Ecclesiastes 10 (3)

Pray Psalm 38.1, 2.
O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.

Read Ecclesiastes 10.8, 9.

Prepare.
1. What is implied by “digging a pit” and “breaking through a wall”?

2. Is Solomon trying to discourage us from work?

Meditate.
How many times have we seen it? Someone sets out to do a foolish, sinful thing at someone else’s expense, and it comes back to bite him big time. You lay a trap hoping to snare someone, and you fall into it yourself. You trespass someone’s person or confidence, and it ends up costing you (v. 8). And even honest work (v. 9) holds hazards we can’t always avoid.

The folly of men – the sin that plagues us all – affects even the world we live in day by day (Rom. 8.20-22). Damage is done to the systems by which human beings make their way in life. Danger lurks even in the workplace. Folly is woven into the warp and woof of life “under the sun”.

We don’t have to look far to see the evidence of sin’s entrenched presence in the systems of our own culture and society. It’s not hard to find examples of people taking advantage of other people by using a good system and corrupting it with sinful intent. Innocent people are killed by drunk drivers every day, and guilty criminals get off easy because of sinful notions of justice and human perfectibility.

It is inevitable, in a fallen world, that the good gifts God distributes among men will be hijacked by the father of lies and made to serve his sinister purposes. Not even the just and righteous can escape the effects of sin and folly unscathed, as we see in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Since the folly that accompanies sin is present in everything “under the sun”, we are best advised to minimize it in our own lives, and to seek a firmer foundation on which to build our hope.

Reflect.
1. How can you see that sin and folly affect all the systems of human life – our culture, institutions, relationships, roles, and responsibilities?  

2. The power of the Gospel overcomes sin and its effects. How have you seen that in your own life?

3. Paul instructs us to work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2.12). How does this mandate address the sin that remains in us and in the world? How would you counsel a new believer to fulfill Paul’s instruction?

Pithy aphorisms are common in the East. The sense is: Violations of true wisdom recoil on the perpetrators. Robert Jamieson (1802-1880), Andrew Fausset (1821-1910), and David Brown (1803-1897), Commentary on Ecclesiastes 8

Lord, help me to repent of any sin in my life, and to follow the path of wisdom, so that I…

Pray Psalm 38.17-22.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Let the Lord search your soul – all your thoughts, desires, and values. Confess any sins He brings to light, and repent of them by charting a new course for yourself. Don’t let the lingering effects of sin and folly ruin your life!

Sing Psalm 38.17-22.
Psalm 38.17-22 (Leoni: The God of Abraham Praise)
My sins I now confess; my anxious soul relieve!
Though foes are strong, Lord, heal and bless all who believe!
Forsake me not, O Lord!
Repay my foes with wrath.
Stand by me with Your saving Word and guard my path!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).