True Wisdom

9 Because the Teacher was wise, he taught the people everything he knew. He collected proverbs and classified them. 10 Indeed, the Teacher taught the plain truth, and he did so in an interesting way.
11 A wise teacher's words spur students to action and emphasize important truths. The collected sayings of the wise are like guidance from a shepherd.
12 But, my child, be warned: There is no end of opinions ready to be expressed. Studying them can go on forever and become very exhausting!
13 Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. (Ecclesiastes 12:9-14, New Living Translation)
 
Application

This is one of my favourite portions of scripture. Ecclesiastes is a very interesting book because it’s all about things being meaningless. You can do all of these great things, but they are meaningless. You can do all of these things that are not great and they are also meaningless. I never really understood the book until I reached the very end and read the words that you just read. Wisdom is important. It can teach us to walk in the right way for our life, but the writer says that there are so many opinions out there that it is meaningless to search them out. Instead, he tells us that we should fear God and obey his commands. These are the greatest things you can do. Solomon, the man who wrote this scripture, was one of the wisest people who ever lived. There is a place in the bible where it says that there were two women who came to Solomon fighting over a baby. They stood before Solomon and so with wisdom he said, “I cannot determine whose baby this is, so let us cut him in half and give half to each of you.” At these words the real mother of the child was distraught and said to Solomon, “ok give the child to this woman but do not harm him.” Then Solomon knew who the real mother was because she cared more for the baby’s life that herself. With all of this wisdom Solomon deducted that we should fear the Lord and obey his commands above all else. I guess those would be the wisest words ever spoken.

Now what…?

Read over this scripture again and ask the Lord to give you the fear of the Lord and not the fear of man. This means that you care more about what God thinks than what your friends and others around you think. Also ask the Lord to help you to obey his commands with your whole heart.