“Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.” Ecclesiastes 5:1 ->me: First…I love this verse. When I read it to Marianne tonight the first thing she said was, “now you have done it; you have read it. Now you are responsible for it…” and she is right. In the time of the Preacher Jesus had not come as the ultimate propitiation for our sins yet so going to the house of God literally meant the tabernacle or the temple where sacrifices were offered. For us, 1 Corinthians 6:19 says – “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” The literal translation of ‘walk prudently’ is ‘guard your feet’, the demeanor and preparedness that I should reverently have when coming to the Lord in worship; particularly readiness to obey. Listen refers to heeding as well as hearing – 1 Samuel 15:22. The warning is a great follow to yesterday’s verse – don’t come to the Lord out of obligation or tradition rather than out of repentance and reverence. The fool is the one who does not FEAR the Lord when they approach Him. The fool is the one who does the ‘Christian’ things seeking approval of those around them. They do not understand the gravity of their error. Luke 10:27 “I must love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind”…at all times.
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