<< Download All Devotions for this Week >>
Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to himself. Confess any known sin. Thank him for his forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and his sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s word. Pray for others in your life that they too would know and love God today.
Read
Ecc.2:11 When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun… 15 Then I thought in my heart, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said in my heart, “This too is meaningless.” 16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die! 17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless
Understand:
The Bible tells us what did happen not always what should happen. Clearly Adam and Eve sinned, clearly they should not have. In the same way it describes what people felt, thought and said but that doesn’t mean it is prescribing that we should do the same. In this passage Solomon is describing his approach to life during a time when he was far from God. This is a good description of the worldview of a smart man who is living like a fool because he has wandered from the truth. It is certainly not a prescription for how we should view our lives.
Solomon is worried about what his children will do with all he has worked to acquire. He was worried with good reason. His son would split the kingdom. Our choices do not automatically determine our children’s choices or those of anyone else. However, our choices can make the good choices of others easier or harder to make.
Apply:
How has someone in your life made a choice that you didn’t agree with but you have to live with some of the consequences of that choice. Perhaps it made or continues to make your own good choices harder (Or at least makes your life more difficult and unpleasant).
What are some choices facing you right now that have implications not just for your life but for the lives of others around you? What are some potential implications for your ability to have influence in the next generation or two of those choices?
What good choices can you make that will make it easier for those impacted by your life to choose well?
Live:
(Personalize this prayer for today, make it specific to the circumstances that face you.) Ask God to lead you through his Spirit as you go through your day. Ask him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell him “Yes” to his will today and ask him for his power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask him to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY TODAY.