3-18-09

Ecclesiastes 10:15 (New King James Version)

15 The labor of fools wearies them, For they do not even know how to go to the city!
Ecclesiastes is similar to Proverbs. Proverbs has a more practical guidance while Ecclesiastes is more of an effort to find happiness. Submission and obedience to God is wisdom. The folly of a fool has consequences. Man cannot find happiness unless he has found Jesus. A fool does labor in vain and is fruitless. A road into a big city is usually easy to find. If a man is ignorant to use tools such as maps, etc., it would be hard for him to find the road into the city. Six times fools of folly is listed in this Chapter. Folly describes someone who lacks good sense. It also describes someone who does something stupid and doesn't consider the consequences. Wow - I know that has been me at several points in my life! We all have done it. A wise person thinks before they act and a fool does the opposite. If we are trying to find satisfaction without Jesus, then we are definitely a fool. It just won't happen.

People who talk foolishness and behave as such will find it hard to be on the right path to the Kingdom of God. Because they want to go and do things their own way, they get off the right path and usually end up going around in a circle. It really is easy to follow God's directions. He makes them clear. All we have to do is obey Him, seek Him and follow Him. Many times men make it so hard when it actually is very easy. We add and subtract from Scripture and turn it around to make it fit the way we want to interpret. Then we wonder how did we get off the path. God gives us wisdom but if we don't use it or follow it, then we are ignorant and do not use the tools that are available to us. We have many tools to use - wisdom, the Word, seeking God and listening to his directions. But instead we try to do everything ourselves. For some reason, we think our ways are better. Then we end up on a rocky road to nowhere. We are working and working and get weary and unhappy. Why? Because we are doing it our way and not God's way. Sometimes we just get lazy and tired of working. Many times we want to take a shortcut to the city but it ends up taking us longer. We thought it was a shortcut but there may be obstacles in the road, detours, etc. That has happened to me many times. I am impatient and try to take a different road. There usually is a detour or a lot of traffic, an accident, maybe even a dead-end street! If I would have just gone down the main road, I would have been there faster. I think to myself - it should have worked. I should have been there earlier; I took the shortcut! Are we going to do it God's way and end up in God's Kingdom or are we going to go on a dead-end street? It all comes down to the choices we make.