Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. - We like to pretend that the past events we have lived are better than our current circumstances. It’s a trick we play on ourselves. Have you ever heard the parable that if every man placed their troubles in a large pile everyone would take back their own? Why would we do that? Because the famili...

- Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. - I struggle with anger. That’s not exactly true. In fact, I’m not an angry person. If anything, I let people take advantage of me more than I sin in my anger. That’s not exactly true. I’m not an angry person in regard to the people I work with, my friends, and other acquaintances. My struggle with anger affects...

- Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. - Reading this verse, I have trouble buying into it. I’ve definitely had several experiences that were way better in the beginning than the end! Okay, obviously that’s true for all of us, but the verse is driving at something different. What is the context of chapter 7? Right, we are su...

- Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. Well, what is so hard to get about this verse? Of course, oppression drives people mad. History is a good enough teacher here. The current war with Russia and Ukraine isn’t their first conflict. The famines that ravaged Ukraine during the USSR’s rule were brutal. If you have the stomach, you can find pictures of peop...

- For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity. - Seriously, what in the blue blazes does this mean? Do you ever read a verse in the Bible and have that kind of reaction? This verse is a perfect example of that phenomenon. Song of Solomon has instances of this as well. Walk up to your significant other and tell them that their teeth look like she...

- It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. - Music is a wonderful gift. It was thanks to my brother that I gained an amateur’s proficiency with a few instruments. Like many of you, singing and listening to music when I was younger was a way to cope. It allowed me to express emotions I didn’t understand at the time. The music industry feeds off this desi...

- The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. - The photo from today is from my backyard. My wife had a crazy idea that she could build a firepit in two days by herself. It turned into a two-week project. Every day I would come home and spend about 1-2 hours working in the backyard. It took some of my weekends away. Katie could barely make ey...

- Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. - Okay, if you aren’t considering chapter 2 verse 2 when we read today’s passage, that is on you. Our verses literally contain the word laughter! Eccl. 2:2 calls laughter madness. It does not make a comparison between laughter and sorrow. We could say that laughter is to be preferred to sorrow despite its madness. Why...

- It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. - If you aren’t thinking back to chapter 2 verse 2 when you read today’s passage, then I encourage you to consider it.  “I said of laughter, ‘It is mad,’ and of pleasure, ‘What use is it?’” As I argued in the post, there is a distraction in lau...

- A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. - Ladies and Gentlemen, we did it! We are halfway through Ecclesiastes. In fact, I didn’t mention this, but our last post on Chapter 6 was #100. Thank you all for joining me on this adventure, and I hope it has encouraged and grown your relationship with God. Onto chapter 7! I particularly like this chapter...

- For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? - Perhaps you would expect me to touch on the short time we are given on this earth with a verse like this. Are we not vapor in the wind? Perhaps you would have thought it sensible to discuss how the future will forget or move...

- The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? - We’ve already discussed this idea at the beginning of Chapter 5. Too many words spoken is a problem. Fools hide in many words. That’s how you know I’m an idiot. Right, I made the argument then, and now, that there are certain ideas which take many words to explain. The true mark of “more words” in my mind is to speak more words...

- Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. - One of the ways humans communicate their mastery over an idea is to give it a name. It allows a single word to communicate the entirety of a thought. Take the word construction. Think about all the separate trades required to build a home: plumbers, electri...