Month: January 2015

Ecclesiastes, The Daily WordLeave a comment

In the Hands of God (Ecclesiastes 9:1–6)

georgepwood

Ecclesiastes 9:1–6 teaches that your life is in the hands of God. Obviously, in a general sense, everyone’s life is in God’s hands. He is the Creator of “the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), and therefore everything in them belongs to him (Psalm 24:1). He is the Provider of the needs of all people. As Jesus said, “he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). God also is the Savior, who offers divine forgiveness to all, “not wishing that any should perish, but … Continue reading In the Hands of God (Ecclesiastes 9:1–6)

Ecclesiastes, The Daily WordLeave a comment

Joy Is a Deliberate Choice (Ecclesiastes 8:14–17)

georgepwood

In Ecclesiastes 8.14–17, the Preacher identifies two realities that we all experience on the journey through life: injustice and ignorance. Both are obstacles in our path, and both have the power to turn us aside from the road to heaven, if we let them. But there is a way through the obstacles, the Preacher tells us; it is the way of joy as a deliberate choice. Consider our experience of injustice. Long ago, Aristotle defined justice as treating equals equally and unequals unequally in proportion to their relevant differences. Justice, in other words, is fair; it gives people the rewards due … Continue reading Joy Is a Deliberate Choice (Ecclesiastes 8:14–17)

UncategorizedLeave a comment

“I Have a Dream” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

georgepwood

In honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I am posting a video and the full text of his best-known speech, “I Have a Dream,” which he delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on August 28, 1963. I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions … Continue reading “I Have a Dream” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ecclesiastes, The Daily WordLeave a comment

The Arc of the Universe (Ecclesiastes 8:10–13)

georgepwood

“The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uttered those words in the midst of his struggle to lead our nation to acknowledge the full civil rights of black Americans. His words also accurately summarize the message of Ecclesiastes 8:10–13, which serves as an encouragement to righteousness and a warning against wickedness. The Preacher begins by making two observations: First, he writes, “I saw the wicked buried.” Like all things that exist under the sun, human beings are mortal. Their lives are hebel, “vanity”—things that go “Poof!” The fate of death … Continue reading The Arc of the Universe (Ecclesiastes 8:10–13)

Ecclesiastes, The Daily WordLeave a comment

Wisdom and Government (Ecclesiastes 8:1–9)

georgepwood

A wise person obeys the law. That, in a nutshell, is the message of Ecclesiastes 8:1–9.[1] Like so much else in Ecclesiastes, the message is obvious and common sensical, but it also raises difficult questions for those who live under difficult governments. The Preacher begins with two questions and two observations. The questions are rhetorical. Wisdom makes a person incomparably valuable because he understands God, the world, and himself. The observations relate to the effects of wisdom, which makes a person happy (shining face) and ready to change bad habits (unhardened face). Now, according to the Preacher, a wise person … Continue reading Wisdom and Government (Ecclesiastes 8:1–9)

Ecclesiastes, The Daily WordLeave a comment

What Is Wrong with the World Is Us (Ecclesiastes 7:15–29)

georgepwood

Let us stipulate, as lawyers say, that the message of Ecclesiastes 7:15–29 is an unexpectedly weird one to find in the Bible, at first glance anyway.[1] It seems alternately despairing (verse 15), cynical (verses 16–17), common sensical (verse 18–22), keenly aware of man’s intellectual limitations (verses 23–24), misogynist (verses 25–28), and acutely cognizant of the origins of man’s problems (verse 29). We expect common sense, keen awareness, and acute cognizance in God’s Word, but despair, cynicism and misogyny? Not so much. So what should we do with the Preacher’s words, which we also confess to be the Word of God? … Continue reading What Is Wrong with the World Is Us (Ecclesiastes 7:15–29)

Current Events, Politics & CultureLeave a comment

Saving President Lincoln | The Weekly Standard

georgepwood

Jaffa put it like this, in a paragraph that distills Lincoln’s mind better than any words not written by Lincoln himself. If self-government was a right, and not a mere fact characterizing the American scene (more or less), then it must be derived from some primary source of obligation. There must be something, Lincoln insisted, inhering in each man, as a man, which created an obligation in every other man. And if any majority anywhere, however constituted, might rightfully enslave any man or men, it could only be because there was nothing in any man which, simply because he was a man, other men … Continue reading Saving President Lincoln | The Weekly Standard

Ecclesiastes, The Daily WordLeave a comment

Life Is Difficult (Ecclesiastes 7:7–14)

georgepwood

“Life is difficult,” as M. Scott Peck so memorably wrote in The Road Less Traveled. How, then, does the wise person deal with it? How does he live with life’s difficulties? Ecclesiastes 7:7–14 offers sage advice in answer to those questions.[1] First, realize that life’s difficulties present temptations to shortcuts, which should be avoided. “Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart.” The oppression spoken of here is not what the wise man does but what is done to him. (A truly wise person does not oppress his fellows.) Oppression pushes him to the breaking … Continue reading Life Is Difficult (Ecclesiastes 7:7–14)

Ecclesiastes, The Daily WordLeave a comment

Beginning with the End in Mind (Ecclesiastes 7:1–6)

georgepwood

The wisdom of ancient Israel—like all common sense—is full of paradoxes. Think, for example, of two well-known English proverbs: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” and “Out of sight, out of mind.” Well, which is it? Are your fonder for or forgetful of an absent loved one? In our study of Ecclesiastes, we have seen that the Preacher’s main theme is the vanity of human existence. Things go “Poof!” Everything under the sun is here today and gone tomorrow. Nevertheless, the Preacher counsels us to find joy in our transient labors and lives: “There is nothing better for a person … Continue reading Beginning with the End in Mind (Ecclesiastes 7:1–6)