Ecclesiastes 7 (HCSB)
Wise Sayings
1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart.
3 Grief is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.
5 It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person than to listen to the song of fools,
6 for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.
7 Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe destroys the mind.
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning; a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.
9 Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry, for anger abides in the heart of fools.
10 Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” since it is not wise of you to ask this.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance and an advantage to those who see the sun,
12 because wisdom is protection as money is protection, and the advantage of knowledge
is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.
13 Consider the work of God, for who can straighten out what He has made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.
Avoiding Extremes
15 In my futile life I have seen everything: there is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil. 16 Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.
19 Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers of a city.
20 There is certainly no righteous man on the earth who does good and never sins.
21 Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you, 22 for you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.
What the Teacher Found
23 I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. 24 What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it? 25 I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and seek wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 27 “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, 28 which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman. 29 Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.”
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 11-12): Father, please forgive me for not leaning on and properly learning from Your wisdom. In this short time with Real Men 300, I have realized that You have blessed me with a lot more of Your wisdom than I could have ever imagined, but I've failed to actually use that wisdom in action in my life. Help me to become a more consistent and Godly wise man in all that I do, Father.
PROMISE (verse 20): You promise us that there is not a righteous man on earth who always does good and never sins. Help me to internalize this promise so that I may not covet others, thinking that they are perfectly righteous. The only example I should be looking to covet or use as my foundation of comparison is You, Father. Help me to always remember this promise so that I may not put others above You ever.
ATTITUDE (verse 9): Father, help me to no longer have an attitude that rushes to anger. Cleanse me of this unholy anger that I often default to so that I may be more empowered by and living in the Holy Spirit instead of the spirit of the enemy, Father. Protect me from the enemy's evil ways and influence so that I can be healed of this horrible default attitude that I often lean on, Lord.
COMMAND (verse 10): You command us, Lord, to stop comparing the past to the present, saying things like "the good ol' days" or "things were better back then." Help me to internalize this so that I may be appreciative of the present, whether positive or negative, and not compare it to a past that I can never go back to.
EXAMPLE (verses 15-22): Father, help me to find Your balance as you give us an example of in this scripture. Help me to always avoid extremes as I have done so many times in the past. Help me to keep my focus on You, so that I may know Your will in all things and avoid the extremes I often dig myself into.
*DAILY NOTE: I have so much to work on when it comes to my default reaction of anger, Father. I've gained so much head knowledge of You and Your word over the years, but have failed to move that to my heart and to action. Help me to remember that Your way is always better than my own, even if sometimes my own is the "easier" way of doing things. I shouldn't always default to easy when oftentimes You call on us to push ourselves further for Your kingdom and Your glory, Father. Help me to remember this so that I fall to the enemy less and less each and every day.
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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