Morning Devotional September 30, 2023

 

Ecclesiastes 1

“1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”

As I have set for well over an hour this morning, praying and meditating over these verses and the rest of this book written by the wisest of God's men, trying to settle on what the Lord would have me write concerning the thoughts of king Solomon, I believe it best to leave it as it is written. Our dear brother in Christ, “the Preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem.” said it best and said it very clearly in what he wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional September 16, 2023

 

1 Corinthians 2

“1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.”

In his first letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul addressed several problems in that church. One was the preaching and teaching of false doctrine. This false doctrine had come about by studying and following after the ideas and thoughts of men rather than following the Word of God.

We see God's people doing the exact same thing today. There are many self-taught theologians out there today, proclaiming the words of man over the Word of God. Searching the books and sermons of men for the answers rather than leaning upon the guidance of God's own Holy Spirit to teach us from God's Word, as we are taught over and over in God's Word.

Again, don't misunderstand or misquote me in this. I am not against good commentaries or sermons. But when we rely on those things for understanding of God's Word more than God's Word itself then we will surely open ourselves up to all kinds of false doctrine.

There is no better teacher on the Word of God than the Holy Spirit. No words of any man can come close to reaching the wisdom and knowledge we can obtain from the teaching of the Holy Spirit of God.

There is nothing sweeter and more precious to a child of God then when we have the Word God opened unto us by His Holy Spirit and He reveals unto us some glorious truth about our Lord and Saviour.

Go back and study on verses 9-13 in our text. It will do us all some good.

Praise ye the Lord!!!