Ecclesiastes 7
Wisdom Doesn’t Always Look How You’d Expect
It’s better to have a good name than to have prosperity.
The day someone dies is better than the day they’re born.
It’s better to go to a house full of mourning than a house full of feasting, because death is the end that awaits us all. Everyone who’s still alive should take that to heart.
Frustration is better than laughter, because when your face is upset, your heart can be put in a good position.
There are wise hearts with the mourning, but there are foolish hearts with the happy.
It’s better to listen to the criticism of someone who is wise than to listen to the song of someone who is unwise. A fool’s laughter is like bushes cracking over a fire—completely pointless.
Oppression turns wise-men into mad-men.
Gifts destroy the heart.
Something’s end is better than its beginning.
A patient spirit is better than an exalted spirit. Don’t be eager in your spirit to get angry. Frustration lies dormant within the hearts of fools.
Don’t say that the good old days were better than today—it’s unwise to think that way.
If you own any assets or property, it’s good to exercise wisdom. Wisdom offers an advantage to anyone living beneath the sun by sheltering them in the same way that money does. Wisdom gives life to those who have it, which is a huge advantage.
Now think about everything God does: who could ever straighten something He has bent?
Be happy during the good times, but during the miserable times, remember that God has prepared them both to prevent us from knowing which will come next.
I’ve seen it all during my vapor of a lifetime. There’s a righteous man who dies in his righteousness, and there’s a wicked man who lives a long life in his wickedness. Don’t be overly-righteous or overly-wise, because you don’t want to ruin yourself. But at the same time, don’t be overly-wicked or unwise, because you don’t want to die before your time. It’s good to embrace one without letting go of the other, because God-fearing people end up with both.
Having wisdom will equip you better than 10 experts, but there isn’t a single upright person on earth who always does right without ever doing wrong.
Don’t take to heart everything that people say—that way you won’t be affected when your servant belittles you. You know in your heart how often you’ve belittled others.
Mankind Wanders from God
I wanted to be wise, so I tried testing all these things with wisdom—but wisdom evaded me. Why things happen the way they do is an unfathomable mystery. Who could ever figure it all out?
So then I redirected my mind toward learning as much as I could. I set out on an intellectual quest, searching for wisdom and logic. I wanted to know how wrong foolishness and madness are. But what I ended up finding was a woman even more bitter than death. Her heart was full of traps and snares, and her hands were chains. If God is pleased with you, you’ll escape her, but whoever doesn’t cooperate with God will be captured by her.
The preacher said,
“I’m good at piecing things together in order to find explanations, but I’m still looking since I haven’t found one yet. I’ve found 1 man out of 1,000, but still haven’t found a woman. The only thing I’ve managed to find is that God made humanity upright but they have sought out many devices.”