Ecclesiastes 12:10

“Words of the Preacher: A study of the wisdom of Ecclesiastes” With all the recent misdeeds and insanity coming from our political leaders it is very easy to want to throw up our hands in shock and disgust. It is not just a modern day problem. Just like we do, the ancients got upset with the mistakes in their leadership. The Preacher gives us the same advice to them as he does to us in Ecclesiastes 5:8. “ If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight; for one official watches over another official, and there are higher officials over them .” No matter what position of authority one finds himself, there will always be someone over them to call them into account.   And in the end, God will judge everyone for what they have done (Romans 2:5-6).

A preacher was once asked by a group preparing for a potential disaster, “How many people could the church sleep?” He responded, “About half of them on a typical Sunday morning.”    Jesus would have understood the sentiment in that joke. You see, Peter, James and John had a bad habit of falling asleep during important events. Often times Jesus would take them to special events ( Matthew 17:1, Mark 5:37 ) and more than once they fell asleep ( Luke 9:32, Matthew 26:40 ). After the second time he woke them up in Gethsemane scripture says “And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. - Mark 14:40 .” They couldn’t respond because their sleep had made them to miss out on the distress that Jesus was praying about in the garden. You can miss a lot when you are asleep. Some people sleep through life. They are there but not conscience of what is going on. When they do wake up, they respond like the apostles. They...

“Words of the Preacher: A study of the wisdom of Ecclesiastes” Nothing worthwhile gets done without hard work. Our world today may abhor it, but hard work is still what makes great things. Still there are those that work hard yet see little from their effort. The Preacher tells us why in Ecclesiastes 10:10, “ If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success .” Hard work can be wasted when it is not used in the proper way. As the character Scrooge McDuck says, “Work Smarter, Not Harder”. We as Christians should never be afraid of hard work, but we need to be sure we have prepared for our task, so we don’t waste our effort.

There are those that claim they can see the future. From the side room psychics to nationally known wannabe Nostradamus; their claims are nothing but vague guesswork and fuzzy images. With some imagination, you can bend their prophecy into something that maybe resembles the facts of the future. But the prophecy of God is different. For example, in Psalm 22, in describing the fate of the Christ it says of those that mock him “ All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head,…”. This event occurs hundreds of years later, exactly as foretold. In Matthew 27:39 “ And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads ”. Only the God of the universe could see so clearly into the future that he could see the faces of those that at the cross!