Ecclesiastes Chapter Seven cont... Learning to not be overwhelmed by less than ideal circumstances

16 “Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?”

Neither “make thyself”, in this verse the author is not talking about sincere God produced righteousness or wisdom; this is a self appointed righteousness and wisdom, something the individual perceives of themselves. This would be a bit Pharisaic; over righteous, over wise. Let us define these two conditions:

• Over righteous - we can define this as someone "On their high horse", someone very condemning. One who must have everything, even the smallest things exactly right; they will tend to criticize someone who is not perfect. This person cannot overlook certain imperfections or flaws and make allowances for things out of someone’s control. They must take a stand for everything. Usually, people separate from this type of person because they are very difficult to be around.

• Over wise - This is your typical "know it all"; in every situation they feel compelled to portray themselves as an expert. In actuality it reveals certain inferiority; they are insecure and therefore require others to have a high opinion of them.

Solomon is actually giving good advice here because a balanced believer has the ability to cope with situations that are less than ideal without being upset and they embrace in humility the knowledge that others might know more than them. God wants us to be people who can handle the less than ideal situations we find ourselves in without being overwhelmed, also, He wants us to be humble and realize there is always someone who knows more than we do.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Seven cont... What is our overall view of life?

15 “All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.”

Glass Half Full or Half Empty??

Solomon, although he was given wisdom, did not always draw the right conclusions to what he was seeing. He had the gift of wisdom and with that gift he could draw back the curtain of life and understand how things worked; many times though, he interpreted what he was seeing in strictly a negative light and so his conclusions can, at times, be wrong. Consider the premise he is building this statement on in this verse? “…the days of my vanity…” this is horrible foundation to build a statement upon; in other words he is saying “This is what I have seen all the days of my vain life…”. Also, he says: “The just perish and the wicked live long”; this negative statement actually draws attention to nothing significant because long life, while it is a good thing, is not the real measure of life. How one lives that life is surely the measure.  

Here is an example where he failed to realize that it is better to live a short but righteous life than to live a long time in unrighteousness. Even though he was able to observe things through his gift of wisdom he interpreted it with a depressed heart, therefore, he drew the wrong conclusions. His gift was corrupted through a life of vice. Solomon became depressed because in wisdom he knew how to live but knowing how to live does not give one the power to live that life, he was depressed because daily he was confronted with how out of order his life was. To know what is right and yet not have the power to live it destroyed his testimony. We too must be careful about the conclusions we draw on life, if our premise of life is negative then it is likely we will only see each event in our lives negatively. Negativity affects our every day life and is rooted in self pity; let’s find the grace for a good confession.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Seven cont... Our end is based on how we live today!

14 “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.”

In another translation the last part of this verse reads this way: (ASV) "...to the end that man should not find out anything that shall be after him." In other words that man should not be able to figure out the future. God does not want mankind to try and figure out his future in order to control his own destiny nor does He want them to place their joy on future circumstances. What is being said is that God is the one who controls everyone’s destiny; God controls prosperity and adversity and there are very few formulas that guarantee a good outcome. There is, however, a method whereby one can actually control their destiny. The best way to control ones own destiny is to walk in Gods commands, keep His statutes and judgments. This will produce Gods blessing and assure us a good end. What we are pointing out is that peace and joy (the real treasures of prosperity) are products of righteous living and not prosperity in itself; one who understands cause and effect knows that how one lives will effect their outcome in the end.

One truth to be made in this statement, and other places in the word of God, is that there is a book that has been written of our end since before the foundation of the world. Just as Christ said "I come in the volume of the book it is written of me..." (Psalm 40:7-8) He also said "...I delight to do thy will..." And so we conclude this, the assurance that our book ends well comes from how we live our lives day to day. Real prosperity, peace and joy come from delighting in Gods plan for our lives. Returning to Solomon for a moment we know thus far about him from this commentary that he was a very controlling person; he was not comfortable with things out of control and yet much in life was out of his control. It was out of control because he forsook the commandments of the Lord. He lost the ability to walk in the ways of the Lord and as such did not complete his mission on this earth and so his end was not blessed and he had very little (if any) eternal fruit. The question we want to ask ourselves is this…what shall be after us (fruits)? It will be dependent upon how we walked and how much of Gods plan is fulfilled in our lives.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Seven cont... He knoweth the way that I take and when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold.

13 “Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?”

Purest Gold Nugget

"Consider the work of God..."  God is not sitting on the throne, dormant tapping His finger and just watching His creation play out all that has been written since the foundation of the world. No, He is the consummate Administrator. He is directing the entire universe as it stretches out before Him. We see a rare glimpse of Him in this role in 2 Chronicles 18:18-21 directing the rise and fall of king Ahab; this is an amazing scene and gives revelation into the workings of God behind the scenes. It is interesting that Solomon says it this way, "…who can straighten what God has bent"; you would think the illustration would be who can make crooked what God has straightened. But God does make paths crooked; He is directing that unforeseen event or the trial that becomes very inconvenient. One experiences a dealing that takes them on a course other than the one they are comfortable with. The Lord said to Peter when you are older someone will lead you in a direction you would not choose yourself (See John 21:18). These crooked paths are the methods God uses to try one's faith, these are the dealings that make or break us. Should you find yourself in such a circumstance then look to Him to bring you out; use the confession of Job 23:10 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

I also want you to consider there is another truth here; those the Lord abhors, those who do not please Him, He at times turns them out of the way and when He makes their paths crooked no man can straighten it. This frightful process belongs to those who do not please the Lord, who do not keep their spiritual garments white through the blood of Jesus and who do not guard their hearts with all diligence, those who do not keep His statutes and judgments (Just like Ahab in II Chronicles 18). He turns them out of the way and there is no turning them back. I have seen God draws a line in the sand and when one steps across that line then there is no return; God makes their path crooked as He turns them out of the way and no one can straighten that path again. They become the abhorred of the Lord (See Deuteronomy 32:15-20; Proverbs 22:14). Therefore, we must obey the mandate of Ecclesiastes 9:8 “Let thy garments be always white…”        

Ecclessiastes Capter Seven cont... Cry out for wisdom, it gives life!

11 “Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.”

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and it will keep one from making shipwreck with their new found wealth (Their inheritance). It has been discovered that many who come into money quickly and gain overnight wealth will in a very short time come to ruin. It is because they lack wisdom and the fear of the Lord and as a result they make intemperate, unwise choices. Consider the Prodigal son himself; here was a man who in one instant comes into great wealth but because he lacked both experience and the fear of the Lord he ended up wasting his precious inheritance on pleasure and riotous living; in effect he was ruined because he lacked wisdom. We want to cry out to God first of all for an inheritance and secondly for wisdom in how to preserve and increase that inheritance. We should also pray that God does not give it to us until we are mature enough to preserve it!

12 “For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.”

Wisdom is a defense, a protection from those choices that ensnare men and gobbles up their resources. This verse says that wisdom gives life! That is a powerful campaign for possessing wisdom, it can bring life! Ecclesiastes 9:15 – wisdom had the power to deliver the city from it’s enemies; those with wisdom behave themselves wisely (and counsel others to do the same) and are delivered from evil. Money too is a defense; those with money can hire powerful advocates and armies of men. But the real emphasis of this verse is: "...but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it". Wisdom gives life to those who have it. Wisdom is the ability to make the right choices, choices that preserve us and bring us out of harms way, to avoid costly foolish decisions that release enemies against us or ensnare in some sin. Wisdom is the principal thing.