Day 17: Phenomenal!

Today's devotion talked about God's magnificent creation. Stopping to think about it, I have to agree with the author: God certainly made an amazing place for us to dwell. Still, we must be careful to magnify the Creator rather than the creation. This does not mean that we cannot enjoy God's glory through his handiwork, but only that we must constantly check ourselves to make sure no marvelous thing becomes elevated higher than Him in our lives. I suppose for me, that would mean that as wonderful as the Internet and the Xbox 360 are, I'm not in a good place if I have more time for them than God. ;-)

Ecclesiastes continues through chapters 7-9, and Solomon seems to be shifting his focus away from denouncing everything as meaningless to giving advice for living. In chapter 7, verses 16-18 grabbed me in particular: "Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool—why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes." I like this verse, because it affirms the way I try to live. It is a bit confusing, however. I think what it means is that no one should make righteousness or wickedness their goal, but they should be living for God. Then the righteousness will follow in its proper amount.

The other thing that grabbed me was this paragraph at the end of chapter 9: "I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siegeworks against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, 'Wisdom is better than strength.' But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded." I want to know who the poor man was and what he said or did! He sounds awesome! I guess it's a good lesson, though: even when we do or say what is right, we may be despised for something that we ought to be praised for. But God sees it, and we will receive recognition for it one day, if we do it for the right reasons.