9th March 2024

9th March 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Ecclesiastes 7v9-14)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


The road that you walk each day is beset on all sides with snares which can so easily trap you. Solomon knew this all too well and despite his great wisdom, often fell head first into a pit of his own making. Even so, the king warned us about the traps of anger and melancholy telling us that we are to guard our spirit from becoming angry because all too often anger sticks around like an unwanted guest after Christmas (v9).


Anger so easily flares up and for some it leaves as quickly as it comes but for others it takes root and it festers. It might be hidden for a while but many years later it sparks into life in a display of unbridled rage. Brothers and sisters, if anger has captured your heart then you must repent and bathe in the cleansing water of the Gospel. We have no Biblical remit to hold grudges and store up anger. It is sinful, foolish and dangerous.


In the same way we are not to be constantly looking back and asking “why were the former days better than these?” (v10). Such a question doesn’t come from a place of wisdom (v10b) but a place of sinful discontentment. The melancholic heart dwells constantly in the past and refuses to realise the multitude of God’s present providential blessings.


The antidote to both snares is the wisdom of Almighty God. Wisdom guides as we receive an inheritance from our earthly father (v11a). Will we sell the farm and drink the proceeds or will we act wisely with what we have received? Wisdom is an advantage to anyone who sees the sun (v11b). This is a phrase which describes all who live, they see the sun every day and will always benefit by an abundance of God’s wisdom.


Wisdom protects us like having money in the bank to fall back on in times of difficulty but wisdom does much more than give peace of mind. Wisdom preserves the life of the one who has it (v12b). This isn’t to say that the wise man will live longer but when the bitterness of life threatens to overwhelm us, wisdom keeps our head above the water and enables us to continue on for the glory of God.


Instead of being filled with anger or a constant yearning for the past, we are to consider the work of God (v13). The Lord alone is King, the Lord alone is sovereign and the Lord alone does what He pleases. Your anger won’t be able to make straight what God has made crooked and no amount of melancholy will make crooked what the Lord has made straight (v13b). Wisdom teaches us that the Lord providentially orders this world and our lives to His glory. When the days are sweet we are to be joyful (v14a) and when the days are sore we are to consider that the Lord sends them both. We cannot predict what the future holds (v14b) and so our wise response is to trust the Lord. Will He not always do what is right (Genesis 18v25)?


Christ once taught us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5v44). This doesn’t seem very wise in a world that prefers revenge and likes to say yesterday was much better than today but nevertheless, let God be found true and everyone else a liar (Romans 3v4). The Lord sends the sun and the rain on both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5v45). The wise one knows this to be true and responds accordingly.


In response may we pray for our fellowships as Paul once prayed for the Philippians saying “it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1v9-11)


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q89 How is the Word made effectual to salvation? The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.