Tag Archives: The Carpenters

8 How wonderful to be wise,
    to analyze and interpret things.
Wisdom lights up a person’s face,
    softening its harshness.

² Obey the king since you vowed to God that you would. ³ Don’t try to avoid doing your duty, and don’t stand with those who plot evil, for the king can do whatever he wants. ⁴ His command is backed by great power. No one can resist or question it. ⁵ Those who obey him will not be punished. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right, ⁶ for there is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble.

⁷ Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen? ⁸ None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.

⁹ I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people have the power to hurt each other. ¹⁰ I have seen wicked people buried with honor. Yet they were the very ones who frequented the Temple and are now praised in the same city where they committed their crimes! This, too, is meaningless. ¹¹ When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong. ¹² But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off. ¹³ The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows.

¹⁴ And this is not all that is meaningless in our world. In this life, good people are often treated as though they were wicked, and wicked people are often treated as though they were good. This is so meaningless!

¹⁵ So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.

¹⁶ In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night. ¹⁷ I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.

Ecclesiastes 8

Dear God, I have a few things here.

First, I have been tempted to abandon this series in Ecclesiastes. I haven’t enjoyed it nearly as much as I thought I would. It’s a little like a Carpenters’ song. In isolation they are fun, but if you spend an hour listening to The Carpenters you can’t help but leaving feeling a little depressed. That’s how I feel about reading Ecclesiastes day after day. It feels like Solomon is experiencing so much emptiness.

Which leads me to my second point. As I was reading chapter 8 this morning, I couldn’t help but wonder if Solomon wasn’t fighting or experiencing some depression when he wrote this. It feels like the musings of someone who is struggling. Verse 14: ⁴ And this is not all that is meaningless in our world. In this life, good people are often treated as though they were wicked, and wicked people are often treated as though they were good. This is so meaningless! Not the words of someone who is at peace and filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. If I had been Solomon’s friend or confidant at this time, I wonder if I would be worried about him. How would I counsel him. I actually have a friend I’ve been concerned about lately, and I suggested to them that they see a counselor because they have so much going on in their personal and professional lives. Yeah, it feels like Solomon might have needed an intervention. I wonder how much the process of writing all of this out might have been therapeutic to him in some way.

Finally, I like this last part of chapter 8: ¹⁶ In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night. ¹⁷ I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim. That is the key that I feel like I am learning more and more. I have no idea what you are up to, and that is okay. I shouldn’t expect anything from you. I watched a good video this morning that is a mock conversation between an early Christian and a modern Christian.

Somehow we have accidentally come to expect things from our faith that Jesus would have…well, at a minimum he would shake his head.

Father, I am going to get to have a lot of interactions with others today. I’m going to a conference in Houston where I will visit with a lot of people who are in the same type of work I am. Then I get to have dinner with an old friend. Make me an instrument of your peace today. Help me to expect nothing for myself, but to worship you in every word that I speak and action I take. Help me to love you well and represent your well. Help me to lead with mercy and compassion. And I am sorry for the foolishness I show sometimes when I expect things that Jesus would just shake his head at–that you shake your head at.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen