My life, my dominion

Part 2: WISDOM APPLIED
Eccl 7:1-2
A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man;
the living should take this to heart.
Eccl 7:6
6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot,
so is the laughter of fools.
This too is meaningless.

Eccl 7:11-12
11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing
and benefits those who see the sun.
12 Wisdom is a shelter
as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.
Three facts about life:
1. Death makes us ponder about life.
2. Pleasure is shallow.
3. Wisdom is good.
What then is wisdom?
Eccl 7:13-19
13 Consider what God has done:
Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover
anything about his future.
15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
a righteous man perishing in his righteousness,
and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
16 Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise-
why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool-
why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
The man who fears God will avoid all [extremes].
It consider what God has done:
1. V.13 Accept God’s sovereignty.
2. V.14 Accept both prosperity and adversity.
3. V.14 Accept he cannot control his future.
4. V.15 Accept unexplicable unfair events.
Result:
1. Not self righteous (fear of the Lord)
2. Not wicked. (fear of the Lord)
3. Fear and respect the Lord because of above acceptance.

Eccl 7:23-25
23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,
"I am determined to be wise"-
but this was beyond me.
24 Whatever wisdom may be,
it is far off and most profound-
who can discover it?
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
Eccl 7:27
27 "Look," says the Teacher,"this is what I have discovered:
"Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-
Eccl 7:29
29 This only have I found:
God made mankind upright,
but men have gone in search of many schemes."
What is Solomon’s definition of wisdom ? (v. 27) To discover the plan of God. But he cannot. He discovered man is going their own ways and Solomon himself is one of them (play on words – understand in v25 is the same as scheme in v.29)
Can studying the word of God let you know the detail plan of God? Can study of the signs of the earth? No. Wisdom is knowing your limitation and then accepting your limitations.
Eccl 8:1
who is like the wise man?
Who knows the explanation of things?
Wisdom brightens a man's face
and changes its hard appearance.
What is the wise man like?
Eccl 8:11-15
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
Wise has faith in God that He will reward the God fearing.
14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
The faith is not always checked out by circumstances. But because of faith and the inability to comprehend what God is doing, Solomon concluded the wise can:
1. Enjoy life. Survive and be happy.
2. Joy will accompany you in your work.
3. God gave you the brief days.
Eccl 8:16-17
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth-his eyes not seeing sleep day or night- 17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
Wise man know his limitations.
Eccl 9:1-2
9:1 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him.
Wise man has faith and know his limitations. That he is in God’s hands even though it may not appear so as both good and bad can be his lot.
Eccl 9:3-4
4 Anyone who is among the living has hope-even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
Eccl 9:7-10
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun- all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Since wise man has faith and know his limitations, he can have hope as long as he is living. With hope he is commanded to go and enjoy the 4 c’s now – contentment, comfort, companionship, contagious enthusiasm. The presence of faith and hope and limitations are evidences that you are in God’s favor and his gifts are yours.

Eccl 9:11-12
11 I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:
What are some of the problems with wisdom?
1. Mistaking worldly wisdom for true wisdom.
Eccl 9:17-18
17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.
2. We can easily mistake the words of sinners for wisdoms.
Eccl 10:12-15
12 Words from a wise man's mouth are gracious,
but a fool is consumed by his own lips.
13 At the beginning his words are folly;
at the end they are wicked madness-
14 and the fool multiplies words.
No one knows what is coming-
who can tell him what will happen after him?
15 A fool's work wearies him;
he does not know the way to town.
3. The true sign of distinguishing a fool from the wise is the way he talks. The fools always pretend to sound sure.
Eccl 11:3-6
3 If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there will it lie.
4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother's womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.
6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.
What are the signs of those who exercises wisdom?
1. v. 1-3. Admit limitations and lack of control.
2. v.4 Yet courageous.
3. v.6 Yet diligent.

Eccl 11:8-9
8 However many years a man may live,
let him enjoy them all.
But let him remember the days of darkness,
for they will be many.
Everything to come is meaningless.
4. v.8 Enjoy life.
5. v.8 Know limitations and adversity will come. Let him remember that.
9 Be happy, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you to judgment.
6. v.9 Remember God will judge.
Eccl 12:1
Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
"I find no pleasure in them"-
Eccl 12:6-7
6 Remember him-before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
The key to wisdom is in the word – remember – actively engaging.
Remember your creator at different stages of life. In prime and in old age. That is the way of wisdom. Engage him before you are in a coma or you die. Because why.
Eccl 12:8
8 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher.
"Everything is meaningless!"
Life is brief. You better make the best of it through the way of wisdom. Only then can you find significance and satisfaction in life.
Eccl 12:11-14
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails-given by one Shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole [duty] of man.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
A hint of eternal judgment to come.