Focal passage: Ecclesiastes 4:13-5:7
Several years ago my wife and I attended a UNC basketball game. When we arrived, I was excited to find a parking spot near the stadium. However, the spot was a parallel parking space. Because I was eager to park, I pulled the nose of the car in first instead of properly pulling forward and then backing in. As soon as I did this, my wife told me I needed to back out and start over. But in my stubbornness, I said, “No, I can do this.” Embarrassingly, I now confess that for the next 10 minutes, I did not listen to my wife but tried to do it my way and failed miserably. I finally swallowed my pride, heeded her words, started over, parked quickly and entered the stadium … in shame.
Unlike my embarrassing choices that night, Solomon teaches us a better way: we must hear and heed the words of others, particularly those who give godly counsel. In leadership, leaders are expected to heed wise counsel. However, many leaders often foolishly reject advice, and someone ends up taking their place (4:13-16). In this case, “Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings” (4:13). Not heeding wise counsel is indeed “futile and a pursuit of the wind” (4:16).
Similarly, in worship we are expected to speak less and listen more (5:1-3). Because God is heavenly and we are earthly, our words should be few. We cannot hear from God when our mouth is full of words. Lastly, in our promising, we should be slow to speak lest we rashly make a vow we’re not able to fulfill and thus incur guilt because of our empty words (5:4-7).
So, what’s the solution for our stubbornness that rejects wisdom? Solomon tells us, “Fear God” (5:7b). Reverently submitting to God by listening to Him is the way to wisdom. Just as I eventually admitted my pride and heeded my wife’s gracious words in that parking lot, so also we must rely upon God’s grace to heed His Word. Indeed, we must “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God” knowing that “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5-6).