Baptist City Blog

Ecclesiastes 8:1

"Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed."

If I were trying to find someone who is wise, then I would try to determine what their habits are so I could identify them. It is asked in the verse above, "Who is as the wise man?" This rhetorical question is answered throughout this book. The reason this question was asked was to get the reader to find the answers that were already given throughout this book. As you study the Book of Ecclesiastes, you will find there are four main habits of a wise man.

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Job 35:5

"Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou."

Looking the wrong direction can certainly get you lost. Years ago a friend of mine and I were hiking in the woods when we got disoriented with our location. Instead of staying on the trails and following them back to the right path, we decided to blaze our own trail back to his house only to stay lost for the next two hours. It wasn't until we decided to get on a trail and follow it that we got back to where we were supposed to be. It all came down to where we were looking.

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Job 27:7

"Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous."

One of the most difficult situations to deal with in life is personal attacks. I have found that when others do wrong they will go to any measure, including personal attacks, to get what they want. I watched a political operative during an election cycle say that anything is on the table as long as they won. When you're an honest person, it is hard to understand why people will lower themselves to the lowest degree in their personal attacks.

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Job 14:7

"For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease."

My wife has a pretty decent green thumb. She takes care of the flowerbed at our house because if it was up to me the flowers would probably all die. At the end of every fall, I watch her cut back some of the plants in the flowerbed. To be honest with you, every year I think she is going to kill them because she cuts them back so much. Yet, it always amazes me how the next year when springtime comes those flowers that are cut back begin to grow and blossom into pretty flowers. If she had not cut them back, they would not give those pretty blossoms.

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Esther 4:13

"Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews."

Having a false sense of security only hurts one person: you! Esther had false hopes that the problems in her country would not affect her because she was the queen who lived in the palace. Mordecai reminded her that just because she lived in the palace didn't mean that she would get away with her life. Mordecai understood that eventually it would get out that she was a Jew, and that Haman would do all he could to have her killed as well.

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Ezra 5:10

"We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them."

Oftentimes when I am riding up an elevator to my hotel room, I see a certification letter inside the elevator that certifies that the elevator meets the codes required by that state for public elevators. That certification letter is not only to put the customer at ease, but it is to also validate that the business is following the guidelines established by that state. Certainly an elevator can work without the certification letter, but the certification letter validates the workings of the elevator.

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2 Chronicles 34:3

"For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images."

Josiah was one of the youngest kings to rule Israel. In the verse above, he was only sixteen years of age when he began to make major changes in the country. These changes that he made were nothing more than establishing early patterns by which he would rule the kingdom and live his life.

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2 Chronicles 26:16

"But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense."

King Uzziah struggled with the same thing many people still struggle with today and that is allowing their perceived success destroy them. It says in the verse above, "But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction..."

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2 Chronicles 11:4

"Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: for this thing is done of me. And they obeyed the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam."

There is nothing more annoying than calling a business and a receptionist answers and quickly says, "Please hold." While expecting to be quickly connected to someone, they forget you and your hold time goes from just a few minutes to several minutes. This is annoying because you really don't want to be held up by being on hold.

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1 Chronicles 22:8

"But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight."

David deeply desired to build a house for the LORD but could not because he was a man of war. God told David that because he had "shed blood abundantly" and had fought many wars his son would be the one to build a house for the LORD.

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