King Solomon left much of his God-given wisdom and knowledge in Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes. Have you asked yourself what the meaning of life is? The restless have searched for this answer endlessly. Many books have been written to explain it, but they are still empty words. Ecclesiastes best answers the meaning of life in two verses—you shall find it at the end of this chapter.
Our journey with God is the experience we crave the most as everything starts and ends with Him. God gives us time, space, and matter to experience His creation and understand His ways. With knowledge of God, we prosper and become suitable vessels for Him. How do we learn God’s ways?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who live it have insight. His praise endures forever! Psalm 111:10 MEV.
In Jesus’ times, people went to Him for help and listened to Him preach the ways of God to change the course of humanity.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:52 MEV.
Have you ever gone against something once you truly understand and become aware of its purpose? No.
Only fools despise wisdom:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverb 1:7 MEV.
The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom. Proverb 10:21 MEV.
To do mischief is like sport to a fool, but a man of understanding has wisdom. Proverb 10:23 MEV.
Once you gain wisdom, you naturally conform to it. No one fights against wisdom but instead profits from it.
For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. Proverb 8:11 MEV.
Solomon didn’t ask God for wealth, only wisdom. God gave him what he asked for and what he didn’t ask for, which was all the wealth in his kingdom. Solomon wrote the proverbs imparting wisdom.
God gave Solomon wisdom and great depth of understanding as well as compassion, as vast as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the people of the East country and all the wisdom of Egypt. 1 King 4:29-30 MEV.
If wisdom weren’t valuable, no one would seek it. Yet, all people flocked to Solomon to hear it.
People from all over came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. 1 King 4:34 MEV.
All the earth came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 1 King 10:24 MEV.
Wisdom profits us and keeps us happy.
Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gets understanding. Proverb 3:13 MEV.
Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! 1 King 10:8 MEV.
If you suffer from depression, that is not a chemical imbalance; you suffer from not having enough knowledge and wisdom of God. God welcomes all to ask Him for wisdom liberally as King Solomon did.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally and without criticism, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 MEV.
When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul. Proverb 2:10 MEV.
Many wicked people these days celebrate and use the word “pride.” God defined this word as evil; the corrupt people use it today to mean good. The first sin ever committed was by Satan. His sin was pride. Satan’s pride was predicated on violence so much that God banished him from heaven to earth.
Prideful people have no wisdom. They begin to worship themselves and their desires instead of God. They rebel against anything good and righteous to trade away their inheritance for a bowl of soup as Esau did. They have traded away their good life as God ordained it to fulfill their satanic fleshly desires. The wicked seek to disrupt time-tested traditions and wholesome values for the depravity of mind and body. Their world sees no mercy and love for others. They are hunters of the youth as prey to abuse and use for their fleshly desires. Murder is acceptable so long as they are free from its consequences. They accept and promote death by killing their unborn or celebrating others who do it.
They mutilate their bodies and create their image, erasing God’s. They seek social justice only through violence to steal, kill, and destroy. They are loud, opinionated people who live to destroy goodness and honor before men. They make themselves to be gods, just as Satan tried to do. Collectively, all such efforts are creating a kingdom of Satan to represent his values, who was kicked out of the Garden of Eden and Heaven.
Satan is nothing more than an evil sore loser. He was given all authority under God, created perfect in all ways and beauty. He, too, traded his heavenly inheritance for worthless things. Yet, Satan is being worshiped now, and many agree to conform to his image. God rightfully saw that Satan’s pride was the beginning of his fall.
When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom. Proverb 11:2 MEV.
Solomon wrote many proverbs of wisdom that are easily understood by all who read them.
He who is void of wisdom despises his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his peace. Proverb 11:12 MEV.
A man will be commended according to his wisdom, but he who is of a perverse heart will be despised. Proverb 12:8 MEV.
A scorner seeks wisdom and does not find it, but knowledge is easy to him who understands. Proverb 14:6 MEV.
Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. Proverb 23:9 MEV.
Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding. Proverb 23:23 MEV.
It makes sense now that Solomon, the great man of wisdom, wrote the book of Ecclesiastes because it is a beautiful book that provides rational and practical knowledge for all generations. The central theme is that all things in this world are vanity to disappear and not be remembered again. All you need in your life is to worship God and be glad, for there is no guarantee of tomorrow. Eat, drink, and be merry and don’t live in extremes.
And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3:13 KJV.
Do not be excessively righteous, and do not be extremely wise; why should you destroy yourself? Do not be overly wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time? Ecclesiastes 7:16-17 MEV.
During Buddha’s quest for enlightenment, he concluded that the state of nirvana could only be had in moderation and not in extremes. Buddha was a prince who had everything he desired-or could want in life. His life growing up was so sheltered that he would not know the suffering and hardships of life. Yet, he wasn’t happy and content with his luxury life. He abandoned his family and child to seek enlightenment. He constantly meditated and starved himself to find it. Buddha never found the true wisdom of God but created philosophical ideas of karma and reincarnation until you get it right to be removed from suffering. However, he understood that living in either extreme of life would not give you peace and happiness. Ironically, people worship Buddha idols with fat bellies to rub them for good luck and financial prosperity, ignoring Buddha’s enlightenment. Many don’t understand that what they seek in life is all vanity and offers nothing in itself.
The only wisdom in knowing God and His knowledge comes directly from Him, not our own. Solomon also noted that too much knowledge is a source of sorrow.
For in an abundance of wisdom is an abundance of frustration, and he who increases in knowledge also increases in sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:18 MEV.
But then Solomon concluded that wisdom is still better than not knowing.
Then I saw that there is more benefit in wisdom than in foolishness, more benefit in light than in darkness. Ecclesiastes 2:13 MEV.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but only one sinner can destroy much that is good. Ecclesiastes 9:18 MEV.
Even though having wisdom is better than not having it, you still have to discern its source. The story of Adam and Eve is a simple story of two humans who disobeyed God to sin and faced the consequences of their actions. However, it also tells us a parallel story within a story to speak of the nature of the universe filled with good and evil. The Tree of Knowledge, whether literal or symbolic, was a portal to expose a protected mind to knowing the ways of God and Satan. The universe, as God created, already had turmoil and violence. We know this because Satan was in the Garden of Eden to speak to Eve to commit her sin to follow him, rejecting God’s truth.
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5 MEV.
We also know that Satan was a created cherub who committed the first sin of pride. God said that his pride was the same as violence.
God described Satan in Ezekiel 28:12-17 MEV:
You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold. The workmanship of your settings and sockets was in you; on the day that you were created, they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub that covers, and I set you there; you were upon the holy mountain of God; you walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you. By the multitude of your merchandise, you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness; I cast you to the ground, I lay you before kings, that they may see you.
Eve believed the lie and sought the same thing Satan desired: to be like God. Adam also followed Eve in the lie. Even though they did not die instantly, they forever dammed all life to decay and death that soon followed. Adam and Eve were no longer immortal, but their bodies began to suffer the hardships of life and eventual death. Each generation's lifespan became shorter and shorter, whereas God limited it to 120 years. Still, most die sooner. The average lifespan today is seventy to eighty years. Satan corrupted Eve to believe a lie, trading away what she already possessed.
Satan seeks to corrupt all men and women to do his work and join his artificial kingdom where there will be no natural organic life as we know it now. Today, his minions are working feverishly to genetic engineer immortality by any means. Satan lost his authority and rights to God’s kingdom; as such, he is creating his world using men.
Those who don’t know God from the Bible do not gain their understanding and knowledge to conform to His ways. Just like Eve in the Garden of Eden, the godless seek after Satan to continually eat the forbidden fruit. Eve wasn’t the only one but the first one to believe the lies of Satan. The Bible says Satan is very crafty and intelligent to beguile men to desire what he offers.
The wise men are ashamed; they are dismayed and caught. Indeed, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what kind of wisdom do they have? Jeremiah 8:9 MEV
This wisdom descends not from above but is earthly, unspiritual, and devilish. For where there is envying and strife, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. James 3:15-17 MEV.
Many have accepted what they desire on earth and thus trade away their heavenly inheritance with God to live with Him eternally in a perfect place that God designed as the Garden of Eden, where there is no more pain and no more suffering. A place where Satan and all evil will be bound and burned forever.
God provided a way out by sending His son to die on the cross for our sins and giving us His living Ark to find refuge against the works of Satan.
For to those who are perishing, the preaching of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 1 Corinthian 1:18 MEV.
Getting right with God is more imminent than ever. Life will get more challenging for the righteous, and the earth will be filled with more violence as in the days of Noah.
Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts become burdened by excessiveness and drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that Day comes on you unexpectedly. For as a snare it will come on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Therefore watch always and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:34-36 MEV.
If you believe in God and His Word, you can cast your burdens on Him for everything you go through. Satan has no power over the Believer: he can only try. That’s why we must know the Word of God to gain more wisdom and understanding, to put on the whole armor of God.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your waist girded with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace, and above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit always with all kinds of prayer and supplication. To that end be alert with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Ephesians 6:11-18 MEV.
There is much knowledge and information to learn in life. Know that all is vanity and will return to the ground as dust. While
all things are lawful to me, but not all things are helpful. 1 Corinthians 6:12 MEV.
This is why learning God’s ways is better than becoming a fool to perish and not be remembered again.
As Solomon finally understood the meaning of life and our purpose, he said the following:
Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 MEV.
We only need to fear God and keep His commands. While this chapter was long, this is a short conclusion to gaining wisdom and knowledge. Be wise until next time!
