Year: 2022

16/02/2022

引言：

这一章经文向我们提出一些实际生活智慧，去弥补虚空的悲哀、去面对虚空的人生!

一、对比选择有益的（V1-6）

1.丧礼胜过喜宴 (V1-4)

智慧人劝人多往‘遭丧的家去’，少往‘宴乐的家去’。因为，参加丧礼与哀哭的人同哭，能从死者的生平得着警愓；丧礼中的‘忧愁’可以使人：思考人生的结局、思想自己要有怎样的人生，为生命带来转机，所以‘面带愁容，终必使心喜乐’！

而参加宴乐不过吃吃喝喝，所得的是虚空的快乐，对灵魂一无益处！欢笑使人满足于现状，失去儆醒的心。懂得为生命‘忧伤’的人，最终必结出‘喜乐’的‘生命果子’！

2. 终局胜过起头 (V5-8)

一个愚昧人很常作事情在开始时会花很多心机，然而结尾却是草草收场。一个智慧人却会看重事情的结局。如果我们不看透人生，不重视事情的终局―就是心存永恒，那么无论喜乐或忧愁，人生都没有多大的意义，最终就是虚空！

二、知道人是有限的（V9-14）

1. 人不知什么是好（V10）

无论是过去的、现在的，甚至将来的日子，我们都不知道什么是好；

2. 人不知神的作为（V13）

无论我们怎样察看世情的弯曲，想知道神的作为，但原来曲直都出于神；

3. 人不知身后的事（V14）

死亡对我们来说是奥秘，无人能知道自己何时离世；就算知道，我们也不知身后的事。

神使人生祸福并列，为使人因对未来一无所知，无法把握而敬畏倚靠神，这是神的美意。

三、敬畏神不自逞智慧（V15-22）

在这里，智慧人提醒我们：当面对不公义，我们不要行义过分，同时也不要行恶过分；否则就是愚昧人，自取败亡。

不要行义过份的关键是‘不要过于自逞智慧’！在有关自己的义行上，不要自以为有智慧、不要自以为义。因为世上本来就没有一个义人。不要行恶过分，并非暗示人可以‘稍为’行恶；而是要我们明白智慧人也会犯罪，但不要为人愚昧。这是对犯罪之人的警告，不要行恶不知悔改！

行义的智慧是：敬畏神不要自逞智慧！主用什么尺来量我，我也要用同样的尺量人。

四、寻求智慧远离愚昧（V23-29）

在这段经文中，智慧人说：我曾用智慧试验这一切事，我说：要得智慧，智慧却离我远。（V23）
智慧人直认自已比众人有智慧，但仍然觉得智慧难懂难掌握！智慧仍是遙不可及！
跟着他又说：我转念，一心要知道，要考察，要寻求智慧和万事的理由；又要知道邪恶为愚昧，愚昧为狂妄。

智慧人告诉我们愚昧常常会令人活在危险中，正如箴言所说：亲近淫妇，就是愚昩人。

人惟独敬畏神，才会有真智慧，成为正直人；如果人亲近淫妇，身陷愚昧，那当有的正直就没有了！真智慧就是：知道远离愚昧的恶事！

总结：智慧来自敬畏神

我们单凭自己的智慧，最终都无法知道神的作为，也无法参透人里面的事情。真智慧是来自敬畏神! 属神的智慧能使我们活出永恒不虚空的人生！

Ecclesiastes 7: Wisdom In The Face Of The Void Life
GK611 Morning Devotion
16/02/2022
Speaker: IP Daniel Kew

Introduction:

This chapter of scripture suggests to us some practical life wisdom to make up for the sorrow of emptiness and to face the life of emptiness!

1. Comparison and Selection of Beneficial (V1-6)

(1) Mourning is better than feasting (V1-4)

The wise man urges people to go more to the house of mourning and less to the house of feasting. Through participation in mourning, the ‘sorrow’ in mourning can give a sense of alertness and make people think about the end of life and what kind of life they want to have, so that they can turn their lives around, therefore, ‘For by a sad countenance the heart is made better’!
But to attend a banquet is just to eat and drink, and what you get is empty pleasure, which is not good for your soul! Laughter makes a man content with the present, and he loses his watchful heart. He who knows how to ‘grieve’ for life will eventually bear ‘joy’ the ‘fruit of life’!

(2) The end is better than the beginning (V5-8)

It is common for a foolish person to start something with a lot of effort, but end it in a haphazard way. A wise man will look at the end of things. If we do not see through life and do not pay attention to the end of things – that is, if we have an heart with eternity – then whether we are happy or sad, life has little meaning and is ultimately empty!

2. Knowing that Man is Finite (V9-14)

(1) Man does not know what is good (V10)

That we do not know what is good, whether in the past, in the present, or even in the days to come.

(2) Man does not know the works of God (V13)

No matter how much we look at the crookedness of the world and want to know the works of God, it turns out that the crookedness is from God.

(3) Man does not know what is after him (V14)

Death is a mystery to us, and no one knows when he will pass away; even if he does, we do not know what will happen afterwards.

It is God’s good pleasure to make life a juxtaposition of woes and blessings, so that man may fear and rely on God because he is ignorant of the future and cannot grasp it.

3. Fear God and Does Not Pretend to be Wise (V15-22)

Here, the wise man reminds us.When faced with injustice, we should not go too far in doing righteousness, and at the same time not go too far in doing evil; otherwise we are fools and bring about our own destruction.

The key to not going too far in righteousness is ‘not to be too wise’! Do not think that you are wise or righteous in your own righteous acts. For there is no righteous person in the world.
Do not go too far in your evil deeds, not to imply that one can do evil ‘a little’, but to understand that wise men also sin, but do not be foolish for man. This is a warning to those who sin, not to do evil without repentance!

The wisdom to do righteousness is: ‘Fear God and do not try to be wise’! With what measure the Lord measures me, I will measure men by the same measure.

4. Seek Wisdom Away From Foolishness (V23-29)

In this passage, the wise man says: All this I have proved by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”; but it was far from me. (V23)

The wise man admits that he is wiser than all men, but he still finds wisdom difficult to understand and difficult to grasp! Wisdom is still out of reach!

Then he says, “I turn my mind to know, and to examine, and to seek wisdom and reason for all things; and to know that evil is foolishness, and foolishness is arrogance.
The wise man tells us that foolishness often leads to living in danger, as Proverbs says, “If a man approaches an adulteress, he is a foolish man.

Only if a man fears God, he will have true wisdom and become a righteous man. If a man is close to an adulteress and falls into foolishness, his righteousness will be gone! True wisdom is: knowing to stay away from the evil of foolishness!

Conclusion: Wisdom comes from the fear of God

We cannot ultimately know the works of God or penetrate what is in man by our own wisdom alone.True wisdom comes from the fear of God! Godly wisdom enables us to live an eternal, life that is not in vain!

15/02/2022

引言：

传道书有大部分的篇幅都是在讲述人生的虚空，作者所罗门透过不同层面的例子来帮助读者去看明白人生到底是怎样地虚空，尤其是一些可能我们人觉得还很有追求价值的东西，但在本质上却是虚空的事物。作者所罗门盼望我们都能够一一地来看明白，好让我们能够在虚空的人生中懂得抓住不虚空、并且真实永存的神。进入传道书第6章，所罗门就是在贯穿这个主题去写作，也在这里提到一些新的人生例子，去帮助读者去认定我们都要在虚空的人生中抓住神。

一、有福难享的虚空 (V1-6)

1. 物质丰富却无法享福 (V1-2)

有财有势却因劳碌，甚至是因此而搞坏了身体，导致就无法享受神的这些祝福，这不但是人生的虚空，也是一大祸患。

2. 多子多寿却无法享福 (V3-6)

人长寿多子，但是却因某些原因，可能是家庭关系的问题，可能是健康的等等的问题而无法享福，甚至到了离世的时候后事也没有得到好好地处理。这样的人在他活着的年日，其实还不如那些流产掉的胎儿，因为这些胎儿都完全经过人生的愁苦。

这是所罗门当时还没看见耶稣赐下救恩的一份感叹，如果没有永生，人活在地上真的是无比地虚空。但如果有永恒，今天我们所经历的一切，就有不一样的意义了。当我们能够与神同行，在一切患难中经历神的荣耀，并建造起我们永恒的产业，那就有极大的价值了。

二、比别人强的虚空 (V7-9)

人忙来忙去就是为了生活的需要，满足了生活的需要就想要享受人生，但是人在不断追求的过程中，却会发现自己心灵的空虚还是无法满足。如果说智慧人比愚昧人更能够看清这点，然而他们还是要和愚昧人一起面对这样的空虚，实际上他们也没有比愚昧人强。穷人因为缺乏，也相对容易看明白人生的虚空，但因为他们的缺乏，他们也并不比别人强。无论如何，得到还是比想要要好的，但是得到了想要的东西，不久后又会感受到心灵的空虚。这其实也还是虚空和捕风！可见人多么需要神来满足心灵里面的那种空虚！

三、在虚空中抓住神 (V10-12)

人虽然比动物尊贵，不过是无法跟比自己力量更大、权柄更大的神去相争的。当我们认识到人生的虚空，我们是可以讲论出很多的大道理，但是却对人无益，也无助于人去解决人生的问题。人的一生是短暂的，就像影子一样经过了就没有了。人活着的时候的工作，财富和还有当时的各种计划，当他死了过后，他也不知道这些东西接下来会是怎样了。这里再次地让我们看到人一定要在虚空的人生中抓住神，好让我们能够跳脱今生的虚空，活出永恒的盼望。

总结：

人生有福难享，还有人可能因为自己的状况比别人优越就觉得自己比别人强，其实这些都还是在人生无法跳脱出来的虚空当中。如果我们的生命中没有神，其实我们再追求人生许多的东西，我们里面的空虚还是没有办法得着满足的。

但是当我们在虚空的人生中认定神，抓住神，在我们人生的道路上与神同行，虽然说我们的人生还是会面对各样的考验，但是我们必会经历神同在的荣耀，并且日后我们还要得着永恒的奖赏。那我们的人生就不再虚空，而是充满盼望了的。

Ecclesiastes 6: Grabbing hold of God in a life of vanity
GK611 Morning Devotion
15/2/2022
Speaker: IP Moses Ou + Rev David Tan

Introduction：

Ecclesiastes devotes most of its pages to the vanity of life, and Solomon uses examples from different dimensions to help readers understand how vain life really is, especially things that we may find valuable to pursue, but are essentially vain. Solomon wants us to see them all, so that we can grasp the God who is not in vain, but real and everlasting, in the midst of the vanity of life. This is the theme that runs through Ecclesiastes 6, where Solomon mentions some new life examples to help the reader identify that we are all to hold on to God in the midst of a life of vanity.

1. Unable to Enjoy the Blessings in Vanity (V1-6)

(1) Unable to enjoy material abundance (v1-2)

To be rich and powerful but toil, or even to impair your health as a result, so that you cannot enjoy these blessings of God, is not only a vanity in life, but also a great disaster.

(2) Unable to enjoy children and the days

A person lives long and has many children, but for some reason, perhaps because of family relationship problems, health problems, etc., he is unable to enjoy his blessings, and even when he passes away, his affairs are not properly taken care of. Such a person is not as good as the stillborn child that was aborted during the years he lived, for this stillborn child has gone through the full sorrow of life.

This was one of Solomon’s laments before he saw Jesus’ gift of salvation, that without eternal life, man’s life on earth would be truly in vain. But if there were eternity, what we experience today would have a different meaning. When we can walk with God, experience His glory in all our troubles, and build up our eternal estate, then it is of great value.

2. The Vanity of being better than others (V7-9)

People are busy going about for the needs of life, and when they have satisfied the needs of life they want to enjoy life, but in the process of their constant pursuit, they find that the vanity of their hearts is still unsatisfied. If the wise are more able to see this than the foolish, yet they still have to face such vanity together with the foolish, and in fact they are no better than the foolish. The poor, because of their lack, also see the vanity of life easily, but because of their lack, they are no better than others. In any case, it is still better to get than to want, but after getting what you want, you will soon feel the vanity of your mind again. This is actually still vanity and grasping for the wind too! You can see how much man needs God to satisfy that emptiness in his heart!

3. Grasping God in the Vanity (V10-12)

Although man is more exalted than animals, he cannot compete with God, who is more powerful and authoritative than himself. When we realize the vanity of life, we can preach a lot of doctrines, but they do not help man to solve the problems of life. The life of a person is short, like a shadow that passes by and is gone. The work, wealth, and plans of a man while he is alive, he will not know what will happen to them when he dies. Here again we see that man must hold on to God in the midst of the vanity of life, so that we may escape the vanity of this life and live in the hope of eternity.

Conclusion：

There are blessings in life that unable to enjoy, and others may think they are better than others because their situation is superior to others, but in fact, these are still in the vanity of life that we cannot escape from. If we do not have God in our lives, we will not be able to satisfy the vanity in our lives if we pursue many things in life.

But when we identify God in the vanity of our life, grasp Him, and walk with Him on the path of our life, although we will still face various trials in our life, we will experience the glory of God’s presence, and we will receive eternal rewards in the future. Then our life will no longer be in vain, but full of hope.