Month: September 2014

50.  Proposition 9
This is a challenge. People do not admit that they are subject to time and chance. They think it is unfair. This is the subject we all get wrong. And yet we are given enough information to get it right. It is just that we do not accept the truth about these things. Why do you think the prophecy of Psalm 91:11-12 was given?

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
This verse is quoted by the men who came to Jesus and asked him to prove to them that he was the son of God. They said in Matthew 4: 6 “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
‘ He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and,
‘ In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

God gave his angels a charge concerning him to keep him in ALL his ways, so he might not even damage his toe. Why was this charge given? The Lord knew what it meant, and that is why he said to the Pharisees when they came to warn him that Herod wanted to kill him. Luke 13: 32 “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ 33 Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.”

They did not want to warn him, they were testing him to see what he would do. The Lord said there is nothing Herod can do to threaten me, because God has determined the time, and the angels will ensure nothing happens to me before then. I must walk through the land of Palestine for three years and nothing will cut it short. Besides, he says, with an air of irony in his voice, prophets are not killed outside Jerusalem.

God gave that remarkable charge to Messiah’s angels concerning him. Are we going to claim the same charge has been given about us? It has not. So do not expect to be protected from time and chance by the angels who encamp around, because that is not their role.

He is going to deal with this and leave us in no doubt. This is a fascinating proposition covering thirty six points of issue, all of which are examples of the way you can limit the ravages of time and chance. All the things we imagine ought to apply according to law, no longer apply. Time and chance can rob you of your due. So clearly you cannot be held responsible for things you cannot control. Then what do you do?

First you try to lessen the affects of time and chance by avoiding those things that put you at risk. Next you apply wisdom to all tasks to ensure energy efficient methods are used. This means you are not a spent force when energy is wanted. Next you build friendships and associations that will protect you in the bad times. Extend yourself for others and they will look kindly on you when you are in trouble. Do not procrastinate. Become a decision maker. What if it is a wrong decision? It is the best one you could make at the time. If it goes wrong, fix it. But do not be afraid of making an error, as if it will be your first. Everyone makes errors; it is just that successful people know how to fix them.

What we are talking about now are all examples of time and chance?

11 I returned and saw under the sun that—
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.

49. Though they enjoy prominence in their life, when they are dead they are dead. Eventually they are forgotten as well. The point is their opportunity is gone. It was there when they were alive it is now over, no reform, regret or contrition. It does not matter what they want to believe. They need to believe what is true.

6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now
perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.
That is devastating information. Their love and hatred and envy were the thing that made them different from the next fellow. It was their character. Well it is gone. Life is your opportunity to prepare for the kingdom of God.

Summary 8
We were talking about man in death and were startled with the news most people get the matter of death wrong. Man does not usually get things right before he goes. There is often a last minute effort to be reconciled to enemies to ensure you do not carry unnecessary baggage with you to the grave. All men leave with a load of unfinished business. All would do certain things differently if the opportunity were there. But you are not expected to get it right. You may not be righteous, or just, but God will still accept your works, based on faith. And provided your works are in accord with the spirit of God.

We know what the spirit of God is. We are not talking about his “Holy Spirit.” We are talking about the spirit with which he goes about things. We are talking about truth and virtue, forgiveness and mercy. That is the spirit of God, and we need to behave in accord with that.

7 Go, eat your bread with joy,
And drink your wine with a merry heart;
For God has already accepted your works.
He does not accept just anything you are prepared to give. There are constraints. He will get angry if you still harbor a selfish spirit, and are not in tune with what he is doing in this world. So:

8 Let your garments always be white,
And let your head lack no oil.
This is talking about being true and constrained, and a person who loves rightness. Your garments have to be unspotted by the world. The ointment was that which was poured on the head of the High Priest that flowed down his head, and joined the head with the body. The ointment that covers our head is the Word of God. Let that word act on the mind, and let the things you do be consistent with it. So what should we focus on?

9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.
Stay with the wife of your youth. Many people change wives and husbands trying to get the best out of their life. It is not the right spirit. There are bigger issues and we need to focus on these. What you have committed yourself to is your lot. You loved her at the start; she is your partner till one or other die. Make the most of it. Do not deal treacherously with her, because God will treat such things as a serious breach of the arrangement.

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
It does not matter whether it is at work, or at play. Make your decision on what to do with the constraints of verse eight in mind.

48. I have obviously done something wrong, but if God does not tell me what it is I cannot fix it. I have obviously offended God in some way. You become all confused, and say, God is indiscriminate in his dealings with me, and I do not know why. And if I do not know why, then it is no sense God doing it. This is the argument Job used, and he got himself into a terrible state. Here is something that you ought to know:
One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;
To the good, the clean, and the unclean;
To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As is the good, so is the sinner;
He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.
A man that sacrifices is clearly a religious man. He is careful about his conduct before God. The Preacher tells us that one thing comes on all of them, whether they are religious or whether they are not. As is the good, so is the sinner. He that swears is a man who is prepared to bind himself by an oath. The one who refuses to swear is afraid he will break the vow. The one thing they share is their death.

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
It is better to be living no matter your station in life. You might say that this one event that happens to all is referring to man’s death. But The Preacher says “all things come alike to all.” All are subject to the bondage of decay. All are subject to time. All experience the vagaries of prosperity and adversity. And all end up dead.

Death is an event that is common to man, but there is much more they have in common than that. What they have in common are the experiences of life. The difference is the righteous and the wise are in the hand of God. Do not read providence to mean God will save you from all pain. It is not true. Many of the Israel of God has been slain, not expecting deliverance. And many in the future may suffer for the Truth sake. God is in heaven and we are on earth, do not expect him to save us out of all our trouble.

Even the meanest have a hope while life exists, a hope of preparing for the time to come. The lion is the king, and the dog is the least esteemed. It is better to be a living dog:

5 For the living know that they will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.
We need to agree with Solomon. He gets his information from God, because God inspired what Solomon wrote. Man has the same breath as the beast. No one claims the beasts go to heavenly bliss beyond the skies. Those who get close to their domestic pets comfort themselves with the thought the animal is enjoying life after death, but this phenomenon raises the whole issue. Grief caused them to invent this little comfort story. There is no evidence or proof of the claim, or suggestion anywhere in the Bible that it might be true, but this does not prevent people using it as a salve.

They have warrant for believing it because there is no proof man goes to another world when he dies either. Proof is not the issue. Man invents what he prefers to believe. The Preacher clearly says both man and beast go to the same place. Not only so, but The Preacher tells us in chapter 7:4-6 the only hope we have is when we are alive, because when we are dead there is nothing.

But people do not want to believe that. Failure to accept the clear message here highlights that we are driven by instinct, and reason only plays a minor role in your assessment of important things. If this is true you need to know it. If on the other hand proof must be rational and scientific then death takes away what life gives us. The Preacher says this is the case, and so does the rest of scripture.

47. 16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.
This verse begins another thought from which our proposition emerges. You meet many people who claim to have a connection back to God, and they often have the idea God is working closely with them in everything. The Preacher noticed they spent much time trying to work out what God was doing, why they are suffering, why things did not always go right, why everything seemed to go wrong.

If you examine everything that occurs to find the hand of God in it, or if you look for the ways of providence in every unpleasant event in your life, you run the risk of being disillusioned by what you find. You stay up late to work out what it is God is telling you. In the end you assume God does not care, or he is just confusing you. You cannot work out what these experiences mean, because God is not talking to you through these experiences. He may have nothing to say to you.

A man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. You do not know the reason God does something, and he does not account to you.

Job did not know the reason he was suffering. He drew certain conclusions from what he felt about the issue, and he was wrong. Job is a good example of the point The Preacher makes. He was not aware of the work God was doing with the Adversary. For him to decide the suffering God brought was an unjust judgment was wrong. He had no right to draw that conclusion.
Things are not always as they seem. This is not to say that God is not involved in things that happen, but we are in no position to work out what it all means.

Chapter 9
1  I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. 2 All things come alike to all:
All the affairs of the righteous are in the hands of God. The affairs of the wicked are not in the hands of God. That is providence. That is all you should care to know about God’s dealings with you. You are in no position to work out from prosperity and adversity whether God is pleased with you or not. These rules apply across-the-board. No one is free from the cycle of life. You cannot work out whether God’s attitude toward you is love or whether God’s attitude towards you is hatred. It is foolish to try to work out the ways of God in your life, as if you are entitled to know. God is not obliged to account to you. You cannot find it out, because the power to know is not given to you.

But there are industries built around telling us of what God thinks and does, from those who confer with spirits, to those who read tea leaves or the entrails of sacrificed animals. There are many who will enthusiastically tell you of God’s plans, by which means they infer that they have a special relationship with God and know these things. Do not believe them. They may appear sincere and well-meaning, but they are as deceived as you will be if you listen.
Every religion in the world has its own brand of providence. They all want you to believe God is with them. If you believed everyone who had an experience outside their own power, you would be forced to accept that God is involved with everyone. The most common expression you hear is “it was the will of God.”

“All things work together for good for those who are the called according to his purpose.” But the detail of what he does and how he does it, you are not entitled to know. The danger is, you find life is going well, so much so, that you are confident God is working with you to bless you. Then something goes wrong. You do not know what you have done that is so unacceptable that God’s attitude should change.

46. Proposition 8
There are eight points of issue under this proposition, and they deal with things that apply that we cannot ignore. You cannot know what God is doing, as if he is obligated to act toward you according to some formula or transaction. Men deal with one another this way, and are apt to think that this is how it works with God. They say I will do this for you, provided you do this for me. They attach conditions to everything they do, forcing the other party to account to them for everything that occurs. God does not deal this way, but the righteous and wise are entitled to know the things they do and the things that happen do not happen without his knowledge, because it is done in his hand. He does not interfere to prevent calamity, although he can do this if he wishes, but we have no assurance that it will happen this way.

All men have a heart that is full of evil, and no one can expect to be dealt with in a special way. They may think they are a lion and therefore entitled to a special deal, but they sin and die, and in death are no more eminent than a dog. The lion is a metaphor for the greatest, and the dog the least, but it is better to be alive no matter your station. And while you are alive you might like to consider what God would like to see in your attitude. He would like you to deal properly with the wife of your youth, if you want him to deal properly with you. And besides if you decide to do something, do it with all the energy you can muster, because he does not take kindly to the halfhearted effort men usually give.

Solomon was king on the throne of God ruling in the kingdom of God. The one whom he represents is the king eternal who is married to the bride taken from all countries of the world. He has many wives. He is the one who rules all nations. He is the one who has alliances in every country so they accept him as their Lord and Ruler. He is king over all the earth. It is an allegory about the kingdom of God on earth. Much of scripture is in the form of a history, as well as an allegory.

The events presented as history are accurate. They do however convey prophetic information about a future time and place. This is why God asks so many times, if there are any who can tell the future.

Solomon invites us to tell the future if we can. And we have many people who make the claim, but none can actually do it. You need to be timeless to tell the future. And we have established that no man is timeless. Fantasy writings talk of making a time machine where you can travel backwards and forwards. The entertainment features complications one would encounter when you can do this. But that is what it is, just entertainment.

We were talking about Solomon and his wives. They involved alliances he made with the kings of this world to ensure he had influence over every kingdom on earth. You can see that if he married the kings daughter, he would be in a position to influence the policy of that nation. It helps his chances of having them friendly toward his Government, and by this means allows him to influence their policy making. Clearly they rule and make policy in their own country, but it would have regard to the strong alliance they have with the king on the throne of God in Jerusalem.

This is not the way the religious leaders read these things. They have no provision for a kingdom of God on earth. But Jesus did. He asked that Gods kingdom would come, so his will would be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

To imagine Solomon was perfect is shallow. He tells us there is no one who is righteous. There is not a just man who sins not. All things come alike to all and the faithful are seen to have faults. The issue is man has a problem with the schemes he invents, and women are better at it than the men. But you would not want to invent a scheme to subvert the ruling of the king, because he takes a dim view of anyone doing that, and he has the power of life-and-death.

We should not invent a scheme to subvert the intention of God the king, because he has the power of life and death as well. It is foolish to think what you do will never be judged in the future. Everyone knows his work is being monitored. Do something wrong at work, and see what happens when they find out. And they will find out, because the wheel always turns. It might be slow but it always turns. The idea you cannot prevent your own death is sobering. You may, with medical expertise delay it a while, but it will come whether you are rich or poor.

What is particularly offensive is when a person claims to be holy, and he is wicked. That is a special case. He does wickedly because he can. Because he thinks people cannot catch him.

45. Summary 7
Do not envy the wicked. Their life is short, like a vapor, without substance, drifting away without trace. There are men who feel entitled because of their virtue, to expect the burden of life to be eased.

14 There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
The Preacher noted there are just men who suffer, and wicked who prosper. We accept that when you are wicked you suffer, but when you are a just man and suffer, it is wrong. Men feel that just men have a right to be treated better than others. But the righteous suffer just as much as the wicked. Often the righteous suffer more than the wicked. The wicked breeze through life as if life is wonderful. That seems unfair. God should do something about it, if he cares? It is a vanity, but do not allow it to cause you to despair.
We were into some heavy issues at the end of the last proposition. What intrigued me is you need to be aware of what may happen to you before it happens, because that is the time to act to sort out what to do.

One thing to do is develop a positive attitude to difficulties. Shrug them off. You ought to have the spirit that smiles on trouble. Do not resent the fact the wicked get away with it. What they do is none of your concern. It should not cause you to become morose. Do not expect everything to go well, because it will not.

15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
What you remember are the happy times. By nature we push the unpleasant things into the corner of our mind. So it is reasonable to assume we ought to make as much of the happy times as we can. It is impossible to do all without offense. If it is impossible under these circumstances then obviously being right is not the issue.

If just men commit sin then unjust men sin a great deal more. The point is that you will sin and you will not be righteous. Yet being righteous is the goal set by God as his expectation of us. And here he tells us, no one can do it.

When you think about it, how can you be right in a world that is wrong? We are presented with examples of wrong that are not the fault of the one held responsible. So who is wrong? Is it the person who committed the first wrong, the results of which are visited on someone else at another time and place? And is that other person innocent? The answer to both questions is: No, so how does it work?

It would be prudent to lower our expectation of justice, when it is not clear exactly who is to blame. Right does not and will not prevail. This knowledge does not alter right and wrong, it just tells us that law cannot define it. That puts the “law-keeper” on an unstable platform. The first thing to know about a “law-keeper” is; he is a liar. He lies about the law being absolute, and then he lies about the way he keeps it. This is a man who has built his house on sand. When the rain and floods come, the foundations shift.

44. 8 No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
And no one has power in the day of death.
There is no release from that war,
And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.
The future may involve an event that prevents you from fixing some of the things you have done wrong. So keep your house in order all the time. If you are the king, or a man of wealth conducting an essential service, you can get discharge from a war. You are not obliged to front the foe and lay your life on the line.

But in the war of life, there are no exemptions. You cannot cancel it, though you pay your life’s savings. You cannot argue with God that he has no right to take your life. This is true whether you are the highest or the meanest. Even the wicked, who control everything, cannot do anything about that day. It keeps the pressure on to do what is right.

9 All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.
Has he changed subject again? It is not so much a change as a continuation. This is tragic. A man rules over another and puts everything in jeopardy as a result. It has to do with misuse of power. Failure to perform the duty of ruler properly can create offense. So being careful to keep himself from mischief he is led into error in his role as leader.

It happens every time a person has power. Power is a trap. Preserving personal integrity is a lot easier to do than when you are involved with a complicated culture of abuse. They throw you into a situation you must govern and change, or fail to govern and swamp yourself in it.

10 Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.
How does this connect? He was a religious leader. On his shoulders rested great responsibility. Those who seek office to become rulers and masters, had better do it right. The exercise of authority can destroy them. The watchers failed to censure the wrong. To get the result, the end justifies the means. This is often the way people rule. Had he not aspired to authority then the problem would not have arisen. He is a victim of his own ambition.

11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
You need to get it all sorted out before things go wrong. They get away with it once and again and imagine they will not account. They have not the wisdom to realize it is not a matter of being caught immediately. It is not a matter of being found out and paying the price. It is not a matter of what you can get away with. It is a question of what is right and just in every situation. We need deliverance. People are prepared to overlook wrongdoing if it suits their interests. Do not let your own interests cloud your judgment. You have the authority, use it justly.

43. Have you ever wondered why every advertising pitch is to the female of the species? The advertisers will protest and tell you how many advertisements are directed at men. But they are doing what Solomon expects them to do and fly to their own defense. As earnest as they may be in defense of the obvious, advertising is directed at the women. They respond, because they are easily sucked in by the hook designed to ensnare you. This involves our emotions.

It is telling us most men get sucked in, but all women get sucked in. But then, what is the real danger? It is important to be in control of your spirit always. If you can be manipulated by your feelings and emotions, then you are not in control and you will fall.

What you fall from is “truth.” The advertisement tells you that you cannot live without this product, but that is not true. It might be nice to have it but if you do not, you will survive. Eve believed the serpent when it told her she would NOT die. It was a lie, and she believed it. We should move on, before we spend all our time on this one issue.

Chapter 8
1 Who is like a wise man?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
And the sternness of his face is changed.
Have we shifted away? No. The question is; who can discover what it all means. To be able to come up with a solution to a problem will give confidence and boldness to a man. It is good to strive to be wise. It needs a commitment to knowledge that few are prepared to make. You need to want to be wise and it involves struggle. But it is that urgent? He is going to change direction in the argument, but knowledge of these things is equally important.
He starts by asking another question. How do you handle the authorities? Governments have the power to destroy you. They have the power to take away your life.

2 I say, “Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God. 3 Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power;
And who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;
And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment,
If you are wise you will know it is not just a matter of being right. It is also a matter of the proper time. If the king has a set against you for whatever reason, the best course is to yield immediately whether right or wrong. It is not a fitting time to rise to your defense. Your defense becomes a challenge to his authority, and in this situation the king is obliged to win.

If you make a habit of doing the right thing all the time, you will not need to defend yourself. Having to defend yourself shows a weakness, a lack of confidence, a need to hide something. A wise man can detect the right time to present his case.

6 Because for every matter there is a time and judgment,
Though the misery of man increases greatly.
God has reserved a time to deal with all the things we have done, right or wrong. On that basis alone we can assume that immediately after the offense is not always the right time to resolve it. We know that we will be required to account at some stage in the future. The load of this weighs heavily. It is like a control on our activities. Our conscience governs these matters. Our honesty controls how we act. If we are honest then we do not carry a large load.

7 For he does not know what will happen;
So who can tell him when it will occur?
You provide for the future now by being honest and true. We cannot tell the future. And we cannot see what is going to come, and what the result will be is in itself a cause of frustration. There is no one to whom you can refer. Wisdom says; it is necessary to conduct yourself in such a way that you are ready for any chance event. Uphold your integrity at all cost.

42. Lawlessness is doing what criminals do, while foolishness is only going so far and no further. Both are equally dangerous, because you end in the grip of THE manipulator. You thumb your nose at authority and refuse to be constrained by law. Well, try to get away from this one.

26 And I find more bitter than death
The woman whose heart is snares and nets,
Whose hands are fetters.
He who pleases God shall escape from her,
But the sinner shall be trapped by her.
That to me is a good reason to be wise. To be lawless means you risk being taken by the women whose heart is snares and nets, to be taken by her and held captive. It will happen, because God will allow it to happen. And that is why foolishness is madness. Those who please God will escape her. God will help you avoid her.
This woman can be found anywhere, and she has no scruples. The sole purpose in finding a mate is to harness him to her cart and have him pull it in the direction she intends to go. So the house is her house, the kids are her kids; the money is hers to control and dispense. He does not exist except to pull the cart. Her heart is snares and nets, and her hands are bands.

She has much the same attitude as the lawless and the fool. They believe others have no rights, or at least they have none when those rights conflict with her interests. Others only exist to allow them to do as they wish. This lady is better at that game than they will ever be.

Employing scientific method, he gathered data from all sources. The subject is wisdom and The Preacher wants you to have some information he thinks deep. He carefully documented every procedure in this search. He cannot lay out the proof, for it is the sum of his research. He makes a big point of this.

27 “Here is what I have found,” says the Preacher,
“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,
28 Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find:
One man among a thousand I have found,
But a woman among all these I have not found.
It was not a casual exercise. He did not stumble on the findings. Though he did not expect the answer he found. But what he found was one man among a thousand, but a woman among all those he could not find. He is apparently harsh on the women. But what The Preacher has in mind is more important than someone’s hurt feelings. It is something you need to know. You want to be wise, then listen to the results.

29 Truly, this only I have found:
That God made man upright,
But they have sought out many schemes.”
He is dealing with the way in which men rationalize and defend behavior. Adam invented an excuse. He blamed God. “The woman whom thou gavest me to be with me she gave to me and I did eat.” Eve blamed the serpent.

They invent ways to avoid responsibility for their failure. Men find ways to justify whatever actions they take. This process, applauded the world over, to God is deceit. The heart of man is, “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” It is all part of this automatic defense that comes into play whenever we are challenged. While most men do it most of the time, all women do it, most of the time.

This seems a serious challenge, and response from the female quarter is cool to say the least. But just wait a minute. If this is what God says is unsatisfactory about human behavior, and only one man in one thousand does not do it, we need to know what it is.

41. Everyone knows laughter is shallow. Why announce it as if it is a revelation? Because the laughter of fools is thought by many to be smart and cool. The laughter is usually at the expense of somebody who does not deserve to be laughed at, or something crude and gross. It is not a good look.

We need to be somber and refined all the time. A little comical relief does nobody any harm. It is usually targeted to humiliate someone. It is a form of oppression. You would not like to live under oppression surely?

Every country with a nonelected Government is oppressed. Those who live in poverty are oppressed. Even elected Governments can oppress the community, to promote the rich and neglect the poor. We live in the lucky country and do not see it, but it is sad when you are born under oppression. So you say you cannot control all your surroundings and therefore cannot decide your destiny.
All things are not equal, so you cannot assume it is just a matter of deciding what you want and go and get it. Sometimes you cannot go and get it. That shapes your life, and restricts who you are, and who you want to be.

Decision making is harder. So the end of a thing is better than the beginning, because all difficulties are accounted for, and you can say it is finished. But this is our life. There are so many doubts, it is a relief to get to the end. It is a bit like wishing your life away waiting for the finish.

So our life is complicated, we know that. Do we walk around with a big black cloud over our heads? You are a quitter if you do. You must get certain things right like, do not be an angry man, do not live in the past and always say it was better when everything was easy in the olden days. At least accept that knowing things, is better than knowing nothing. Wisdom will help you, so get wisdom.

It will cost you if you do not have wisdom. And then you will complain and blame everyone and everything but yourself. That is shallow, that is empty and vain. We said you cannot straighten it out because God made it crooked. It would be nice if he straightened it out.

But that is the point. It is crooked and will remain that way so you learn the lesson that right is the right way to do things. Being an oppressor, being corrupt, lauding it over everyone else will damage you in the end. Change is necessary. He has given us prosperity and misery in roughly equal portions. If you have only adversity you might look at the way you do things and change. It might bring about instant relief.

Sin must be understood. It is not something that damages God. A person’s sin damages the person. We need to see, if it makes victims of others it is not right. We need to see if it damages the future of others it is not right. If it teaches corrupt behavior it is not right. It might suit you, but it is damaging to society to allow it to continue. We need to be fair in our judgment. Our judgment must be right, or we are never going to get anywhere.

This is our life. We talked at the start of earmarking time to consider this. No one has been cheated of their time it has been well-spent and most are content to follow the logic and see where we end. Everyone implies they know everything. They think it is a weakness to admit they do not know.

25 I applied my heart to know,
To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things
To know the wickedness of folly,
Even of foolishness and madness.
He wanted to find a way to explain to everyone why lawlessness (wickedness) is folly, and foolishness is madness. He was trying to find some way he could draw a picture, to show being lawless was stupid, and foolishness would cost you more than you are willing to pay.