Ecclesiastes 3-5

Tue May 28 13:13:22 PDT 2013

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

May 28, 2013

 *NOV 8 - ECCLESIASTES 3-5 - QUEST BY GENERAL OBSERVATION*

 *1. 3:1-2a (3:1-8, ESV) VANITY: WEARY ROUND OF ALTERNATE TIMING. “For
everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a a
time to be born, and a time to die;” *Give us the heart of Issachar O
Father, with an understanding of the times and what to do (2 Chronicles
12:32)! Then we can give wise counsel to Your people. Then we will
understand *Your rule* upon earth! *Hallowed be your :name.*

 *2. 3:11 (3:9-22) OBSERVATION: EXELLENCY BUT INSCRUTABILITY OF GOD’S WAY. “He
has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into
man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the
beginning to the end.” *In this, man differs from all animals; for You
Father, have made us in Your image. We are offspring of God, created by You,
and redeemed by You: *twice bought*! In this light we pray, *Your :kingdom
come!*

 *3. 4:6 (4:1-6) VANITY OF OPPRESSION AND SERVICE: CORRECT BY PEACE. “Better
is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after
wind.” *Father, we embrace Your peace in our hearts! For in this gift and
fruit of the Spirit we are able to walk through the contradictions of life
and say with all our heart, Lord, we do not always understand You, but like
Job *we do always trust *You! *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on
earth. *

 *4:9-10 (4:7-12) VANITY OF ALONENESS: CORRECTED BY TWO. “Two are better
than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall,
one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and
has not another to lift him up!” *Help us not to be unilateral Christians,
Father. Help us to understand body truth (1 Corinthians 12). Show us the
power of Matthew 18:19, and Deuteronomy 32:30. Lead us into *Prayer
Multiplication* through this principle. *Our :daily :bread Give us this day.
*

 *5. 5:2 (4:13-5:9) VANITY OF LACK OF JUSTICE OR PLEASURE: ADVICE. “Be not
rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before
God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be
few.” *Father, forgive us for being so foolish ofttimes with our words. You
do not hold us guiltless for rash words. May we heed your advice through
Solomon. Yes, we recognize the wisdom of this advice. *And forgive us our
:debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.*

 *6. 5:12 (5:10-12) VANITY OF LOVE OF MONEY: CORRECT BY CONTENTMENT. “Sweet
is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full
stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.” *Give us wise insight on these
words, Father. May we not be foolish in multiplying to ourselves riches,
goods and possessions. Help us to hold on to what we have *loosely*. *And
bring us not into temptation!*

 *7. 5:18 (5:13-20) VANITY OF SAVING FOR OTHERS: CORRECT BY SELF-ENJOYMENT.
“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and
find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few
days of his life that God has given him, for this is is lot.” *These are
the words of the wealthiest man who ever lived. Surely he understood these
principles of which he spoke! Surely then we can see dimly Your purposes in
this Father, and boldly proclaim that *You deliver us from the evil one!*

 *NOTE*: 4:11-12 (4:7-12) *THE POWER OF TWO. **“Again, if two lie together,
they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? **12 **And though a man
might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - and a
three-fold cord is not quickly broken.” **Jesus* is this third strand: Then
with Him - *You* vanquish our enemies, Father!

 *C.H. Spurgeon Quote: “Sham Christians” - *Why these are sham Christians:
they are of the world, and do the things of the world. We may conclude that
their hearts and natures are worldly, for if they were spiritual they would
love spiritual things, and their hearts would be engaged in spiritual
exercises.

 *Our Psalm for the Day: 128:1 (128) BLESSED IS EVERYONE WHO FEARS THE
LORD. “Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!” *Father,
we marvel at the blessings of the one fearing You, walking in the knowledge
that You are a *jealous* God: eats labor of his hands; he and his wife have
many children; Jerusalem will be blessed; he will see his grandchildren,
and Peace upon Israel. *Hallowed be your :name!*

 There is clearly an advance in age, for here we go beyond children to
children’s children; and also a progress in happiness, for children which
in the last Psalm were arrows are here olive plants, and instead of
speaking “with the enemies in the gate,” we close with “peace upon Israel.”
Thus we rise step by step and sing as we ascend.

 128:1 *Blessed is every one that fears the Lord. *A man’s heart will be
seen in his walk, and the blessing will come where heart and walk are both
with God. Note that the First Psalm links the benediction with the walk in
a negative way, “Blessed is the man that walks *not*,” etc.; but here we
find it in connection with the positive form of our conversation. To enjoy
the Divine blessing, we must be active, and walk; we must be methodical,
and walk in certain ways; and we must be godly, and walk in the Lord’s way.
God’s way are blessed ways; they were cast up by the Blessed One; they were
trodden by Him in Whom we are blessed; they are frequented by the blessed;
they are provided with means of blessing; they are paved with present
blessings, and they lead to eternal blessedness: who would not desire to
walk in them?

 128:3. *Thy wife. *To reach the full of earthly felicity a man must not be
alone. A helpmeet was needed in Paradise, and assuredly she is not less
necessary out of it. He that finds a wife finds a good thing. It is not
every man that fears the Lord who has a wife; but if he has, she shall
share in his blessedness and increase it. *By the sides of your house. She
keeps at *home, and so keeps the house: It is her husband’s house, and she
is her husband’s; as the text puts it - “thy wife,” and “thy house”; but by
her loving care, her husband is made so happy that he is glad to own her as
an equal proprietor with himself, for he is hers, and the house is hers,
too. *Your children like olive plants round about your table. *Our children
gather around our table to be fed, and this involves expenses: how much
better is this than to see them pining upon beds of sickness, unable to
come for their meals! It may help us to value the privileges of our home if
we consider where we should be if they were withdrawn. What if the dear
partner of our life were removed from the sides of our house to the
recesses of the sepulcher? What is the trouble of children compared with
the sorrow of their loss? Think, dear father, what would be your grief if
you had to cry with Job, “OH, that I were as in months past, as in the days
when God preserved me; when my children were about me.”

 128:6. *Yes, you shall see your children’s children. *This is a great
pleasure. Men live their young lives over again in their grandchildren.
Does not Solomon say that “children’s children are the crown of old men”?
So they are. The good man is glad that a pious stock is likely to be
continued; he rejoices in the belief that other homes as happy as his own
will be built up wherein altars to the glory of God shall smoke with the
morning and evening sacrifice. This promise implies long life and that life
rendered happy by its being continued in our offspring. It is one token of
the immortality of man that he derives joy from extending his life in the
lives of his descendants. *(From “The Treasury of David” by C.H. Spurgeon,
abridged by D.O. Fuller)*

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