"The Futility of Wisdom"

 "I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem." (Ecclesiastes 1:12 KJV)

  "Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people's minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their mind so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses' writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord - who is the Spirit - makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." (2 Corinthians 3:12-18 NLT)

 Maybe it might be difficult to illustrate what Solomon is trying to say, because there are too many common threads which make it hard to determine what is going to make us wise, which blend together with those that make us into a fool. The harder we prob into wisdom, as if that is what we need to make ourselves a better person, the further we become independent from God. 

 This might not make sense, right away; but the truth of being childlike in our faith, makes it real and extremely important that can, whole-heartedly, trust God; especially when we cannot figure out or understand what He is doing! How often we think we have it all figured out, only to get disappointed because it doesn't go the way we thought He was going to make it work? 

 We are a passenger on this ride, so we should learn to sit back and enjoy it; not try to figure out what comes next or make plans based upon what we think He is doing, or where He is taking us! As James, the half-brother of Jesus says, "What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that."" What a sharp contrast from the old James, who tried to tell Jesus what to do; if he only had known then what he knows now...

"After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, and Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can't become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!" For even his bothers didn't believe in him. Jesus replied, "Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. The world can't hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. You go on. I'm not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come."" (John 7:1-8 NLT)