{"id":28153,"date":"2023-10-01T22:00:06","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T05:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-1_1-11-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-09-12T14:00:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T21:00:52","slug":"ecclesiastes-1_12-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-1_12-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Find Happiness by Pursuing Knowledge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18\u00a0 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ecclesiastes 1:12-18.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-18: \u00a0In verse 12 Qohelet (the Teacher) confirms that he was king of Israel, ruling in Jerusalem.\u00a0 Then in verses 13-15 Qohelet describes how he pursued wisdom and knowledge, yet it led him nowhere.\u00a0 Despite trying to wisely explore everything that is done on the earth (v13), he found nothing that was truly meaningful; everything was just \u201ca chasing after the wind\u201d (v14).\u00a0 Moreover, Qohelet found that there were certain problems that could not be solved (\u201cwhat is twisted cannot be straightened\u201d \u2013 v15) and certain questions where key information was lacking which made finding an answer impossible (\u201cwhat is lacking cannot be counted\u201d \u2013 v15).\u00a0 Thus he concludes that pursuing wisdom and knowledge this way was \u201ca heavy burden\u201d that God had laid upon people (v13).<\/p>\n

In verses 16-18 Qohelet again describes how his search for wisdom led him nowhere.\u00a0 He had \u201cgrown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who had ruled over Jerusalem before\u201d (v16).\u00a0 Yet having \u201cexperienced much of wisdom and knowledge\u201d (v16), he found that with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and with more knowledge, more grief (v18).\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 \u00a0Maybe it\u2019s because:
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the more wisdom you have, the more you realize how much people lack wisdom in the way they live, and that can be frustrating and sad;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0wise people will often find themselves dealing with tough situations and difficult problems, not just the fun stuff.\u00a0 Whereas the hedonist intentionally turns a blind eye to problems and focuses on pleasure, the wise person is compelled to look at the tough stuff that the hedonist ignores.\u00a0 The wise involve themselves in ways that the hedonist doesn\u2019t, and that can be burdensome;
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the wiser you are, the more people want to get wisdom from you, and that can be tiring.<\/p>\n

Likely because Qohelet became disillusioned with pursuing wisdom, we learn that Qohelet not only tried to understand and explore wisdom but also madness and folly (v17), which foreshadows what Qohelet will talk about next: the pursuit of pleasure.<\/p>\n

Whereas the Solomon of Proverbs celebrated the benefits of wisdom, how wisdom brings life and peace (Proverb 3:16-18), the Solomon of Ecclesiastes bemoans wisdom as a burden, as something that brings sorrow and grief.\u00a0 What are we to make of all this?\u00a0 Notice that in the book of Proverbs, wisdom and God are intimately connected such as to be inseparable.\u00a0 You can\u2019t really have one without the other.\u00a0 But here in Ecclesiastes 1:12-18, Qohelet seems to treat wisdom as something separate and apart from God.\u00a0\u00a0 He seems to regard wisdom as something that he can attain or manage without God.\u00a0 This might explain his disillusionment.\u00a0 In the words of James 3:13-18, it appears that Qohelet (Solomon in his later life) had settled for an inferior kind of \u201cwisdom\u201d \u2013 an earthly, unspiritual wisdom as opposed to the wisdom that comes from God and being with God.<\/p>\n

When we try to pursue wisdom with God, what we ultimately gain is life, peace and joy.\u00a0 But when we try to pursue wisdom on our own apart from God, or we pursue wisdom for wisdom\u2019s sake rather than for God\u2019s sake, we leave the foundation of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7) and end up empty, unfulfilled and burdened.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It matters how you pursue wisdom and why.\u00a0 We need to pursue wisdom with God for God\u2019s glory, not on our own for our own glory.<\/p>\n

Father, I pray that I would always have the right view of wisdom.\u00a0 May I never forget that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.\u00a0 May I pursue wisdom as an outflow of my relationship with You rather than as an independent pursuit on my own.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ecclesiastes 1:12-18.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 (NIV)
\n12\u00a0\u00a0I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
\n13\u00a0\u00a0I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!
\n14\u00a0\u00a0I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 12-18: \u00a0In verse 12 Qohelet (the Teacher) confirms that he was king of Israel, ruling in Jerusalem.\u00a0 Then in verses 13-15 Qohelet describes how he pursued wisdom and knowledge, yet it led him nowhere.\u00a0 Despite trying to wisely explore everything that is done on the earth (v13), he found nothing that was truly meaningful; everything was just \u201ca chasing after the wind\u201d (v14).\u00a0 Moreover, Qohelet found that there were certain problems that could not be solved (\u201cwhat is twisted cannot be straightened\u201d \u2013 v15) and certain questions where key information was lacking which made finding an answer impossible (\u201cwhat is lacking cannot be counted\u201d \u2013 v15).\u00a0 Thus he concludes that pursuing wisdom and knowledge this way was \u201ca heavy burden\u201d that God had laid upon people (v13).\u00a0
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28153"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28156,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28153\/revisions\/28156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}