The Attitude Of Worship - [Ecclesiastes 5:1-7]

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, ìBut we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour ,î so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isnít for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as weíre called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Hereís our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Worship Requires Humble Listening Before a Holy God

Last week we learned the grim reality of the world, a world after the fall, full of loneliness, isolation, envy, striving, chasing after the sun. And if weíre not careful, we might say things like this as we look at the world, ìGod, are you really in charge?

Are you really sovereign? What in the world is going on? I thought youíre a God whoís powerful. I thought youíre a God whoís kind. I thought youíre a God who takes care of your people. Can we really trust a God when the worldís like this?

Is God really working all things together for good? Are those the right questions? Are those the right responses as we see the world? Asking God a thousand ìwhyî questions, ìwhy, why, why ?î. Or is it better to be humble, to listen, and as I would tell my children, children, look at me, youíre not my children, but it might be better just to zip your what?

To zip your lip. And thatís Ecclesiastes 5. Please turn there, Ecclesiastes 5. Solomon is writing and heís giving us wisdom. We all need wisdom as we walk through this world. How do we wisely, not foolishly, analyze the world and worship God?

And thatís really Ecclesiastes chapter 5. When you think all is lost, when you think the world is upside down, and thatís it, where else do we go for help? And Ecclesiastes 5 is, you go to the house of worship not to talk, not to question God, but to listen.

Worship matters and God has given us ears to listen in humility. Maybe I could set it up this way for you this morning. What was your attitude about worship this morning coming to church? What was your attitude last night?

Preparation, prayer? This morning were you driving thinking Iím going to go meet the thrice holy God and worship Him? The way we think about worship is very important. Sometimes itís too casual for us, sometimes too routine, sometimes itís excited, sometimes itís expectant.

But we need to understand that as we look at the world, itís much better to listen to God than to ask Him a lot of questions. Now after last weekís message in Ecclesiastes 4, I have to tell you Iíve been super excited to preach this message because it seemed like last weekís chapter was the hardest book in maybe the Bible to preach.

Four and five go together, thereís oppression done on our son and now we come to the house of worship to listen. Ecclesiastesí big picture is pretty simple. Even though the world is full of all kinds of decay and destruction and difficulties and trials, you Christian can have a satisfying and fulfilling life found through Christ Jesus the risen King.

You can have satisfaction, you can have enjoyment, you can eat and drink and be merry knowing that eternal destiny is fixed. You can know that when you stand before God, you can stand before, as we just sung today, stand before His face because your sins are forgiven, your sins are covered, your sins are behind Godís back, He says sometimes.

As far as the east is from the west, cast in the deepest part of the sea, you can say to yourself, even though this world is difficult, there are moments and times where you can just eat, drink and be merry.

One writer said, hereís why the book of Ecclesiastes is written, to convince men and women of the uselessness of any world view that does not rise above the horizon of man himself. It pronounces the verdict of vanity of vanities on any philosophy of life which regards the created world of human enjoyment as the end of life.

If this is all we have, then weíre going to start feeling that vexation and that frustration, but we see what the world presents and we realize thereís a God whoís sovereign over all that. We know as Christians that God has justified us, Heís sanctifying us and He will glorify us and so we can see every good thing we have in life.

God, thank you for that gift. Pastor Steve was talking in Sunday school about counting your blessings. And so today weíre going to look at Ecclesiastes 5, probably the first 7 verses and then next week weíll talk about the vanity of money and chasing after money.

But today weíre going to look at Ecclesiastes 5 verses 1 through 7 and we want to see this in light of the Lord Jesus who comes to such an earth and redeems us and rescues us. Itís not really that hard to interpret, it just is hard for the pride in Ecclesiastes 5.

The House of God, the Fear of the Lord, and the Need to Listen

Now before I read the passage, thereís some connections between 4 and 5 that Iíd like to draw your attention to. Both chapters 4 and 5 are about worship. Chapter 4 is about worship of self and it leads to vexation, toil, isolation, envy and oppression.

But chapter 5 is about worship of the triune God. Chapter 4 is about life under the sun chasing things. Chapter 5 is about life over the sun, that is the Lord God. We need right perspective. Chapter 5 is like Psalm 73.

Remember Psalm 73? The wicked do things, the wicked get all kinds of pleasure, the wicked have everything going, the wicked are on the top of their game, the wicked get everything. Until Psalm 73 says what?

I came to the house of the Lord and now I saw everything through the lens of God. Everythingís different now. Itís the same with Ecclesiastes 5. Itís like weíre reading the sermon of the world and itís grim and so now we need to make sure we understand the sermon found in scripture about the Lord God.

Is that coming through my microphone? Almost sounded like somebodyís coming through my microphone. I thought a young child has hijacked my sermon. It was true? It was. Okay, whoís got their baby monitor on?

My Bluetooth? Oh, okay. Alright. Well, we needed a break with all this isolation, oppression, envy, rivalry under the sun. And you can kind of see the progression of Solomon. He says, letís take a look at the world.

A courtroom, thereís oppression, chapter 4. The marketplace, people are trying to outdo one another and thereís rivalry. The reason why youíre working so hard is to get ahead of the next guy. Then youíre on the highways and byways.

You have to be careful because if youíre alone, you might be taken advantage of. And you go to the kingís palace, thereís even trouble there. And now he moves to the temple. He moves to worship in chapter 5.

Let me read verses 1 through 7. One of the best ways that you can study your Bible is to look for recurring themes. Recurring words. Words that are repeated. And so youíll see those here in Ecclesiastes 5, 1 to 7.

And as I read them, see if you can see or sense, as it were, the theme. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near, to listen, is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools. For they do not know that they are doing evil.

Do not be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business and a foolís voice with many words.

When you pay a vow, when you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it. For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow, that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin.

And do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity. But God is the one you must fear.

Do you see the themes coming through? The themes I hope you see are these. God is great and we should talk less. God is to be feared and we should listen instead of talking. And the context is in worship.

The context is the worship of Israel in a temple. God is great. He is to be feared. He is in heaven and we are not. He is in a holy temple. We are not holy. And He is to be feared. And over and over He talks about verse 1.

Listen, verse 2, donít be hasty with words. Verse 2, may your words be few. Verses 4 and 5 about vows. How do you make a vow? By writing them out? No, you say them. More words. Speech can lead to sin, verse 6.

And many words, verse 7. Everything in this passage, boiled down, is simply this. That the fear of the Lord is the beginning, middle, and end of worship. And we should be careful what we say. Thatís the sermon.

Thatís what He wants you to know. We all look at the world and we think, ìWe need to wisely walk by faith and not by sight. How can I do that ?î Ecclesiastes 5 is written for that very reason. God is over the sun, not under the sun.

And thereís no futility in God, no vexation in God, no emptiness in God. And our response should be humility and listening. By the way, thereís a bunch of people across the world and they argue about Christian worship.

And we would call it, maybe, worship wars. And how contemporary. And should you use, should there be dance teams? And should there be drama teams? And should there be loud music and psalms only? And all these other kinds of things.

I really think that if we understood Ecclesiastes 5, 1 -7, all those worship wars would dissipate because what Solomon is really after is our humble hearts as we come to God and worship. Today, let me give you three truths about the triune God that will help you in your attitude in worship today.

Three truths about God. So that we might be more humble when we worship. So we might listen more instead of, as my father would say, ìSon, donít run your mouth .î Itís kind of like you pop the clutch of your mouth and just slam it into gear and just say things.

Reverent attitudes. Submissive attitudes. Attitudes to learn and to be humble. In other words, a God-centered worship. Not a man-centered worship. Everything in this passage strikes against, ìYou know, weíre consumers and weíll pick and choose churches based on what we like .î Wrong.

No, no. What does God say? How does He say to do things? And weíre not consumers. Weíre worshipers. Humble worshipers. And I think these principles in Ecclesiastes 5 apply to Adam and Eve in the garden, Abraham out in the wilderness, Moses in the wilderness, tabernacle, temple, and even worship today in a New Testament church.

How to worship and what kind of attitudes should we have? A P .S. dear Christian, you actually get to worship. You are a worshiper of God because before we were saved by the grace of God, what were we?

Blasphemers. So even when I say to you, ìYou know what, we get to come and worship God ,î thatís an amazing thing that we just didnít figure out on our own. Hebrews 4 says, ìSince we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one in every respect who has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence, listen to this, draw near to the throne of, no longer judgment as blasphemers, but the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need .î We have a Father instead of a judge.

But Solomon wants you to know this, that Father is in heaven. Didnít Jesus say that? Even though you have a great heavenly Father, how do you address Him? Our Father, which art in heaven. And so weíre able to worship, weíre able to come to God, but how do we come to God to worship?

With our chests out, our humbly listening. This is the remedy, the greatness of God. So truth number one, on how to worship God, what kind of attitude should we have in corporate worship and certainly in worship at home, if youíre walking or worshipping or whatever youíre doing, to see the world properly, humble worship, number one, God is holy.

This is what we need to be reminded of. Me, you, everyone else, that God is holy. And you can see that flesh itself out in chapter 5, verse 1, can you not? Guard your steps. I think this is the first command in all of Ecclesiastes.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that theyíre doing evil. You know what this is like? This is like Moses.

Heís out in the wilderness and he sees a bush and the bush is burning, but itís not really burning, and so Moses goes over there like a good scientist to kind of examine it all and says, you know, letís just take a look at this.

And Moses forgets something, though, that God is holy. Heís not to be examined. Heís to be revered. Remove the sandals from your feet for the place on which youíre standing is what? Holy ground. Solomon is saying, you go to the house of God, the place where God specially resides.

Yes, Heís omnipresent. All of God is everywhere. All of Him is everywhere at the same time. Thatís true, but youíll see sometimes in Scripture this special residency of God, as it were, so we see His transcendent glory and the weight of who He is right here in the house of God.

Hereís what Solomon wants. Hereís what we all need at Bethlehem Bible Church. When you approach God in worship, God is holy and weíre not, and thereís this distance, and we need to be cognizant of that distance so weíre not just flipping, so we just donít run our mouths, so we donít ever say to ourselves, ìOh yeah, Jesus, it was good for me to get saved .î No, no.

Jesus is still the way we can have approach to God even now. If you go to a church, many churches today, the buildings, youíll walk in and theyíre so tall. Thereís cathedrals and youíll go into Europe and youíll walk in and you walk in, you go to St. Patrickís Cathedral in New York, and you walk in and the first thing you do is what?

You think, ìHow do they charge 105 bucks for a candle ?î No, thatís not the first thing. Thereís a little kiosk the other day, I was there, and you could just put your credit card in and you could give a 50, 25 or 10.

But all that aside, you walk in and your eyes are drawn upward because you realize God is over, God is above, God is transcendent, God is holy. The architecture was made so that you might look up. This is the idea of the house of God.

Caution, reverence, moderation. Godís temple symbolized that He was holy. And the only way you walk into the house of God, by the way, is with a sacrifice because if you havenít sacrificed for your own sins and you walk into the house of God, thereís trouble.

Itís like weíre sinful and God is holy and the reactions like nuclear fission. And so when you approach the house of God, itís with reverence and you know Heís holy and the only way we have access to a thrice holy God is not by some kind of sacrifice that we do with lambs and bulls and goats.

We know who the sacrifice for sin is. You walk into these buildings and theyíre to make you think God is bigger, God is greater. I canít take all this in. Do these words resonate with you? In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne high and lifted up and the train of His robe filled the temple.

Above Him stood the seraphim, each had six wings, with two covered His face, with two covered His feet, and with two He flew. And one called to another antiphonally and said, ìHoly, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts .î ìThe whole earth is full of His glory .î.

ÌAnd the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called and the house was filled with smoke .î. ÌAnd the most holy man on earth said ,î Isaiah said, ìWoe is me for I am lost .î. ÌI am a man of unclean lips .î.

ÌAnd I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips .î. ÌFor my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts .î. John 12 says thatís Jesus. Isaiah sees Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. ÌAnd one seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with long tongs from the altar .î.

If you realize God is so holy and youíre not, and here comes the angel, you think itís the death angel, and the death angel is coming with the tongs and the burning coal, and instead of coming to incinerate you, what does he do?

Well, with Isaiah, he touched his mouth and said, ìBehold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for .î. And so what Solomon is saying when we come to church, when we come to worship, we open our Bibles at home and we just think about God, itís better to listen than to talk.

Itís better to realize God is holy and Iím not. Do you know the Old Testament, pagans, when they went to worship, to get the Godís attention, you had to talk a lot. Did you know in the temple worship in the Old Testament, you didnít talk much.

You made your offering and you didnít talk very much. It was solemn, it was quiet, it was full of reverence. But if youíre a pagan, and by the way, pagan gods, sometimes they sleep, sometimes theyíre taking naps, sometimes theyíre busy with other people.

So you, to get their attention, youíve got to talk a lot. For pagan gods to pay attention to you when you go to a pagan temple, you just keep on talking, keep on talking, keep on talking. It kind of reminds me of Elijah when he said to the prophets of Baal, ìChoose for yourselves one bull and prepare it for your many.

Call upon the name of your God, but put no fire in it .î. And they took the bull that was given them and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal until morning, until noon. ÌO Baal, answer us!

O Baal, answer us! O Baal, answer us !î. And then I love 1 Kings,. ÌBut there was no voice and no one answered .î. And they limped around the altar that they had made. And at noon, Elijah mocked them.

ÌCry out, for heís a god .î. A little louder maybe. ÌHeís either amusing or heís relieving himself. Maybe heís in the bathroom. Or heís onÖî Itís in the Bible. ÌOr heís on a journey. Perhaps heís asleep and must be awakened .î.

And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation. But there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.

Thatís quite unlike the worship of the Triune God where our attitude is humbly listening versus doing a lot of talking. We donít get Godís attention by some kind of lengthy incantations and smells and bells and Latin and everything else.

Itís very, very simple. We come ready to hear. Even our Lord Jesus, remember when He taught the disciples how to pray? When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathens do. For they think theyíll be heard for their many words.

Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you what? Ask. He knows. We come to worship and we think, ìOh, Godís holy .î. Thatís why we start the service off with the New Testament reading and then every single Sunday we pray that God would forgive us because we realize weíre coming into the presence of a holy God and we need a sacrifice.

I love Psalm 50, ìThe Mighty One, God of the Lord, speaks and summons the earth. From the rising of the sun to its setting out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes. He does not keep silent.

Before Him is a devouring fire. Around Him is a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth that He may judge His people .î. No wonder. Go back to verse 1. It says, ìTo draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know theyíre doing evil .î.

Theyíve been doing this for so long, running their mouths. They think itís normal. This is how you talk to God. They donít even know that itís evil. It is evil, but theyíre so used to it, so habituated.

Thereís so much of them in a habit to do it. So I guess I could ask the question as youíre thinking about it. When you come to worship, is that one of the things youíre thinking about? Iím going to be in the presence of a holy God.

And thank you, Lord Jesus, that youíre my advocate. Thank you, Lord Jesus, youíre my mediator. Iím thankful I have all my sins forgiven, because how could I stand before a holy God? How could I be in the face of God?

Iím coming to worship and Iím removing the sandals off my feet, remembering that Godís still holy. And although I have a right relationship with God, I still need to be very, very careful with reverence and care.

Donít you start thinking as you read this passage and you go, ìHm, worship isnít about me .î Oh, yes, I do worship, but worship is about the object of worship. What am I? Iím the first practical explosive produced, Iím first synthesized by the Italian chemist Sabero in 1847.

I was later adopted as commercially use of explosive by Alfred Nobel. In 1866, I was shipped in three crates, shipped for California for the Central Pacific Railroad to help burrow through the summit tunnel in the Sierra Nevadas.

What am I? In the United Kingdom, the government was so alarmed about what I could do, they banned me in 1869. In undiluted form, Iím a contact explosive. If youíd like to stabilize me, then you can desensitize me by freezing me to a temperature to about 7 degrees C.

And I can be used to treat health problems. What am I? Nitroglycerin. And when you think about nitroglycerin, what do you think about? I think about old cowboy movies of my dad. Donít have that stuff rumble around too much in the back of the wagon.

Handle with care. Solomon is saying, we look at the world and the world looks wrong side down and we say to ourselves, God, how could you? Why? What about this? What about all the things in my life? I had not seen your sovereign hand.

Yes, you say youíre sovereign, but Iím not so sure about it. And we come to the Lordís Sunday worship service and we think, you know what? Handle with care. Godís holy. Once in a while, the Bible punctuates improper worship.

Now, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took a censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out before the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord.

And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord has said, among those who are near me, I will be sanctified and before all my people, I will be glorified. Now, hereís the good news at Bethlehem Bible Church.

I think for the most part when it comes to corporate worship, we come to listen. I love it that you love to sit under the Word of God and hear it preached and we come not to argue with God and not to say, well God, how could you?

But God, reset our focus properly because all week long, Iíve been thinking about you on Sunday, then on Monday, then on Tuesday, then on Wednesday and before you know it, Iím not even thinking about who you are.

I need to have kind of a realignment, a repentant heart. But thatís one of the reasons why preaching is so important, not because Iím the preacher. Itís because of what the Word does and how does God talk?

God does not just show up and talk. God shows up and talks through His Word though. Remember what Barnhouse said, ìIf Satan were to take over a city, what would happen ?î Wes Boylstonís taken over by Satan, what would it look like?

Barnhouse said, ìThe bars would close, no alcohol would be sold, happy marriages, well-behaved children, no crime and everyone would be in church on Sunday where Jesus Christ isnít preached .î So we sit under Godís Word because Heís holy and it cleanses us like Ephesians 5 says and it quickens our soul like 1 Peter 1 says.

God as Creator, the Creator-Creature Distinction, and Few Words Before Him

Well, not only is God holy but number two, the second attitude helper is that God is creator. Number one, we come to worship God, we remember Heís holy and Heís a creator. Heís not the big guy upstairs.

Heís not buddy. Heís not dude. Heís God. Verse 2, ìDo not be rash with your mouth nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. Here it is, ìFor God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few .î I mean, I donít know about you but sometimes I just need to have something said to me to kind of put me back in place.

I think Iím pretty big shot. I think Iím this. Iím kind of that and all of a sudden, some person or Godís Word says something to you and you think, ìOh, I remember what I am .î And what I remember now is Iím a creature.

Thereís something in theology that if you get this straight, youíll get all kinds of things straight. There is something different between the creator and the creature and itís called the creator-creature distinction and it helps us with all kinds of things.

Godís the creator. Weíre creatures and we ought to remember that. God said in Isaiah, ìMy thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways. My ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are above the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts .î I mean, this reminds me, okay, I have some kind of protocol so that I just donít begin asking God all these questions and somehow Iím now elevated myself to the creator and Iím asking God questions.

Solomon says, ìThatís not wisdom. I mean, whatís my resume? Whatís your resume ?î I made a dust. Point one. Somehow, itís sinful dust now on my part and the list goes on. If you realize God is so great, then we donít talk as much.

Jesus even said, ìI tell you on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak. For by your words youíll be justified and by your words youíll be condemned .î We have to be very, very careful.

While we donít have to pay for our sins now of what we say, since weíve been forgiven of those sins, letís still be very careful. Humility is needed. Sauntering into Godís presence. I think it was Erwin Lutzer who said, ìMany, many people seem to think that trapezing into Godís presence is a good thing without a mediator .î And so, we have to be careful when we talk.

And even if you think about prayer, does this resonate with you? The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, ìGod, I thank you that Iím not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week. I give tithes at all that I get. Blah, blah, blah .î Thatís right. Theyíre listening. Theyíre listening. ÌWhat did the pastor say today? Blah, blah, blah .î In this particular case, thatís true.

Now, if running our mouths is something we ought not to do, we have to be careful of, we have to be reverent and humble. Weíre creatures, not the Creator. The right kind of response would be what? And I think we see it in the tax collector.

Jesus talks about that tax collector in Luke 18. ÌStanding far off ,î Jesus said, ìhe wouldnít even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ìGod, have mercy to me, a sinner .î True words.

Few words. Martin Luther said, ìYou cannot speak about the works of God on the basis of your own judgment. Let God rather do the speaking. Do not dispute about His counsels and try to control things by your own counsels .î Luther said, ìWe express all of this in a German saying ,î and Iíll use it in English, ìDonít use many words, but keep your mouth shut .î.

What about the problem of evil? God, how does sovereignty and responsibility go together? God, what about all the other things? Death, miscarriages. What do you mean there are elder qualifications? What do you mean only a man can preach?

What do you mean all this, that and the other? Question after question after question. Godís holy and weíre not the creator. What did Jews think was maybe some of the most important Old Testament statements that they would repeat regularly in the morning and regularly at night and sometimes more often?

It was something called the Shema, and the Shema means ìto hear .î I think Solomon is basically re-preaching that Shema. Here is the Shema in Deuteronomy 6. ÌHear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in the land flowing with milk and honey .î Hereís the Shema.

ÌHear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord, dear God, with all your heart and soul and all your might .î. So instead of going to talk, going to say things, to hear.

Very, very important. Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Job 38, please. I regularly read Job 38 -42 because I need to be kept in my place. Iím prideful, I think Iím better than people, I have all kinds of bad, sinful thoughts that go through my mind, and in every case, I read Job 38 -42 and I just think, ìLord, thank you for putting me in my place .î John Calvin said at the beginning of his Institutes of Christian Religion that if you want to know the world, you need to know two things, who God is and who you are.

And God is holy, and God is a creator, and I am sinful, and Iím a creation, and I just need to know my place. And Job 38, Iím not going to read all the verses in chapter 38 -42, but when you start having those questions that thereís no answers to, the only answer can be found in who God is, in His nature and His character.

And God is not going to tell us until we get to the other side of glory. And we just need to have that humble, submissive spirit. I think Job 38 -42 echoes Ecclesiastes 5. I will read a few verses. Job 38, verse 1.

ÌThen the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, ìIn my mind I want to insert there a duck ,î and said, ìWho is this that darkens councils by words without knowledge? Dress for action, Job, like a man.

Iíll question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determines its measure? Surely you know. Who stretched the line upon it?

Or what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for glory and joy ?î Verse 12. ÌHave you, Job, have I, Mike Abendroth, commanded the morning since my days began and caused the dawn to know its place that it may take hold of the skirts of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it ?î Verse 31.

ÌCan you bind the chains of Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion ?î Verse 33. ÌDo you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on earth ?î Verse 34. ÌCan you lift up your voice to the clouds that a flood of waters may cover over you ?î Chapter 40.

After lots of questioning, the Lord says to Job in chapter 40, verse 1. The Lord said to Job, ìShall a fault finder, shall a creature, shall a sinful creature, a finite creature, tainted by sin creature, fight with, contend with the Almighty?

He who argues with God, let him answer it .î Job answered the Lord and said, ìBehold, I am of small account. I am a creature. What shall I answer you ?î Like with Ecclesiastes 5, ìI lay my hand on my mouth .î ìI have spoken once.

I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no farther .î. And then in chapter 42, we hear something that is very similar to Ecclesiastes, as we think about the divine author. Chapter 42 of Job. ÌThen Job answered the Lord and said, ìHis tenor has changed.

I know that you can do all things .î See, thatís listening. ÌAnd no purpose of yours can be thwarted .î Thatís listening. ÌWho is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, Iíve uttered what I did not understand.

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know .î. And then the very next word is the word understanding Godís holiness and that Heís the Creator here. ÌAnd I will speak ,î God said, ìand I will question you and you will make it known to me .î.

Well, letís go back to Ecclesiastes 5. Whatís the point? When we look at the world, when you see problems in the world, when you see things going on that donít seem to match up with what you think God should be doing, did we not even see today in Esther everything seems to be going the wrong way and what happens at the very end?

What God meant, what man meant for evil, God meant for good. And so we come back to Ecclesiastes 5 and He says in verse 3, as we continue the exposition, ìFor a dream comes with much business and a foolís voice with many words .î And if youíre going to stay up all night and work and work and work and work and work for toil and gain and for being number one, thereís going to be dreams in your life just as natural it is for the fool to talk.