Are You Wise or Foolish?

8Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 9Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. 10Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not ask wisely about this. 11Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun. 12For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. 13Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked? 14In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him. 15All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing. 16Don’t be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time? 18It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also from that don’t withdraw your hand; for he who fears God will come out of them all.

Some students study hard whenever they have time because they feel they are not good enough, and others trust in their own brains and study only at exam time. Children like that don’t worry much, because even without working hard day to day, a few days of study bring their grades up to a point. But students who spend many hours studying faithfully all the time have bodies that remember honesty and diligence, whatever their grades. So as time goes on, their quality of life and their character cannot help but grow far more mature than those of the friend who crammed.

As we go through life, we meet problems we never expected and feel like giving up, and we lose heart at the thought that however hard we live, we cannot have what we want. Not only study but business too, and raising children as well, will not go the way we want. That is why, to live a right life, we truly need wisdom that can govern all of this: the direction of our lives and our feelings.

Believers who know God see problems from a different point of view than the people of the world, so rather than relying on their own ability and wisdom, they strive to live by the Word. The world is a place where people with many possessions are recognized, whether they got them by hard work or by taking what belonged to others and living in excess. So those who have lived honestly may perhaps be all the more disappointed and discouraged. Not to lose heart in such a world, we must truly meet God, who rules all things in the universe and human life. People who know God’s will in this way do not grow angry even as they watch people who have no fear of sin.

Because believers know that their final destination is different from that of the people of the world, they can have the wisdom and patience never to give up on their salvation to the end. In the end it is those who have the wisdom and knowledge God has given who win. Knowing how vain life is, they can be faithful instead of resentful, and they strive to draw up deep wisdom instead of relying on shallow tricks. They can look at life this wisely because they know the purpose of God, who created the world.

God is the same at the first and at the last. When he created the heavens and the earth, his purpose was to establish the kingdom of God on this earth and to save the souls of sinners. So he accomplished all his works, each in its time. Nothing would have been better than if Adam had obeyed the Word and not eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But God knew the nature of human beings, made from dust, the stuff of the world, and so he already knew that people would sin. That is why, before Adam ate that fruit, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit had already prepared the work of salvation through the cross.

Look at 1 Peter 1:3-5, and you will see this clearly. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

God kept the cross he had already planned until the time came. Then, in the last days, when Jesus came to this earth and bore the cross, God raised him from the dead and so completed the work of salvation. Believers who have met God live in the world alongside evil spirits and evil people, but if they do not forget the purpose for which God created the heavens and the earth, they can hold fast to their faith and never waver.

Ecclesiastes 7:10

10Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not ask wisely about this.

This verse says that whoever says the former days were far better than today is a fool, lacking wisdom. It is like Israel, who had lived as slaves for over four hundred years: even after being set free, they could not bear a brief hardship and said that their old life in Egypt had been good. Some people say that they cannot work hard for the church now, but that in the past they read the Bible and devoted themselves day and night without rest; or that they have nothing to spare now, but once lived in a house like a palace. People like that are fools with no hope for the future. They have become fools like this because they forgot to be thankful: they forgot how God filled their needs at every moment, so that they lacked nothing, and they recall only what they themselves did in the past. But God cares about how you are living now and what devotion you are offering now. So a faith and a life that are not faithful in the present are unbelief in themselves.

People who know God’s will and are faithful in the present live by hope for the future rather than dwelling on the past, so they concentrate on the time given them now. Yet it is true that believers who live by the Word have more restrictions and less freedom than the people of the world. Believers who strive to live by faith certainly do at times have things taken from them against their will by evil people, and at times cannot take something for fear of sinning against God. But wealth taken by deceiving people is like sand slipping through the fingers, so in the end all of it is lost.

Those who know the purpose for which God created the world can endure, because they know that even when things seem to be taken from them, they are never truly taken. Solomon called those who cannot see far down the road of life fools. Now let me ask you a question. Are you glad of now, since you received Christ? Or were the days when you lived in the world as you pleased better? By instinct, people may think the days when they lived in the world as they pleased were far better than now, when God restrains them. But those who truly know the eternal kingdom do not think such foolish thoughts. If someone thinks the old life of doing as they pleased was better, that is evidence they have not been born again in God, and so they have not received new life. If you come to understand the love of Jesus Christ, who laid down his life to redeem the sins that could only lead to death, you will know how great a grace salvation is.

Ecclesiastes 7:10

11Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.

Just as an inheritance from your parents is a great help in life, when you receive wisdom from God, you become a precious presence in the world. An inheritance is of great benefit in living, but God’s wisdom gives eternal life, so it is far more valuable than an inheritance. Wisdom gives off the light of life and helps you use the wealth, authority and talents you have received more worthily for the kingdom of God. If wisdom changes what becomes of you after death, you must treasure the wisdom you have received and know how to be thankful for it.

Ecclesiastes 7:14

14In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.

No one knows when life will bring suffering like a typhoon, or when it will turn peaceful like a calm sea, so people can never know their own future. For God has made it so, through prosperity and adversity, that no one can find out what is to come. Because peace and hardship cross each other in life, people can never know their own future. What this word means, in the end, is that life depends on God.

As James 4:14 says, “you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.” People can never know their own future. Peace and hardship cross each other in our lives, so we cannot live without relying on God, who holds absolute sovereignty. Even if people make plans and carry them out exactly, life never goes according to plan, so no one can design what is to come. That is why, even if we learn wisdom through the Bible, we can learn true wisdom from experience only by living out, according to the Word, a life in which success and failure repeat.

When people say confidently that their life is their own, or vow that they will surely accomplish something, they are acting foolishly, and they can only do it because they have no idea what a human being is. Believers who have laid down human righteousness can judge the world with God’s wisdom, and so they can live good lives.

1 Samuel 2:6-7

6“Yahweh kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up. 7Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.

God is the one who both makes rich and makes poor, and both kills and makes alive. If you do not acknowledge this power, you cannot entrust your life to him, and even if you do, doubt will keep you from a whole relationship with him. God works according to the faith you have now. What God has lifted up, no one can bring low at will, and when he sends hardship to train people, no one can stop that training. That is why you must be all the more humble when things go well, and repent and turn back when you are tested.

No human wisdom or ability can make straight the way God has made crooked. If people admit their weakness like this and live by honest faith, God will see that life and help them to be strong. The pride by which people exalt themselves according to what they own is a denial of God, who gave them life. For God makes lives rich and makes them poor as training, which a person’s faith must have in order to grow. If people cannot overcome it with thanksgiving and patience, and make the same choice as Demas, who left for the world, they may live at ease for the moment, but that choice brings their relationship with God to an end.

Of course, there are people who work hard all their lives and still cannot escape poverty, and there are others who live lazy, wicked lives and yet live long and enjoy wealth. Seeing such things in the world, we may complain and ask why the wicked who sin like that live well while the righteous who live by God’s will must be poor. But believers who know God’s will must accept that such things can naturally happen in the world and have nothing to do with salvation. Only then will they not complain, and only then will their lives not become unhappy.

What I have been saying is that the world and believers differ in the purpose, meaning, outcome and quality of their lives. When believers envy the wicked for living in abundance, it is no different from the sin of Israel: though God had led them to Canaan with a purpose, they looked with envy at how well the Canaanite peoples who opposed God were doing, and in the end served their idols. When believers doubt God’s power and complain, they are seeing things the way the people of the world see them, so they must be careful.

A person’s life can be judged only once it has been lived to the end. So there is no need to be overjoyed when something good happens, nor to despair as though the world had collapsed when hardship comes. For life is like crossing a mountain pass; no one knows what lies on the other side.

First, you must examine whether you carry the fragrance of faith. For then God, if only because he would not see that faith go to waste, protects you from Satan and the world and gives you the strength to overcome them. Verses 16-17 say that being overly righteous or overly wise is the way to destroy yourself, and that if you are too wicked or too foolish, you will die before your time.

God’s righteousness and human righteousness are like a seesaw. There is not one righteous person in this world. Even so, some exalt themselves as though their wisdom were outstanding and try to stand above others. That in itself lowers God’s righteousness, so it becomes the sin of pride. Those who exalt themselves and try to rule over others have already set foot on the road to destruction, and they commit the sin of judging everyone by the world’s yardstick.

Nothing but God’s righteousness can make a human being righteous. Those who think they are righteous believe that even their salvation comes from how good their faith is, and so they act proudly, as if they had the right to teach others. This is the sin of despising a soul more precious than the whole world. When people grow proud like this, they can easily tell a soul whom God has chosen and called that it is worthless and cannot be saved.

Of course, salvation can be received only by having faith. But we must not forget that no one is saved because they have faith. Salvation is received by the merit of Jesus Christ, who accomplished the work of redemption, and it comes through God’s choosing. Salvation depends on God’s righteous judgment alone. Eternal life is received by faith alone, regardless of possessions, ability or power, so we need an honest faith that believes in Jesus Christ.

Lazarus, who begged at the rich man’s gate, believed in God’s good will and lived by it even in hard circumstances, and so he entered heaven; but the rich man and the Pharisee, who boasted of their own righteousness, were pushed outside salvation. What is sad is that people believe only what they see with their eyes. So they cannot see through the rich man’s clothes and his pretentious behavior, and they say he has been blessed. This happens because, though we ought to judge with true faith, the measure of blessing is the world.

If God were to show people just once how beautiful heaven is, they would probably forsake the world and live in the hope of heaven. That is why Jesus, who knows this evil human nature, said that those who have not seen, and have believed, are blessed. I hope that, in the truth, you will be neither overly righteous nor overly wise, for human righteousness and wisdom bring destruction in the end.

Those who boast that they are righteous do not know that there is no one truly righteous in this world, and those who boast that they are wise are fools who do not know how great God’s wisdom is. I hope you will be neither a proud wise person nor a fool, for you could die before the time God has set. Once we become proud or fall into sin, it is hard to stop. So from the very beginning we must judge carefully with God’s wisdom and walk the way of Christ.

Sin only grows bigger, like a snowball rolling down a hill, and never gets smaller. Now that Jesus has already redeemed all the sins of humanity, if we cling to sin and roll along in the world, that is nothing less than destruction. To bring us down, Satan is waiting for us to clasp sin and go rolling down from the high hill of grace. You have received God’s grace; I hope that from the very beginning you will wisely cut off the buds of sin and give Satan no opening to attack. As Proverbs 1:7 says, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge. So you must live with a heart that fears God. We must believe that Christ, the source of wisdom, has led us this far, and we must cast off our pride and live humbly.

Those who do not turn back when God gives them the chance cannot meet the Lord, even if they call on him in the day of trouble. Those who do not repent while they have the chance will suffer the misfortune, on the day Christ returns, of seeking the Lord diligently and not finding him.

Do you think you are righteous and wise? Then are you discerning the problems of the world with God’s wisdom? Are you devoting yourself to the saving of souls, whatever your circumstances? If you believe you are wise but are not showing the Lord’s righteousness in your life, that is human righteousness, and you must cast it off. When you meet a problem, you must discern why God has given you these circumstances and think about what comes first in solving it.

Human wisdom and talent are vain unless God uses them. So we must not trust in ourselves but seek God’s wisdom. Solomon thought his life was his own and lived as he pleased, but when he stood at the end of his life, he came to the deep realization that it had been God’s. He had thought until then that it was his body, his life, his possessions, but standing before death, he realized that everything he had used was God’s, entrusted to him by God. So believers who live knowing that their possessions and their lives belong to God have a contented heart, and they can enjoy peace and rest.

One day we will be judged for what we have done in our lives. If it is true that in the end we will be judged by God, we must strive every moment to live a life God approves. If you worship the Almighty God, who created and rules all things, you can walk the way of truth without turning to the right or to the left.

We live in a rough world, as if walking over a field of stones, so walking straight without turning to the right or to the left is never easy. Even so, the Word tells us to strive not to turn to the right or to the left. It means that we should put on the safe shoes of the gospel and keep to our duty as God’s people. Whether you will be wise or foolish is your choice. Those who choose wisely will leave behind, at the end of their lives, the fruit of faith, faithfulness and love, which, like gold and silver, will not burn in the fire of judgment.

If we live believing that God is always with us and sees every single thing we do, we will not be proud. With the faith that the Holy Spirit is with us, within us, we will not commit the sin of criticizing and judging others, and so we can live as those who are wise. But those who believe their own thoughts and judgments are always right take lightly both the love God has given them until now and the love of other people, so they cannot help but become fools.

Wisdom and folly may be nothing other than ourselves, facing each other in a mirror. We all know how we ought to act now. Whether we put that into action wisely, or stand where we are like a fool and insist on our own thinking, that difference in thinking is what divides wisdom from folly. When God takes back our life, we will have to let go of everything: the hurt we have held against people, the joys the world gave us, the work we clung to as if it were life itself, even the faith to which we devoted ourselves to the point of death.

I hope you will not entrust your precious soul to this world, which is like a vapor, but will entrust yourself to God, the King of glory.