Daily Devotionals

Devotional: August 18th

For Reading and Meditation:
     Ecclesiastes 10:8-11

We begin a section now that most commentators regard as baffling and bewildering. Several dangerous activities are identified. In all of these, says Solomon, watch out because you can get hurt. Solomon uses graphic language to drive home the point that fools can't see further than their noses. They go blindly on and see only what they want to see - thus they come to grievous harm. Fools don't see danger, and it is these words of Solomon, I understand, which gave rise to the saying: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." A "fool" digs a pit for someone to fall into, and falls into it himself. A "fool" breaks through a wall, and gets bitten by a serpent. A "fool" quarries stones and doesn't take proper precautions, so he gets hurt by the loose ones that fall on him. A "fool" splits logs without taking enough care, and an accident occurs. A "fool" wields an axe which doesn't have a sharp edge, and finishes up using more strength than he needed to. A "fool" handles a snake before it is charmed and it bites people, so he makes no profit because people avoid him. Such mishaps need not happen in any of these activities, Solomon is saying, if people operated from wisdom rather than foolishness. A phrase that is often used to describe the situations Solomon has listed above is "poetic justice" - people get what they deserve. Fools, of course, do not understand this. They continue to live their lives doing foolish things, using and abusing people, and end up losers in the process. When will they learn?

O Father, day by day it has become clearer and clearer that we cannot get through this life successfully without wisdom. And the best wisdom is Your wisdom. Again I pray, fill my heart and mind with the wisdom that comes from above. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

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