Daily Devotional • June 10
A Reading from Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death, than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of everyone,
and the living will lay it to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.
6 For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of fools;
this also is vanity.
7 Surely oppression makes the wise foolish,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;
the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit.
9 Do not be quick to anger,
for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun.
12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.
13 Consider the work of God;
who can make straight what he has made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that comes after them.
Meditation
I’ll admit that Ecclesiastes 7 may not be for everyone. It may be particularly for those of us who prefer funerals to weddings, who read our fill of Flannery O’Conner, who are overtaken with emotion at the most inopportune times, and who see someone cry and are strangely comforted that someone else has been through enough to break their heart.
If you’re one of these lonely souls, obsessed with loss and misfortune, the book of Ecclesiastes is a great comfort to you. The preacher’s message to you is that you aren’t alone. Rather you stand in a long tradition of men of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Not only is it a long tradition, says the preacher, but it is a good one. We see something better than those who look on the bright side. We see, according to the preacher, the crooked way made by God.
Keep on looking on the dark side, for to God darkness and light are both alike. Look at death and mourning and sorrow. Look straight into the eyes of the oppression that is making you wise. Take a deep breath, even when the air is heavy, and consider the God who made our road so crooked and thorny, because he not only made it but walked it himself, making the crooked straight and the rough places plain.
Chase Benefiel is a friend, Tennesseean, preacher, and student (in that order) currently finishing his M.Div. at Duke Divinity School.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida
The Diocese of Southeast Florida – The Episcopal Church