UBF Daily Bread

WISDOM TO DEAL WITH LIFE’S FRUSTRATION

Passage: Ecclesiastes 8:1~17

Key verse: 12

8 Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the King

²Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. ³Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.^(A) Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. ⁴Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?^(B)”

⁵Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
⁶For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,^(C)
though a person may be weighed down by misery.

⁷Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come?
⁸As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
    so^[a] no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
    so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁹All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own^[b] hurt. ¹⁰Then too, I saw the wicked buried^(D)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise^[c] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

¹¹When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. ¹²Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better^(E) with those who fear God,^(F) who are reverent before him.^(G) ¹³Yet because the wicked do not fear God,^(H) it will not go well with them, and their days^(I) will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.^(J) This too, I say, is meaningless.^(K) ¹⁵So I commend the enjoyment of life^(L), because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink^(M) and be glad.^(N) Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom^(O) and to observe the labor that is done on earth^(P)—people getting no sleep day or night— ¹⁷then I saw all that God has done.^(Q) No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.^(R)

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten

Wisdom brightens a person’s face as it helps him overcome frustrations in life (1). The teacher brings up an example of the authority of a king. In ancient times, the king held power over the subordinate’s life. And the Teacher advises us to honor that authority and follow the proper protocol when we appeal to the king. The advice may sound apprehensive. But the wisdom is to refrain from acting emotionally in the moment and instead seek the right time and course of action to address the matter (5).

We expect to see the miserable end of the wicked and the exaltation of the righteous. So, when we find the evil and righteous ending up in what they do not seem to deserve, we feel frustrated. But wisdom is living in the reverence of God instead of trying to make sense of what we receive in the world, whether good or bad (12). When we know that God is in control and has a purpose and goodwill above all our wisdom, we can find peace in him (17).

Prayer: Father, thank you for showing me that there is much more than our physical world. Knowing you are much bigger than what my wisdom can ever comprehend helps me to have the strength to hold on to you and live according to your will.

One Word: Justice of God is beyond our wisdom.