# 508 Ecclesiastes – In search of meaning in life. 7:7-29, 8:1. Two paths. Your choice.

All through the book of Proverbs as well as here in Ecclesiastes, it becomes clear that basically there are two paths in life. The way of the wise person or the way of the fool. Qoheleth was very conscious of this truth and so he says:

²⁵ So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.

BSome years ago, I listened to a talk by a man named Stephen Olford, who was an evangelical pastor and teacher in the USA in the mid-20^th Century. He told the story that his father told him. “He (Stephen’s father) became a Christian and God called him to serve as a missionary in Uganda. His brother was not a Christian and ridiculed him, saying that he was wasting his life. This brother left the UK and went to Canada where he became very wealthy. The time that he returned to the UK coincided with the missionary brother’s furlough. Stephen’s father visited his wealthy brother but was always mocked. One day this man became ill with pneumonia (before antibiotics) and ended up in hospital very sick. One night, Stephen’s father received a phone call asking him to go to the hospital. He found his brother in great distress. He said, “I’ve seen a vision of hell. I’ve seen the place of the dammed and I’m not saved. Help me.” That night he was led to the Saviour and found peace with God. After this Stephen’s father returned home but some hours later, he received another phone call to come quickly.  When he arrived at the hospital his brother said: “Praise God, I’m saved, the blood [of Jesus] has cleansed my sin. But I’ve seen a vision of heaven and I’m not afraid to die but I’m ashamed to die. I’ve nothing to present to the Saviour but the ashes of a wasted life.” Having said this, he died.”

In the mercy of God this man turned from his foolish ways but how tragic are his last words: “I’m not afraid to die but I’m ashamed to die. I’ve nothing to present to the Saviour but the ashes of a wasted life.”

So, two paths that we can walk in life. The choice is ours. One path in life is the one that the wise walk on, in the fear of the Lord, and the other path in life is the one that “fools’ walk on despising wisdom from God. At times these are also called the paths of the righteous and the wicked. Keller says that these terms not only mean moral and immoral as we sometimes think. But they also have a strongly social aspect. He quotes Bruce Waltke who writes, “The righteous are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community; the wicked are willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves.” So, the first leads to real meaningful and satisfying life in a right relationship with God and others around us. The second is the way of ignorance or even rejection of God and leads to selfish behaviour that eventually is the way of death. As C S Lewis put it: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Your will be done.’ And those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Your will be done.’”  (read Romans 1:18-32 noting the use of the words, Therefore God gave them over… in verses 24, 26 and 28)

Qoheleth continues as follows:

¹¹ Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing
    and benefits those who see the sun.
¹² Wisdom is a shelter
    as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
    Wisdom preserves those who have it… (7:11-12)

Who is like the wise?
    Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
    and changes its hard appearance.  (8:1)

¹⁷ Do not be overwicked,
    and do not be a fool—
    why die before your time? (7:17)

Now another important truth here is that:

²⁰ Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
    no one who does what is right and never sins. (7:20)

If this is true, and sadly it is, then what hope do we have?

Well, we need to turn to the NT for the answer to this. In fact, in Romans Paul says the same thing as the above. Quoting from the Psalms he writes:

¹⁰ As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
¹² All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”  (Romans 3:10-12)

But then comes the good news:

 ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. ²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. (Romans 3:20-25)

So, whatever path you find yourself on at this time, there is always hope, just as Stephen Olford’s uncle discovered. Just don’t leave it too late and be faced with “the ashes of a wasted life.”