10 As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink,
so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.
2 A wise person chooses the right road;
a fool takes the wrong one.
3 You can identify fools
just by the way they walk down the street!
4 If your boss is angry at you, don’t quit!
A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes.
5 There is another evil I have seen under the sun. Kings and rulers make a grave mistake 6 when they give great authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven worth. 7 I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes—and princes walking like servants!
8 When you dig a well,
you might fall in.
When you demolish an old wall,
you could be bitten by a snake.
9 When you work in a quarry,
stones might fall and crush you.
When you chop wood,
there is danger with each stroke of your ax.
10 Using a dull ax requires great strength,
so sharpen the blade.
That’s the value of wisdom;
it helps you succeed.
11 If a snake bites before you charm it,
what’s the use of being a snake charmer?
12 Wise words bring approval,
but fools are destroyed by their own words.
13 Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions,
so their conclusions will be wicked madness;
14 they chatter on and on.
No one really knows what is going to happen;
no one can predict the future.
15 Fools are so exhausted by a little work
that they can’t even find their way home.
16 What sorrow for the land ruled by a servant,
the land whose leaders feast in the morning.
17 Happy is the land whose king is a noble leader
and whose leaders feast at the proper time
to gain strength for their work, not to get drunk.
18 Laziness leads to a sagging roof;
idleness leads to a leaky house.
19 A party gives laughter,
wine gives happiness,
and money gives everything!
20 Never make light of the king, even in your thoughts.
And don’t make fun of the powerful, even in your own bedroom.
For a little bird might deliver your message
and tell them what you said.
Ecclesiastes 10
Dear God, I have to say that it was verses 13 and 14a that stuck out to me this morning:
13 Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions,
so their conclusions will be wicked madness;
14 they chatter on and on.
I thought of Solomon and the premise for many of his arguments in the previous 9 chapters: It’s all a waste so you might as well make yourself as happy as you can. Oh, how I think Jesus would have had something to say to Solomon about all of this.
So that makes me wonder why kinds of things I am just so certain of that are simple foolishness. Don’t get me wrong, I love to sit here and judge Solomon from thousands of years ago. But what is the good in that? I need to learn from Solomon, and I need some self introspection to figure out if there are any premises of my philosophy/theology/perspective that are simply wrong? When it comes to my marriage, is there anything I believe that is simply wrong? When it comes to parenting? My work? My involvement in church and the community? My engagement in politics? I have a friend who is a good man and a great lover and worshipper of you, but I fear he has made politics, politicians, and other associated things into an idol. I tried to talk to him about it, but he couldn’t hear my arguments. I am sure that if he were the one sitting here right now, he might be typing the same thing about me. How can John not feel more this way or that way? Why is he not upset about this or prioritizing that?
Father, I don’t know that I’m going to come up with some great answer sitting here this morning, but I am sure there are many areas where I am flat out wrong. When I meet you face to face one day I will have all kinds of things revealed to me that will make me feel foolish. So I am sorry for my foolishness. I am sorry that I likely cause you to shake your head at my missed opportunities or wrong perspectives. I love you. Holy Spirit, please speak to me in a still, small voice and reveal not only the Father and the Son to me, but also open my eyes to see the sin in myself.
I pray this in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 