Ecclesiastes 7 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence

Clearly, this chapter reads more like the Proverbs of Solomon than the seemingly bleak perspective of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, yet many of the same notes are still struck here: death is valued more than life, sadness more than laughter, and mourning more than mirth. Even prior to the full revelation of Christ Jesus in the New Testament, these sentiments are not improper given the nature of wisdom to uncover that which is good and true. An entire night of mirth will not help an individual to consider his own mortality and meaning, yet just one hour in the house of mourning will quickly give a wise person perspective. Even though sadness is anything but enjoyable in the moment, its painful work can lead to a true restoration of joy. And even the awareness that one is about to die, quickly causes the unconcerned to be concerned about how to spend one’s remaining days and hours.

In a similar vein, Solomon says that to hear the rebuke of the wise is better than the song of fools, yet our foolish hearts still long to be entertained and to drown out the voice of conscience. In the same manner, he says, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.” In other words, it’s better to finish a project than to begin one. But finishing is hard work; it’s much easier to just start new works again and again. Likewise, it’s much easier to lose our temper than it is to practice patience and self-control. It is also easier to pine for the good ole days than to work for the good in these days.

Of course, choosing the harder path will depend on one’s trust in the goodness of God, for even though He gives us days of prosperity, he also gives us the days of adversity for our good. He is not only the God who straightens things out for us, but he is also the God who made things crooked in the first place that we might look to him for wisdom, for strength and for help. Ultimately, it is the man who fears the Lord who can see through his prosperity and weed through his adversity to find his rest in God’s will.

In Solomon’s personal quest, he says that he only found one man out a thousand who walked in wisdom and righteousness and did not chase after the wind. On the other hand, he didn’t find one single woman of the same ilk. It’s important to understand, though, that Solomon is not stating a worldwide truth in this regard but only of his own perspective as the king of Israel whose primary interactions with women was in the courts of his own palace, with his many pagan wives and concubines who clearly did not love the Lord nor pursue wisdom. If you remember, Proverbs 31 was not written by King Solomon but by King Lemuel who did indeed find a worthy woman who feared the Lord, but Solomon found only temptation and heartache because of his own foolish choices.

Obviously, Solomon himself was not the wise man that he mentions among a thousand in this passage, for even when he pursued wisdom, he said that it was far from him. And even though he pursued it in many different ways, he never plumbed the depths of its power and beauty getting distracted instead by the empty schemes of men. And that is how Solomon closes this chapter by sharing that “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

So, even though we are taught in the New Testament to beware the devil’s schemes, we shouldn’t go around blaming the devil for our sin, since it is our own heart that naturally desires alternative schemes to the ways of the Lord. And because we are all prone to wander in this way, even the wisdom literature is continually pointing us to Christ—that one man among a thousand–who is truly righteous and good. It is not merely by patterning our lives after his that we grow in wisdom, but by daily looking to our Lord and Savior, who is the man of meaning, we gain the proper perspective of heaven. For in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.