June 21, 2025

One must be careful of their words. Many have fallen over words spoken, either out of anger or hurt. We are all guilty of offending others, sometimes on purpose, but other times inadvertently, not meaning to hurt, but because we said it at a time when the hearer was vulnerable, and the words were taken out of context. We have to give Solomon credit because he wrote about what he knew. We can’t expect that he suddenly knew everything about everything; some of what he learned was out of observation or experience. However, I do believe that God gave him wisdom beyond common knowledge because he was smart enough to ask for it.

Nevertheless, some things can only be learned through experience. The main point of this lesson is to carefully choose your words and be gracious; otherwise, you may be considered foolish. Let anyone listening to you, whether rich or poor, know you are a Christ-follower because the words you use are full of life and not peppered with expletives. In other words, don’t choose the words you use depending on who you are speaking to; let everyone receive your best.

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. Ecclesiastes 10:12-13

June 20, 2025

Whether you are rich or poor, wisdom in either situation will help you manage life more easily. If you haven’t already prayed for God to give you wisdom, let today be the day and mark it down. If you are rich, wisdom will help you maintain your wealth, but if you are poor, it will make you continent with what you have. Matthew Henry puts it this way:

“Wisdom is not only good for the poor, to make them content and easy, but it is good for the rich too, good with riches to keep a man from getting hurt by them, and to enable a man to do good with them.”

Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. 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. Ecclesiastes 7:11-12

Being wise certainly has an advantage, but the wisest of all choose to follow the steps of Jesus, know him, love him, and keep his commands to love God and love people. 

June 19, 2025

Though the Bible does not specify, I think Solomon was likely older when he wrote Ecclesiastes. God gave him wisdom because he asked for it, but also gave him wealth as a gift for only asking for wisdom, so it is possible he was young. However, he needed to live a wealthy life to uncover the truth about how a person reacts to having it, and it was his wisdom that helped him understand how to accumulate riches, which takes time. The truth is that it is all in vain. The point of gaining wealth is to have shelter, clothing, and food, but the main thing is to feed yourself. Yet a wealthy man tends to want to accumulate more wealth than he could ever use; Solomon calls it vanity. 

All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. Ecclesiastes 6:7

You will personally not gain more than what supplies your personal needs; even a poor man or a fool can do that. It is better to be content with what you have than to continually strive to get more. Even more important to understand is that you will have no more than what God has intended for you. If He wants you to gain more, He will give you the wisdom to do that, especially if you intend to use it to better His Church or bring others to the saving knowledge of Jesus.

For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit. Ecclesiastes 6:8-9

June 18, 2025

There are many good lessons in chapter 5 of Ecclesiastes. 

1. Don't make a vow to God that you cannot keep. If you promise something to God, make sure you follow through. He doesn't forget, and there will be consequences for breaking that vow. Ecclesiastes 5:5: Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 
2. The gathering of money and goods will only leave you wanting more. Learn to be content with what you have. Ecclesiastes 5:10: He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. 
3. The more you have, the more you have to worry about, which can cause sleeplessness. Ecclesiastes 5:12: The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. 
4. Evil targets the rich. Ecclesiastes 5:13: There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. 
5. It took a lot of effort to gather all your riches, and so it hurts more to lose it. Ecclesiastes 5:14: But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. 
6. You can't take it with you when you die! Ecclesiastes 5:15: As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
7. An abundance of wealth causes worry and fret. Ecclesiastes 5:17: All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. 

If you want to avoid the pitfalls of having material things, focus on God. Give Him the credit he deserves for maintaining you, and never forget to thank Him for what you have. He gave you everything that you possess and can easily take it away if you don't appreciate His generosity.  

June 17, 2025

I once knew a man who had tried love, failed, and ended up living the rest of his life alone. He had set it in his mind to become wealthy, and he did. He got up early every morning alone, went to his office for coffee, sat there alone reading the newspaper, and then set out to work the rest of his day. He kept all his wealth for himself, never sharing it with his family to help them, though they stood firm and needed nearly nothing. He spent as little as possible on employees, and with all that he accumulated, he acquired a considerable amount of property. He spent what he had on frivolous things that made him think he was happy but only proved he had the means to buy whatever he wanted. When he died, he was alone, and all that wealth became his children's. It didn't help him in the ever-after, and it caused excessive work for his children when they had to sort out his estate. Now, they have more than they could ever use. Will they follow in his footsteps and keep it all to themselves, or will they help their children and prepare the estate so that when they pass, they won't have to worry? Though this man was well-loved by his children, he could have helped them in their younger years by giving them a boost, but that's my bleeding heart wishing for my children not to struggle by providing them with anything they needed if I could. Solomon mentions a person like that, so it brought this man to mind. Solomon's point was that it is better for a man not to be alone and that two or three cords are stronger. Would he have been more generous if he had someone to remind him to help others? Perhaps, but it's unlikely. 

There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail. Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. Ecclesiastes 4:8-9

June 16, 2025

As a young person in my teens, I heaped up debt, which, by my standards now, was not very much, but it felt like a lot to me then. It was overwhelming, and all I did was work to pay bills. Now, I have no debt and can enjoy my life. However, though I’ve grown wiser in my old age, I’m not enjoying my life any more than I did as a young person, except that I don’t have to clock in for work. Solomon pursued the best in life and had an abundance of everything: servants, gardens, food galore, and wisdom beyond anyone who ever lived, but he considered it all vanity. Rich or poor, life is all the same. A person who is health conscious will die just like someone who is frivolous with their health. With all that said, there is a pursuit that will benefit you not only in the here and now but also in the future, and that is a relationship with Jesus. Everything else is nonsense. Those who love Jesus are given more, while those who follow their own desires lose, and all they have will be given to someone who doesn’t deserve it or never earned it. Set your heart to pursue Jesus daily, have faith that he is your provider, and watch as your life becomes peaceful because you know in your heart that He is in control. 

For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also isvanity and vexation of spirit. Ecclesiastes 2:26

June 15, 2025

Many of us who have been awakened to the truths of this world and the workings of malicious governments and beings are grieved because of that knowledge. Those around us live in bliss because they choose to close their eyes to the truth. We can see with our eyes the truth, yet we still listen to the “experts” and consider their knowledge more valuable than ours. I’m not referring to the “truth” they want you to know through media and influencers, but what you observe in nature, visually, and the laws and pressures put on us by our government. We don’t know whether what we see in the box is true. We don’t know if it’s all lies and just a movie for our entertainment. Some say that the Bible is tainted, but I say that it’s the only truth we can count on. How could so many authors, spanning hundreds of years, write so cohesively? It is only because the Holy Spirit was their guide and God’s breath that formed the words. Believe what you want to believe, but the more wisdom you gain, the less value you place on the expert’s opinions. The wisest thing you can do is to love God and love people. Those are His greatest commandments.

Food for thought: If the sun is not local and 93 million miles away, then why are the pictures from outer space dark? Who measured it, and do you trust the person who did?

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:18