Anglican Daily Fountain Devotional 6th October 2020
TOPIC: Consider God’s Work
TEXT: Ecclesiastes 7:13-20(NKJV)
13. Consider the work of God; For who can make straight what He has made crooked?
14. In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing [that will come] after him.
15. I have seen everything in my days of vanity: There is a just [man] who perishes 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.
19. Wisdom strengthens the wise More than ten rulers of the city.
20. For [there is] not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.
STUDY: “The Preacher”, as the author of Ecclesiastes is often called, generally looks at life in its meaninglessness, especially the world in its fallen condition.He argues that the ultimate in life is finding value in God’s eternal purpose for one noting that wealth, sex, power or pleasure are altogether vanity and void of any true meaning.In today’s passage, he provides two sides to the coin; in each case; 1) The day of prosperity and the day of adversity (v.14); (2) The just perishing in his righteousness, whereas the wicked man’s life is prolonged in his wickedness(vs. 15-17).He advises us not to be over righteous; however, the righteousness which we have received from Christ by grace through faith could never be too much.His second advice, “be not wise over much” is an admonition against self-conceit, which he argues could lead to untimely death. Finally he advises, “Do not be over wicked”, in other words, don’t escalate your sins by your foolishness which couldlead to premature death (v.17). However this does not encourage any measure of wickedness at all.
He concludes by referring us again to wisdom, which is to fear God (vs. 19-20) as a way to handle the whole vanity of life. Beloved as we get into the last quarter of the year,let us fear God by taking Him seriously in the midst of life’s limitations.
PRAYER: Merciful Lord, give us grace to seek your guidance in our journey through this fallen world.
Daily Fountain Quote of the Day
“Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.” (Psalm 107:28)
Anglican Daily Fountain Devotional 6th October 2020 – The Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptized membership, after the Church of England. It gives its current membership as “over 18 million”, out of a total Nigerian population of over 200 million.