Wisdom Squandered, Day 26 Fear God and obey Him. Read Ecclesiastes 12:9-14. As we come to the final few verses of this incredible book, we see Solomon spell out for us very clearly what he has learned through all of his searching. Solomon has desired to find meaning in life, and he tried to find it in everything he could possibly think of. He looked at everything under the sun, as he would say. Ultimately, what was Solomon able to conclude? The only place we find meaning is by putting God first in our life and obeying him in everything we do. There is no other way we can find…

Wisdom Squandered, Day 25 Everything is meaningless! Read Ecclesiastes 12:1-8. We’ve seen Solomon make this conclusion multiple times throughout this book. Here, at the very last chapter, we see him make it again. Absolutely everything in life is meaningless. For a lot of people that may seem very depressing and harsh, but that’s not Solomon’s intent. Definitely, come back tomorrow to see how he concludes everything. For now, the point Solomon is trying to make here is that everything in life, here on this Earth, is absolutely pointless. If we are trying to find meaning and purpose from anything in this temporary and transitory existence, we are going to be…

Wisdom Squandered, Day 24 The sooner the better when it comes to faith in Christ. Read Ecclesiastes 11:7-10. In today’s verses, we see Solomon looking back on what it was like being a youth. So many things were easier when we were younger. Solomon recognizes that the decisions and the fears and the anxieties that we have as adults, were often not present when we were younger. The older we get, the more we get weighed down by all that is in the world. Solomon encourages us to look back and remember what it was like being younger and being carefree. Our faith in Jesus should look similar to that.…

Wisdom Squandered, Day 23 How much do we really know? Read Ecclesiastes 11:1-6. Sometimes we think we are so smart. After all, we are intelligent, logical creatures who can reason and rationalize information. We problem solve multiple things every single day, and unfortunately, that can lead us into a false sense of security concerning our ability in these areas. We have to remember that God is the one who knows everything. And, we do not know as much as God does. Not only do we not know as much as he does, but we are not capable of understanding or fathoming the depths of the information that he knows. Every…

Wisdom Squandered, Day 22 Foolishness on display. Read Ecclesiastes chapter 10. Sometimes it can be really easy to spot a stupid person. We can look along the road or look around us and go, “Wow, that was dumb.” And most people don’t even think about whether or not what they are doing is foolish. Even though we see other people as foolish, we don’t always see ourselves as foolish. Yet often, we all display foolish tendencies in the things that we do and the things that we say. In this chapter, Solomon is writing several proverbs again. We see him make the mention in verse 3 about how foolish people…

Wisdom Squandered, Day 21 What voices do you listen to? Read Ecclesiastes 9:11-18. So many voices end up speaking to us from so many directions. Our world is a constant barrage of noise from every direction. How do we figure out who to listen to? What voices have the power of influence in our lives? For Solomon, we can see that he recognized that the quiet voices are the ones that had the most wisdom in what they said. Many times we find that the loudest voices are not always the best. In fact, often they are not the best, but simply the loudest. What are the voices that we…

Wisdom Squandered, Day 20 Get moving! Read Ecclesiastes 9:1-10. As a society, we tend to stay very busy. We value activity over accomplishment. Solomon has just gone through chapters telling us how completely meaningless everything we’re doing is. And to be truthful, a lot of us actually probably feel that way about much of the activity that we do. We get so busy doing things that we don’t stop to think about the fact that what we are doing should have meaning in it and purpose. Even with all of this, Solomon recognizes that the answer isn’t to just sit around. Because of our overwhelming tendency toward incessant activity, people…

Wisdom Squandered, Day 19 No one really knows. Read Ecclesiastes 8:14-17. As Solomon concludes this chapter on wisdom, we see him make an interesting statement. He wants people to understand that, no matter how much they search, they will never truly understand the world. We can try to understand all that God has given us, but we are going to fall short. We simply cannot understand all the things that God understands. We are not God. No matter how hard we try, we will not ever understand all things the way God does. It’s just simply not the same as what God understands. The sooner we realized that and acknowledge…