Read: Ecclesiastes 1:16-18
Ever since Cliff Richard’s hit song ‘Wired for Sound’, people have been listening constantly to the latest music. Even more so since the invention of personal MP3 players and iPhones. Nowadays it’s not uncommon to see people wearing head phones or ear phones 24/7. Sometimes you can even hear the music some distance away!
I often wonder how much this is reflective of our innate desire to still our thoughts and to hide away the pain of reality. Rather than deal with reality and the pain of existence, we seek to fly away in the music of our dreams and to hide reality from our conscious thoughts.
Solomon, who was granted more wisdom than any person before or after him (excepting Christ Jesus of course) realised that with much wisdom and knowledge comes much sorrow and grief. In chapter 4 he witnessed the tears of the oppressed and has seen that they had no one to comfort them. He’s come to the realisation that most people work simply to keep up with their neighbours and to play ‘one-up-man-ship’. In chapter 5 he went to the Temple of God, hoping to see genuine, unadulterated worship but was again disappointed. In chapter 6 Solomon has seen the reversal of solid Old Testament theology. God gave riches to one man but another enjoyed them instead. It appeared that Solomon’s knowledge and wisdom brought grief and sorrow.
In our information rich and knowledgeable society God does not want Christians to bury their heads in the sand or in their music. He wants us to live a circumspect life, dealing honestly and opening with the sorrow and grief we encounter in the world. He wants us to find His wisdom and to live according to that wisdom. As we’ll see throughout this week, wisdom has many benefits as opposed to folly.
Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.
Adoration:
Confession:
Thanks:
Supplication:
ª Ask the Lord to bless this coming Thursday night’s music night for music leaders and musicians and singers across the city. Pray that they will learn more about worship and be more equipped to help their various congregations worship acceptable in reverence and awe.
ª Pray that our Committee of Management would be wise and skillful in the way that it uses the funds allocated to it. Ask God to make your congregation a very very very generous congregation with respect to tithing their treasure and talents and time.
My Additional Prayer Points
1.
2.
Snapper Presbyterian Church has many interesting characters sitting in the pews. Randolph is one such character. He’s been a Christian for the past 10 years but hasn’t grown or matured much in that time.
1. He says to you that every time he thinks deeply about the state of the world it depresses him. There fore he doesn’t think much about it. How do you respond?
2. He also says that he doesn’t need to worry about growing in wisdom and knowledge because God will provide when and if he needs it. How do you respond?
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