–Jory Sherman  (Dawn of Revenge)

       “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

                         –Psalm 27:1 (NKJV)
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We live in a crazy turbulent world.  Confusion reigns and more than ever we need wisdom and the ability to pass it on to our children and grandchildren.  The devil will do his best to dupe them.  He will attempt to deceive as he did in the Garden of Eden, challenging them with false truth.  There is a great need to learn to deal with and accept life’s questions; to live with life’s tensions and to do that wisdom is needed.  

               “Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city.  For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.  Also do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you.  For many times, also, your own heart has known that even you have cursed others.”
                              –Ecclesiastes 7:19-22 (NKJV)

       How do we succeed in this world of chaos?  How do we find strength?  We find wisdom, for wisdom gives inner strength.  It gives us the strength to walk through the mayhem of the world, to battle through the issues that confront us.  Listen, each of us bears a cross, Jesus says to pick it up and follow Him.  Nowhere does it say that sanctification will be an easy lot; rather it is a hard road to follow at times.  Didn’t we read earlier, “Who makes the paths crooked”? (7:13)  Jesus knows the way we travel and we are told that if we need wisdom we should ask God and it will be given to us. (James 1:5)
       One of the most important facets of wisdom is that it gives us the strength to avoid gullibility–wisdom has a filtering system.  This is true whether you are dealing with a used-car salesman or dealing with one of Satan’s imps.  The world has many glittering things to offer.  Watch out for sales; you usually get what you pay for.  Watch out for the lights and glamour of advertising.  I read once, where a casino owner in Las Vegas said that because of the allure that once a person enters they have been “got.”  There are shysters of all kinds and wisdom gives us the strength to say “NO!”
       Some wise man (word choice intended) once said, “When a mule kicks you, just consider the source.”  Wisdom gives us the strength to handle criticism.  When people shun and laugh at your ideas, your lifestyle, your way of walking this journey of life, we consider the source.  Wisdom also helps us to keep our mouth shut when we see a fool fall in a ditch and not to say, “I told you so.”  It will keep us humble.
       I will advise you to read the rest of Ecclesiastes 7, stopping especially to contemplate verse 29.  We see here that wisdom gives insight.  It shows that some relationships are often unsatisfying.  It helps us determine the difference between thrills and true satisfaction.  It lets us know regarding alien relationships–being unequally yoked.  It helps us to realize that sometimes those we depend upon fall flat and apart.  It is wisdom that flashes out the warning–Beware of Synthetics!
       The world would have you live a synthetic Christianity.  It would have you depart from the principles and virtues of the Bible.  The Word of God is our manual of arms, our policy manual to help us through this world.  Our covering is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  The world would have you think that you are outdated, especially in the realm of family rights and status.  As Christ is our covering, so is the man (the father/the husband) the covering for his family.  Where is that man?  C.S. Lewis says that society has been clamoring for “men without chests.”  If that happens, and it is happening, what will happen to the covering of society?

                    –1 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)
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Sometimes I get confused.  I know that the ancient Jewish people enjoyed riddles, but that is what Ecclesiastes does to me.  I read of wisdom, and wickedness, then wonder what in the world is Solomon telling me.  Then I recall the words of Paul, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25, NKJV).  When I am wise, I am really foolish in the ways of God, but then I ask, what does that make a foolish man?  More than a fool?  Try with me, to contemplate the words of Ecclesiastes 7:15-18.

               15 — I have seen everything in my days of vanity:  There is a just man who perished in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.
               16 — Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise:  Why should you destroy yourself?
               17 — Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish:  Why should you die before your time?
               18 — It is good that you grasp this, and also not remove your hand from the other, for he who fears God will escape them all.  (NKJV)

       What is Solomon saying to us?  There is the truth that all men die whether they be righteous or wicked.  Perhaps it is the timing of death, or the manner of death.  Remember, in the time of Solomon all went to Sheol–the place of the dead.  Now with the resurrection of Jesus the righteous, born in the Spirit and washed in His blood go into the presence of the Lord.  Solomon didn’t have the privilege of knowing this.
       Wisdom, we all wish we had it.  Wisdom, to make those proper choices in life.  Charles Swindoll defines wisdom this way, “Wisdom is the God-given ability to see life with rare objectivity and to handle life with rare stability.”  I like that.  The ability to see objectively, and then to handle the everyday woes and cares and storms of life with stability.  We must also remember that there is a natural wisdom, one that comes with experience and the totality of life.  There is also supernatural wisdom, one of the gifts given to the Church (1 Corinthians 12).
       I have often wondered why the wicked seem to prosper and live the “abundant” life.  We as Christians often do not have that “rare objectivity,” but see life as a person of the world does.  Wisdom is practical.  It is not some wild, far-off daydream.  “Look with wonder, admire, and silently wait for the result of God’s work!  The contrasts of life are deliberately allowed by God so that men should ultimately develop a simple trust and dependence on God.  For prosperity and the goods from God’s hand, be thankful and rejoice.  But in adversity and the crookedness of life, think.  Reflect on the goodness of God and the comprehensiveness of His plans for men.” (Walter C. Kaiser)  This wisdom is to help us view life with proper perspective.  Look with kingdom eyes–what is God doing in the circumstances of your life?
       One thing I have seen through the years of my life are the extremes.  There is often and “out-of-balance” form of Christianity.  Wisdom gives us balance.  Some say “don’t be too holy” while others will say “don’t be too wicked.”  Today, the thinking often among Christians is “sin to a moderate degree, enjoy the world.”  In the verses above Solomon is saying that neither are right.  He is warning about pseudo-religiosity and showy forms of worship.  Walter C. Kaiser puts it this way:

               “The danger is that men might delude themselves and others through a multiplicity of pseudoreligious acts of of sanctimoniousness; ostentatious showmanship in the art of worship; a spirit of hyper-criticism against minor deviations from one’s own cultural norms, which are equated with God’s righteousness; and a disgusting conceit and supercilious, holier-than-thou attitude veneered over the whole mess.”

In other words, keep proper balance–view everything through God’s Word.  Don’t be the “holy-Joe” but don’t dabble in the things of the world.  People have said that he is “so heavenly-minded that he’s no earthly good.”  But I would reply, if a man is truly heavenly-minded, he will do earthly good.  Be wise then–not in the ways of the world, but with the eyes of God.  Try to see the situation with the perspective of the Lord.  Perhaps reading these verses with the Amplified translation might be of help.

               “Be not [morbidly exacting and eternally] righteous overmuch, neither strive to make yourself [pretentiously appear] overwise; why should you [get puffed up and] destroy yourself [with presumptuous self-sufficiency]?  [Although all have sinned] be not wicked overmuch or willfully, neither be foolish; why should you die before your time?  It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withdraw not your hand; for he who reverently fears and worships God will come forth from them all.”

                    –Louis L’Amour  (Down the Long Hills)

       “Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.”

                    –Job 14:5 (NKJV)
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This portion of Psalm 90 is cause for great reflection upon one’s life–both the past, present, and hopefully the future.  It is a psalm that should be taken to heart by those alive on earth today.  No one rightly fears the Lord; few are there who comprehend His power.  What would happen if the Lord decided to turn His wrath upon sin?  We think of Him as a loving God, and His is, but there is also that attribute of His wrath.  In the near future, I believe, the inhabitants of the earth, those who have rejected the offer of grace given through the death of Jesus on the cross, will see part of His wrath.

          10 — The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
          11 — Who knows the power of Your anger?  For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
          12 — So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
          13 — Return, O LORD!  How long?  And have compassion on Your servants.
          14 — Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
          15 — Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil.
          16 — Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children.
          17 — And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.  (NKJV)

       Verse 10, seems like it belongs in Ecclesiastes.  We work, struggle and toil for seventy years, perhaps eighty.  Human life is short-lived because it is spent under God’s judgment upon man’s sin.  The NIV Study Bible states, “All their health, joys, riches and honor are soured by trouble and sorrow, or emptiness.” (Solomon might say it is “vanity.”)   Then verses 11-12 hit us, “But everyone ought to know the measure of his few days or he will play the arrogant fool, with not thought of his mortality or of his accountability to God.” (NIV Study Bible)
       Many times we read in the writings of Paul to be good stewards, to redeem the time.  James tells us that our life is but a vapor.  Since God has numbered our days, we should do likewise.  We should take account of our responsibilities and see that they are fulfilled to the best of our ability each day.  We are to be good stewards, not hirelings.  We are to be stewards not only of the talents and blessings the Lord has given us, and the blessings of meeting our needs and abundantly so, but also with our time and lives.  “Man must be careful not to waste his life in temporal frivolities but to invest it for eternity.” (Steven Lawson)
       Notice the psalmist cries for the Lord to satisfy us with His mercy.  When we know and recognize that it is by the mercies of the Lord that we are given each day then we will rejoice and be glad.  Our deeds should reflect His mercy, our lives should reflect what He has done for us.  Pray for His mercy and that He will establish the work of our hands–the work that has been done for His glory and for the eternal kingdom of God.  Oh, Lord, establish the works of our hands making them effective and enduring.  Let us be good and faithful stewards of our time and our lives.  Help us to realize that we must live “strategically in light of eternity.” (Lawson)  Let us have purpose, let us live every day for Your approval.
       It has been said, “Aim at nothing, and you will hit it every time.”  Life is like that.  A misdirected life is a wasted life.  Let me pass on some words from Steven Lawson, “Wisely investing one’s life requires living in light of eternity.  It necessitates living with an eternal outlook on all of life…  In order to hit the target of God’s will, one must live for what is truly important and will stand the test of time…  One must live for God and His eternal kingdom today.  Only a life lived for God will be a truly satisfied life.”
       Remember, you have only so much time–invest it wisely.  That amount of time is determined by God and is given to you.  Now, redeem the time.  Now choose wisely what you will do with your life.  Now accept the mercy of God or live in His wrath.  “One must pour his or her life wisely into these eternal realities.” (Lawson)

                    “O God, our help in ages past,
                    Our hope for years to come,
                    Our shelter from the stormy blast,
                    And our eternal home!”
                           –Isaac Watts