Lavonne Baker, Sister in Christ

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29 NIV
“In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:  a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.  Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise-why destroy yourself?  Do not be a fool-why die before your time?  It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other.  The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.  Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city.  There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.  Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you-for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.  All this I tested by wisdom and I said, “I am determined to be wise”-but this was beyond me.  Whatever wisdom may be it is far off and most profound-who can discover it?  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.  I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains.  The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.  “Look,” says the Teacher, “this is what I have discovered: -“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-while I was still searching but not finding-I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.” 

Reflection:
I love a challenging puzzle. I like to try to figure it out and see if my solution is right. It’s frustrating when the solution is not apparent, and then I may put it aside a while or forget about it. Sometimes though, I may peek at the answer or read the last page in a book to find out the end. Shame on me (I know), but it is so frustrating not to get an answer or get an answer you are not expecting.  

We read these verses in Ecclesiastes and they are definitely puzzling. Righteous people perishing, wicked people living long, no one does what is right and never sins, a woman is a snare, only one upright man in a thousand, men search for many schemes, etc. Good is not always rewarded here on earth and evil can definitely flourish. It all sounds mixed up and hard to figure out. The teacher in Ecclesiastes didn’t stop here. He continued on in the book, just as we do every day. We try to make sense of things going on around us that just don’t make sense.  

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes didn’t leave the reader with all these conundrums.  If you stay with him to the end of the book he presents his solution for all the difficult things mentioned here. I won’t give away the ending, but will leave you with two other Bible verses that always give me assurance when things are confusing or puzzling:  

“Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is our strength.” Nehemiah 8:10. No matter what, we have that joy in our hearts because of the assurance of God’s love and our salvation.  

In John 16:33, Jesus promises us “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.” God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is our answer to the mysteries of life. “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” We only need to trust in his saving grace.  

Prayer:
Father God, the world can be a never-ending puzzle. We praise you for the joy you give us in our hearts. It’s not dependent on outside circumstances, but on you. Thank you for this gift, and for your Son Jesus who gave us the greatest gift, our salvation. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.