Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 Verse 1

 There is nothing as valuable as wisdom. Wisdom has been described

as many things but the most practical one I have found is that wisdom

is knowledge and understanding in application. To know something

and yet to not put it into play in your life won’t turn a profit. Luck is

great, but what if you could capture the conditions that brought about

that fortunate outcome and repeat it? Wisdom!

 Physical strength and health are great, but both will fade. Knowledge

and intellect are a blessing, but can also be a massive hindrance. Ever

heard, “Ignorance is bliss?” Riches and wealth are wonderful but how

many have been destroyed by those things? Wisdom really does stand

out on its own.

 Proverbs 3:13-15 captures this truth well, “Happy is the man who

finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; For her

proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine

gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may

desire cannot compare to her.”

 True wisdom demands an element of faith. Because wisdom most

often strives against the current of emotion. But the person that knows

what is right and good to do, and then finds the faith to actually do it,

that person conquers the moment.

 Solomon had access to anything and everything and his discovery was

that the thing to capture is to be a person of wisdom. To know the

“interpretation” of a thing. This is a Hebrew word used only once in

all of scripture and it means, the “solution.” Comes from an Aramaic

root word that means the “construct.” This is a person that not just

understands but can use that understanding as an intense personal

advantage in life. Face shines. Sternness changes to satisfaction….

 Now here’s the deal, and I want to give you the spiritual truth but also

the practical physical reality. Obedience, faith, the fear of God is the

initiation point, the starting line, of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10, most of

us are well acquainted with that verse. AND, I want you to understand

the incredible reality that it contains.

 I have concluded that dogs are like cavemen. HA! A bark is nothing

more than a momentary high-volume grunt! Now, if my dog Kylo,

y’all help me because I’m trying with this dog (may not look like it

but I say about 10% of what goes through my mind about this

liability!), if my dog would blindly obey everything I said to him, (that

is if he could even understand me – which is a lesson in and of itself),

then he would have incredibly more joy, happiness and freedom in his

life! AND, I’d probably like him and share more food with him too!

 I am outside a lot. Cleaning, tending the landscaping, fixing a car,

whatever, and he wants to desperately to be out there with me. But

he’s a fool! Utterly lacks wisdom in that he cannot obey me if there is

a bunny, a bird, a squirrel… He’s a good dog. Professionally trained,

but a bunny sighted within 100 yards and the caveman comes out.

 It’s the same with us and the Lord. The fear of God is the beginning of

wisdom. And obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). If I

had the faith to follow what the Lord would say of me in all situations,

my life would produce the result promised in the Word. Back to

Proverbs 3, “Happiness, a man of gain, a man of profit better than

silver or rubies.” So, wisdom is THE thing in life to get…, and all it

is, is faith.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 Verses 2 – 4

 Solomon is the king. And I like what he’s saying here in a practical

sense and in principle. Don’t make it hard on yourself, is essentially

what he’s saying.

 Keep the king’s commands, for the sake of the oath of God, is a literal

rendering of the Hebrew. Paul said in Romans 13:1-2, “Let every soul

be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority

except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God,

and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”

 One of the most important lessons to teach your children today (which

is rarely taught anymore – and honestly rarely even learned by many

adults) is to respect authority. If you don’t teach them, someone else,

some other circumstance will. Or not…, but the consequence of pride

WILL be experienced. This is the point Solomon is making, and it is

true.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 Verses 5 – 8

 There are things in life that are inevitable and out of our control. The

consequence of rejecting authority. You can think whatever you’d like

concerning what will happen to you, but you won’t have control. The

authority will author the outcome…

 Just like the power of death. When our time comes, there’s nothing we

can do in our own power to add one more second to our life. We don’t

have power over death. Now, super interesting, there was One greater

than Solomon and greater than any of us that did show that He had the

power of life and death…

 Jesus said in John 10:17-18, “My Father loves Me, because I lay down

My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it

down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take

it again.” And then, that fateful moment on the cross, Jesus cries out

in Luke 23:46, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”

 Unlike any of us and yet He made Himself just like us, so that each

one of us can one day be just like Him. A Son to the Father. Perfect

and whole and complete in eternal life. And so, Solomon was right

and he was prophetic, no one has the power of the spirit and no one

has power in the day of death…, no one but One. This is why Jesus

alone is THE Way, THE Truth, and The Life.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 Verse 9

 Anyone ruling over anyone else without being ruled himself by the

Lord is to the hurt of both the ruler and the ruled.

 There is also the circumstance of ruling over the fool. Proverbs 9:7-9,

“He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who

rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer,

lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. Give

instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; Teach a just man,

and he will increase in learning.” You need to surmise what kind of

person you are dealing with before you set forth a rule of wisdom. A

fool will scoff at it…

 The word for scoffer is also the word for derider. Where we get the

word, derision. Making someone feel contemptable for doing what is

right… Same word used for those that are intoxicated. They don’t live

in reality. Blinded by pride or emotion or whatever… And you try to

bring them to reality, they won’t come. You hurt yourself in even

trying.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 Verses 10 – 15a

 So, I commended enjoyment! I love that statement. Good men do

good things and they are forgotten. Do you know who architected and

built the Golden Gate Bridge? Neither do I! But oh, how I’m sure that

person thought that was grand! That surely it was a huge event. And

yet, forgotten today…

 So many are working so hard for what will be forgotten as soon as

they are gone. It sounds depressing but it’s not! It’s perspectiving! My

own word! Solomon says here, “It will not be well with the wicked, yet

I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God!”

 Solomon has done it all and he has it all and his conclusion of the

matter is that ALL is not where we think it is… It is alone in the

perspective of an eternal God in all that we do and all that we build

ourselves and decide for ourselves to become. This is why Solomon

commends enjoyment.

 Come into joy and have a mint. HA! Come into joy. Enjoyment. And

joy is found in the obedience to and honoring towards God on High.

AND in surrounding yourself and patronizing with people that see and

do the same… Because Tigers don’t belong with Jackals…

 He IS God and He IS the all-encompassing capacitor and Creator! All

things that were made were made through Him and therefore He is,

within Him, all things… So, live your life for any other thing… and

you miss ALL. Or, you see it, you know it, you can interpret it, and yet

you have to deal all day with those who don’t!? You end up trudging

into their false reality to try and help them and sometimes you can get

STUCK! Rule to your own hurt…. Right there…

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 Verse 15

 Notice the context in the eating, drinking and being merry. It is that

God gives him these things. And therefore, implied is a reason, a

source, and acknowledgement of God in all of these things as the

Authority, the Author. So, there is an indication of God being honored

as all of these things take place. Welcome to enjoyment…

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 Verses 16 - 17

 Ah, the conclusion to the “under the sun” comments Solomon has

been making. Setting us up…, walking us towards this revelation that

he’s planned all along the way… Under the sun belongs under the

authority of God. And when it does, good days, bad days, good life,

not so good life, easy days, hard days, days that are understood, days

that are confusing…, they all and it all is the Lord’s and not mine.

Why? Because when it is all said and done, it’s not about me, it’s

about Him.

 Make that your “today” and you get there. Done with all the toil and

the fret and the wondering and the searching and the frustrating and

even the achieving that will be forgotten… And live. Some would say

you just live, but in truth, it’s not that you just live…, its that you

finally live!