Ecclesiastes 10 (6)

Pray Psalm 38.1-3.
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.
There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones
Because of my sin.

Read Ecclesiastes 10.15-17.

Prepare.
1. For whom does work seem a wearisome thing? Why?

2. Which rulers are to be preferred, and why?

Meditate.
It would be pretty hard for Rehoboam to miss the point of these words. The life of folly is exhausting – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Folly obscures the straight path to the Lord’s city, littering it with attractive but vain distractions. Solomon himself is testimony to this. But there is more than just one foolish kid at stake here; the nation must be served.

Fools in office think of themselves first and the people they serve last. Rehoboam will weary and ruin the nation if he persists in his folly. As it turned out, that would actually be the case, but only because Solomon himself had incurred the wrath of God for his own folly. We can imagine that these are words as much an indictment of Solomon himself, and a confession of his sin, as an admonition to his son.

We never sin alone. Our foolishness and rebellion impact others, and the more people there are in our sphere of influence, the more people there are to hurt with our sin. Love of neighbor requires that we eradicate folly and sin from our lives as much as possible. Wisdom – following in the footsteps of Jesus – is the way to bring blessing to others. Folly and sin may bring momentary gratification, but they can come back to bite us, and they always leave a bruise on someone else.

In our day, the Church is not wise to be following a policy of downplaying sin. Church leaders seem to think they can promote the Gospel of Christ without confronting the folly of their members – don’t want to offend anyone, you know. But this “tolerance” only promotes more sin, more damage, and more of the wrath of God that Solomon brought on his own nation. 

Reflect.
1. What’s so wearisome about living “under the sun”?  

2. How can you know whether a ruler – civil or ecclesiastical – is a wise person or a fool?

3. How should the advice of verses 16 and 17 guide us in thinking about our Personal Mission Field?

The princes of the devil’s city “eat in the morning,” that is, before the proper time—in the sense that, being overeager to attain perfect happiness at once in the society of this present world, they are unwilling to await the only true happiness which will come in due time in the world to come. But the princes of the city of Christ await in patience the time of a blessedness which is sure to be theirs. The conclusion, “in strength and not in confusion,” means that their hope will not cheat them. Augustine (354-430), City of God 17.20

Keep me from sin, Lord, and set my heart to serve others today as I…

Pray Psalm 38.5-12.
The devil is laying snares for you even now. Make sure your desires are focused on the Lord. Let the thought of sinning against the Lord so trouble you, that you will resist the devil however he approaches you today.

Sing Psalm 38.5-12.
Psalm 38.5-12 (Leoni: The God of Abraham Praise)
My sinful wounds grow foul, and fester painfully;
I bend and groan within my soul most mournfully!
Sin fills my every part;
Conviction stings my breast.
Lord, ease my numbed and burning heart and grant me rest!

You know all my desire, my sighs You know full well.
My strength fails and light’s holy fire my eyes dispel.
My friends and loved ones fail;
The wicked do me wrong.
My life they seek, my soul assail the whole day long.

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).