Ecclesiastes 7:15-20 (Knowledge with Humility)

¹⁵ In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
¹⁶ Do not be overrighteous,
    neither be overwise—
    why destroy yourself?
¹⁷ Do not be overwicked,
    and do not be a fool—
    why die before your time?
¹⁸ It is good to grasp the one
    and not let go of the other.
    Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

¹⁹ Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
    than ten rulers in a city.

²⁰ Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
    no one who does what is right and never sins.

Perhaps you need to hear this today:  you do not have control.  

I needed to hear that yesterday.  It was a doozie of a day at work, and I was beginning to get all wrapped up in the silliness of it all when a co-worker reminded me, "It's out of our control."  And she was right.

We spend an awful lot of time fretting over things that are simply out of our control, don't we?  Our anxiety and constant thinking about them doesn't change a thing.  And when I can remember this very fact, and can let go of whatever stress I may feel about not being in control, I suddenly feel free!  Amazing how that works!

Here's one thing we don't have control over:

In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.

Have you seen incredibly good, joyful, righteous people die young? And all the while, have you seen wicked people living longer than all the kind people around them?  I've seen both.  Many times!

But we are not in control.  He is.  I don't get it most of the time, but when I do see wicked people living a long time, I often remember when Peter reminded us that "The Lord is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).  He's giving everyone as much time as possible to decide to turn to Him, even the most evil people there are.  And despite their evil, He can still use them for His purposes.  So don't be surprised when bad people live long.

We don't know it all, and we don't know what God is doing; therefore,

Do not be overrighteous,
    neither be overwise—
    why destroy yourself? 

 Do not be overwicked,
    and do not be a fool—
    why die before your time? 

 It is good to grasp the one
    and not let go of the other.
    Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

Solomon reminds us here to not be "overrighteous."  Don't go around thinking you have all the answers and you know better than everyone else.  Pride comes before the fall.

And don't chuck it all because you're not in control and don't know all that God is doing by saying flippant things like, "Well, I won't wear a seat belt.  God will keep me alive if He wants me here," because that's just foolish and you may just die before your time.

Rather, we must hang on to both of these.  Avoid extremes in the area of our hearts and attitudes.  In this life of inequality, we need to focus on one thing: to live in godly fear of the Lord and to honor Him.  We need to focus on ourselves, not on how other people are doing in their Christianity. 

If evil people are still living, that's okay.  God's got it.  It's out of my control.  And if good people are dying, we don't need to be shocked.  God warns us that that will happen on this Earth.  Either way, we trust Him, and we keep working on ourselves.  We need to remember that no matter how righteous we may think we are, we are still just a sinner saved by the grace of God.

As John Newton, the former slave trader and author of "Amazing Grace," said, "When I get to heave, I will be amazed at three things.  I will be amazed at those I thought would be there who are not there, those I did not think would be there who are there, and the fact that I am there at all."

Early in his ministry, Paul called himself the least of the apostles.  Later on he said he was the least of all Christians.  Then he said he was the chief of sinners.  The older he got, the more he saw God, the lower he became in his own estimation.

Like these two men, I want to remain humble.  The longer I know Christ, the more humble I hope to become.  But I can tell you this, humility won't come when we think we have the last word on knowledge and righteousness.

Let's leave that to Jesus.

¹⁹ Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
    than ten rulers in a city.

²⁰ Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
    no one who does what is right and never sins.

There is nothing better than wisdom.  There is nothing better than walking with God and revering Him.  Just don't let it go to your head.  Beacause there is not a single one of us who is perfect and has it all together and knows everything.  But keep learning anyway.  Stay in the Word.

In fact, no matter how many degrees you have, if you don't soeak in the Bible, you're stumbling through a minefield.  But if the only book you study is is the Bible and its wisdom, and you have no other degrees, you'll still have a joyful, happy life.  You may not have lake house with a jet ski, but can you live with that?  Wisdom is better than ten rulers.  You can surround yourself with the greatest, most knowledable men, but if you know and fear God, you're ahead of the pack.

So it's good to be wise, but make sure you temper it by "being downwind of yourself," as one author likes to put it.  Don't focus on the fact that you're growing compared to the people around you.  Look at Jesus, and let Him be your standard...then you'll remember who you really are.

I'm just a sinner saved by Grace.




Molly Monroe