Author: Ben Bourland

“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.

“Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive counsel (friendly reproof and warning)” Ecclesiastes 4:13 ->me: The Preacher has such a great warning for us. Through verses 14-16 he talks about the fact that even though the poor wise youth takes over the reign of the kingdom from the old and foolish King; the new King (the youth) will undoubtedly follow in the old king’s footsteps and become foolish and isolate himself as well. This is the path of those ‘under the sun’. A never-ending churn of deprecating self gratification and pride that results in alienation towards others. When God is our Treasure and King, we grow in wisdom, compassion, and selflessness. We can avoid the pitfall of turning inwardly and rebuffing the wise counsel from our brothers and sisters in Christ. I must not let the good days of plenty force me to take my eyes off the One Who wants my entire reliance on Him. It’s the times where everything is going right that I must be the most vigilant and self-checking; staying out of my self-reliant stupor. God, through Your Holy Spirit, please help me to lean on you in all times, both highs and lows; that I might have the steady peace, rest, and open heart to do Your work.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good [more satisfying] reward for their labor; for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie down together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone? And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ->me: All my mind kept running to when reading these four verses was…YOU! You are on this journey with me. Men of my Life Group -> you are the ones where we help each other in regards to support in the pitfalls of life. Marianne, your companionship keeps my spiritual thermometer HOT and of course warmth at night is wonderful. All of my close family and friends, we provide each other a protective barrier so that none of us is robbed of the feeling of being loved. What is the coolest is that even if I was physically alone, I have the companionship, protection, and peaceful warmth of the Son of God. When any other brother or sister in Christ is added to that mix we become an earthly cord not easily broken.

“So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, set Barabbas free for them; and after having Jesus whipped, he handed [Him] over to be crucified.” Mark 15:15 ->me:  Today I read Ecclesiastes 4:7-8 but ever since yesterday’s message from Pastor Steve, I have been consumed with Barabbas’ role in the mock trial of Jesus before His crucifixion.  Barabbas was a troublemaker, a robber, and outright sinful person who probably didn’t give a second thought to a man named Jesus…until the day he was suddenly released without warning.  My whole life I have understood the acceptance of Jesus as a gift to be received and not earned and the fact that as a sinless sacrifice He bore the weight and wrath of God for my sin.  However, I really never thought of this process from the perspective of Barabbas.  In a moment, Barabbas’ punishment was lifted by someone else, who was undeserving of the consequences – in this case Jesus…but! In order to attain spiritual freedom, Barabbas needed to acknowledge who Jesus is, the Son of God Who came to save the world from the penalty of sin.  Will we see Barabbas in heaven?  I hope so.  We are just like Barabbas; Jesus has already come and traded Himself for us, but we still must accept Him for Who He is before the Father credits our sin to the Cross purifying our spirit.  I can only hope that through the bewilderment of his release, Barabbas sought to understand Who this Jesus is and believe in what Christ came to do.

“Better is a handful with quietness than both hands full with painful effort, a vain striving after the wind and a feeding on it.” Ecclesiastes 4:6  ->me:  Why don’t we listen to the writer of Ecclesiastes??  His observations are timeless.  4:1-3 describe a life ‘under the sun’ (without God) as a life without an Ultimate Comforter; a life that has disappointment, evil and wickedness that force many to suicidal thoughts; in their minds…maybe better to have never been born at all.  Then 4:4-6 talks about the root of all toil and ambition being envy and human rivalry.  Beneath the surface of human energies is the restless desire to out class others.  Tell me this is not the description of everyone you know who is not grounded in the word and following the example of Jesus everyday…conversely, the drop out with their total indifference just end up consuming themselves (destroying their own flesh) with idle “folded” hands or seeking the drug/substance that allows them to sit idle in bliss.  When we have our minds and hearts fixed on an eternal hope, we no longer cup both of our hands to possess as much of this world as possible; instead we grasp the gift of God with one hand and hold out the other to rescue as many to the Kingdom as possible.

“I said in my heart regarding the subject of the sons of men, God is trying (separating and sifting) them, that they may see that by themselves [under the sun, without God] they are but like beasts.” Ecclesiastes 3:18 ->me: Animals don’t have any sense about what they must or want to do/accomplish before they die. They don’t try to make a lasting mark to be remembered, they just exist and then perish. What I think the Preacher is saying here is that God, through the grinding in and out of life He tries to help us see that by ourselves and in toil for our own gain, or our own mark on society is, in the end, no different than dying like an animal. Nothing is carried forward or makes a difference beyond ‘under the sun’ without God. When God is our goal and the glory of what is done on earth is given to and is for Him, then the impact we have is in the body of His Son…Jesus is glorified, our witness lands true, our eternity is impacted for the better. Those of you following me for awhile know that pride is one my biggest struggles. I pray everyday that God gives me strength to make a discernable tear in the veil of my pride that mutes His face.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 ->me: This verse follows 7 verses talking about the times for this and times for that (eg. There is a time for war and time for peace). It seems to me that the main point of the passage is that I am offered a life that is joyful but definitely not self-sufficient. God’s sovereignty over earthly ‘times’ is to reinforce the inability for human life to make its own way. No one is put into such a high position that for them vanity does not exist. God sets eternity in the heart of all humans. Our consciousness of God is part of our nature, and the suppression of it is part of our sin. I saw this ‘Augustine’s Maxim’ and I really liked it -> “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find peace in You.” One peace that God has given me today is through the news that Bella has asked to get baptized tomorrow at camp (and of course we are going!). What an answer to prayer this is. When you give your most prized possessions to Him He gives something back far more valuable than you could have imagined.

“There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and make himself enjoy good in his labor. Even this, I have seen, is from the hand of God. For who can eat or who can have enjoyment any more than I can—apart from Him? For to the person who pleases Him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy.” Ecclesiastes 2:24-26a ->me: Here is the counter to worldly pessimism. The Preacher has held before his readers two ways of life: the vicious circle of a pointless world, temporary pleasures, fruitless work, futile wisdom, inevitable death, versus an enjoyable life, given by and taken daily from, the hand of God, in the faithful confidence that God deals appropriately with righteous and unrighteous. In 1 Timothy 4:4 it says, “For everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be thrown away or refused if it is received with thanksgiving.” and in 1 Timothy 6:6-8 “[It is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for] godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and obviously we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied).” Simple contentment in who we are in Jesus as heirs of a heavenly Kingdom is the Hope that brings contentment here on earth. Why should I have want for anything here. This is a reminder that when I am following my Savior I can be content in what my Salvation will bring…what is awesome is that through this confidence and peace I get a little bit of heaven now.

“I said of laughter, It is mad, and of pleasure, What does it accomplish?” Ecclesiastes 2:2 ->me: The writer of Ecclesiastes spends Chapter 1 on earthly wisdom without God and now almost all of Chapter 2 on the futility of laughter and pleasures with a horizon leveled only on what is ‘under the sun’. I have spent a good amount of time at lunch today reading the chapter and checking in on some commentaries on this chapter but it has been eating on me all day. I had the opportunity this morning to see God work in my life (my job actually) through dependence on Him. I needed to represent my boss and his PM (Program Manager) peer in a review of our group to the Technical Fellow who leads our Systems organization. I prepared what I needed but I regularly struggle with conciseness and brevity. Well I prayed intently before my meeting, laying it before the Lord and He delivered. I owe the success of my 30 minute read out to the room full of people and my Technical Fellow leader, entirely to the God of my life. I felt comfortable, I was calm, and He took care of my presentation. What if my only goal was achieving greatness through my own means, or joy through seeking the pleasures of this world, or just focusing on how I can do everything myself – It would lack the powerful joy received from giving glory to my King which is what I was designed to do. Ecclesiastes is helping me to see the real way to live this life….by putting my sights on a horizon that is outside/beyond the curvature of this earth.

“I gave my mind to know [practical] wisdom and to discern [the character of] madness and folly [in which men seem to find satisfaction]; I perceived that this also is a searching after wind and a feeding on it.  For in much [human] wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 ->me:  These set of verses to close out the first chapter of the Ecclesiastes are very reminiscent of Paul’s words in Romans 1:21&22 – “Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves].”  The thinkers of this world become so frustrated.  No matter how much they ponder all things, they cannot straighten out life’s anomalies; they cannot reduce all they see to a neat system.  Their wisdom may help in some things, but it cannot solve the fundamental problem of life.  The writer of Ecclesiastes is making it super clear that without God (without faith) the world is a hamster wheel that spins and spins.  All of creation groans with the hope of when the cycle of decay and corruption end (Romans 8:20-21).