SCRIPTURE: Ecclesiastes 7
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“This is my conclusion,” says the Teacher. “I discovered this after looking at the matter from every possible angle. Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman! But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path.” [Ecclesiastes 7:27-29]
I believe that the bible is inspired by God… but that does not mean that I believe every statement in the bible is true.
For example, Satan’s words are lies, and the counsel for Job’s friends was misleading; David’s emotional comments about God not listening to him are inaccurate, and many of the Teacher’s reflections on life are depressing.
Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time. [Ecclesiastes 7:3-4]
And what about his observation that there are some virtuous men, but absolutely no virtuous women… is this God’s eternal truth, or a limited perspective by a wise but human author?
You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. [John 5:39-40]
I think there is a danger in reading the bible too technically or mechanically, instead of seeing how the Holy Spirit used limited, human authors and their perspectives to communicate God’s eternal truth through.
God uses the philosophical musings of a sinful, limited, human Teacher to teach us that life without God is empty, meaningless, hopeless.
There are things in this book that resonate as very true, and other things that seem a bit off.
But together they make a clear point… life without God is a miserable, meaningless mess.
These words, and the words of the whole bible, show us our need for a Saviour.
The bible is not the source of life or truth, it is the testimony to the life and truth that are found in Jesus.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and the bible is an accurate and helpful testimony to this fact.
What the teacher senses as the conclusion of all his philosophical musings is that we are the problem, not God.
God created us virtuous, we have strayed from God’s good and perfect will.
Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins [Ecclesiastes 7:20] – not even those few virtuous men that he thought he knew.
We cannot save ourselves by following the Law, by living by the bible.
Our hope is in Jesus, He is the way, the truth and the life… and everything in the bible confirms this!
PRAYER:
Lord, forgive me for focusing more on the bible (and my interpretation of it) than on You. As I read the bible, help me by Your Spirit to seek You, to rely on You, and to imitate You – the only perfect person!