Saturday, November 10, 2007

Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 7
Wisdom

1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.
6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.
7 Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
10 Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.
11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.
12 Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.
13 Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
16 Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise— why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool— why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes . [a]
19 Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city.
20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
21 Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you-
22 for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said, "I am determined to be wise"— but this was beyond me.
24 Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound— who can discover it?
25 So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.
26 I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.
27 "Look," says the Teacher, [b] "this is what I have discovered: "Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-
28 while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes."
Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things? Wisdom brightens a man's face and changes its hard appearance.

Tell The World That Jesus Lives

At prayers yesterday, i happened to pick the quality of being "wise" from the envelope that stace was handing out. In it was various qualities of each of us. When she was making it, she had a feeling that i would pick "wise", and true enough. I was really stunned. I did not know what to share on it. And, that is usually rare. I guess it was just a mental block for me so that i could hear others. If i hadn't had tt mental block, i probably won't get stace or a.debs to share stuff on wisdom with me. So, i asked, how to open up yourself to god. Then, stace and a.debs were sharing how they go about doing it. Listening to Praise and Worship, talking to God every moment and all sorts. And, how god replies back to them. So, today i woke up on a bad start. I was angry and annoyed. So while bathing, i decided to listen to PNW. The first song was Everyday. And it was like instant when this peace came into me. I was no longer annoyed nor angered. I was happy. You may think it is coincidence, but it is not. I was trying to hold back my anger but it was like the holy spirit just came into me or smthng. I took things lightly and saw the positive in things. Then, i came home from piano and started listening to PNW again. And i had this prompt to open up the bible. So, i did. I opened to the reading above and like a miracle, it answered all that i wanted to noe. Surprising. God speaks in mysterious ways. I feel that God is always there no matter how down or angered one can be.

Then, it goes to the topic on why believe in a God. If you think your life is at its best, why need God? Well, with God, life is definitely better. Its not about worship idols and hoping something will come true, but this is the real thing. God is real. Thus, when you believe, you will understand.

Posted by Alexander Thaddeus Kow at 11/10/2007 01:07:00 pm