Obedience to the King - Ecclesiastes 8

“When I determined to load up on wisdom and examine everything taking place on earth, I realized that if you keep your eyes open day and night without even blinking, you’ll still never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on the earth. Search as hard as you like, you’re not going to make sense of it. No matter how smart you are, you won’t get to the bottom of it.”

Ecclesiastes 8 is packed with insightfulness. In the beginning of the chapter, Solomon encourages the people of God to get wisdom and always analyze the things of life and its meaning. Why? Because wisdom brings light to our lives and softens our countenance which births a calm delight within. I opened the blog quoting verse 16 and 17, as Solomon expresses that in his search for wisdom and observing people's burdens and hardship, he discovered there’s a ceaseless activity happening, and what he concluded is that no one will discover everything God is doing under the sun. When initially reading the chapter, my thought was, “do I continually search and seek wisdom from God, or do I say forget it because I’ll never truly understand and find it anyway?” But as I pondered and prayed further, the revelation I received is this, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).

We can only determine what God is doing on the earth through getting the revelation from God himself. We can continuously examine everything transpiring on the earth, but if we don’t go to the Father for understanding, we will never receive anything. The Bible tell us that if we lack wisdom, let that person ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it (wisdom) will be given to him. What I’ve learned is that the fear of the Lord is where everything starts. Fearing God literally means we are to have a profound honor and respect for God. We are to approach God humbly, always. If we truly fear God, our desires and choices will be honorable, and we will choose to not offend or disobey him. For example, Solomon says in verse 2, “Obey the king since you vowed to God that you would.” This is a literal exemplification, but obeying God goes infinitely deeper because God is Holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, and just.

God knows it all because he is omniscient and omnipotent. We serve a God who has unlimited power. We as humans cannot avoid what we do not know, but we serve a God that will protect us. I believe what Solomon said in verse 5. God will safeguard the people who do what is right. There is so much beauty in living life with God and dwelling in his presence. We can live a life seeking wisdom from God because we know that he gives generously to those who ask and believe. The Bible says that God can do all things; no purpose of his can be thwarted (Job 42:2). I know that God gives because I’ve experienced it. The Lord is good, and his word is filled with truth. We can always count on God because he is faithful. He will provide wisdom, understanding, love and much more to us if we will keep in perfect peace and trust in him. We have to set our thoughts on God, trust in him always because he is our eternal Rock (Isaiah 26:4).

Remember this: God said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” We can always count on the Lord for all things because He is our Savior.