Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 8:1-9

Helpful thoughts:

• Solomon learned some of these lessons the hard way (“While applying my heart to all that is done under the sun”).
• You never have power over your sin’s consequences.
• The wise see the bigger picture even under the authority of certain “kings”.  The fool gets caught up in the moment and in every detail.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way(s) would wisdom cause a person’s “hardness of face” soften?
2. How does this passage help us to respond well and respect those who are in authority over us in government, even when we disagree with them?
3. How would you best apply a passage like this with our system of government?  What trends do you see in our culture related to our government that we should avoid?

Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

Helpful thoughts:

• You can be overly righteous (pious) and pursue wisdom to a fault.
• Wicked people may live longer under the sun than a righteous person. But, there is wickedness that leads to an early death.
• No one is righteous but one… (The Messiah)
  • In verse 28, Solomon eludes to the one among a thousand he has found. Read Job 33:23 for another reference of the one out of a thousand.
  • Jesus is the only possible “one” that Solomon could have found. He even says so in verse 20.
• Cursing and traps are the work of men and women. God made man upright in the beginning.  Man destructively schemes in the present.

Questions to consider:

1. How can a person be overly righteous? What would have to be the motivation for that righteousness?  How does that contradict the message of the Gospel?
2. Will it always hold true that the righteous have it “better” than the wicked under the sun? Why should that not discourage us?
3. Where must all of your confidence lie concerning righteousness? How does the truth of the Gospel humble us in the best of ways?

Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 7:1-14

Helpful thoughts:

• Death can be a great teacher for us if we are willing to learn from it.
• We cannot change what God has decreed. He is sovereign and good.  But that doesn’t mean everything that happens will be easy or immediately enjoyable.  God has made some things to be “crooked”.  Satan is not overpowering Him when “bad” things happen.
  • “Bad things” are not sin, but they are a consequence of the curse.
  • “Bad things” are not even bad things when God is in it. We tend to call whatever makes our lives uncomfortable and inconvenienced, “Bad things”, while God calls them “sanctifiers.” (See Romans 8)
• People try to escape the reality of death or suffering by:
  • Chasing after money (Even at the cost/hurt of others)
  • Impatience (Always chasing after something new, never finishing)
  • Anger (If I can’t control it, I will yell at it)
  • Nostalgia (Fond memories of the past can’t change, and the evils can’t get any worse when stuck in time)

Questions to consider:

1. How can death teach us more than birth? How does the reality of death cause us to number our days and to keep eternity in view?
2. Why do we call hardships “bad”? What is the cause of our anger at God during hardships?
3. Which of these methods of escapism are you most prone to participate in? Are there others you might have run to in the past?

Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 6:1-12

Helpful thoughts:

• This chapter is a continuation of the second half of chapter 5.
• It is quite possible to have everything you could ever want and still be unsatisfied.
• The three conditions for a perfect life in that time were wealth, many children and many years.  Solomon mentions all three.
• No matter how much wealth, power, life, etc. any one of us may have, no one under the sun compares to the One who has “Named” all things, knows man and is “Stronger than he.”

Questions to consider:

1. If man’s words are vanity, then whose words hold value?
2. If nothing under the sun satisfies, then where should our greatest enjoyment lie?
3. If I cannot change the destiny of mankind, then who should I trust?

Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 5:8-20

Helpful thoughts:

• Governments focused on self-interest will hurt it’s people (Which will not go unnoticed by the Lord).  Governments busy working for the good of productivity in the land will be a blessing to all.
• Focus on money/riches does not satisfy, whether you possess much or little.  Laboring can be joyful and lead to rest, whether you possess much or little.
• Some will be wealthy.  Some will not.  Both can accept what God has given them, continue to work hard and enjoy living.
  • Both the rich and the not-rich can enjoy their work.
  • Both the rich and the not-rich who won’t work will have nothing to enjoy.
    • The lazy rich will not be satisfied with their leisure.
    • The lazy poor refuse to accept their “lot” because they are only focused on what they don’t have.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways is servant leadership beneficial, even in government?
2. How does the love of money hurt both the rich and the poor?
3. Why is it right to view work as a gift from God?  How could you show thankfulness for your job?  How does your salvation in Christ make this possible?

Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

Helpful thoughts:

• In this passage, the Preacher reiterates the great commandment, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
  • Israel was told to “Hear”.  Solomon tells the reader to “Listen”
  • The Lord is one (Undivided) and He requires our undivided love.
• A person with a seared conscience is able to do religious “Good” works without repentance.  This is not pleasing to God.  It is not undivided love.  But the doer will feel like he has a clear conscience.
• God is real and He really hears and interacts with your prayers.  He is actually grieved when you fail to follow through with your vows or fail to obey His commands.
  • His grief is a loving grief!  God’s commands give life.  He wants you to have life and joy!

Questions to consider:

1. When read and considered along with Ecclesiastes chapter 4, is it possible to do religious things out of envy and only for your own personal consumption?  What will that result in? In those desires and actions, who is truly being worshiped?
2. How do you know whether you have a seared conscious or a clear conscience if both of them feel the same?  What outside source of information and authority do you have to consult for the right answer?  Why is the study of God’s Word the only right way to train your conscience and your thinking?
3. Why do you think we are so prone to stray from our commitment or our focus on God when our trials and suffering are alleviated? How is our view of God deficient when we respond that way?

Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 4:1-16

Helpful thoughts:

• Mankind is prone to care/think about himself/herself.  The times we would most often think of others is to compare ourselves (Envy) or to consider what we might get out of them.
• Thinking only of myself will result in my own destruction…and at my own hands.
• It is better/happier to be “poor” and have loving relationships than to be “wealthy” and be alone.
• It is best to work hard together and to rest together in proper balance.
• Enjoy your time with others today!  Merry Christmas!

Questions to consider:

1. Why would it be better to ask, “How are we doing?” than to ask, “How am I doing?”
2. How have the expectations of “Individualism” and “Self-Esteem” in our culture actually made us more sad, depressed, and isolated?
3. When you envy other people, what is it they have that you want?  How does your envy of that apparent possession prove to you that obtaining it would never make you happy?

Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 3:16-22

Helpful thoughts:

• The Preacher points out that even in the courts of this world, injustice can be found.
• God is going to judge, and His judgment is perfect.
• Solomon perceived, with God out of the picture entirely, we are no different than the animals.  Charles Darwin and millions of others have come to the same conclusion.
  • He shows the sadness of the idea that since we cannot see and verify that the soul of man has gone “upward” (The immortality of the soul), man could not have anything more to look forward to than any animal.
    • By the way, check out Proverbs 30:4 and John 3:13.  We do not look for best-selling books about “first-hand” accounts of going to heaven and back for proof, when the Bible says that does not and will not happen.  Only Jesus has been to heaven and then come to earth.  Only four prophets/apostles were given visions of heaven.  Go to the Scriptures to learn about heaven, not unbiblical (Both in description and in disobedience) accounts of people’s, at best, dreams…and at worst, lies.

Questions to consider:

1. How amazing is it that God’s Word was saying, about 2,700 before man actually started believing, that mankind would be seen like no more than animals if they removed God from the picture?
2. Why is there injustice on this earth?  How does the knowledge of God’s final justice help us to endure injustices we see or experience?