This chapter today has two clear ideas to me, and they are somewhat complementary yet distinct.  The first comes in the more poem-like text my ESV, the first 13 verses; it is basically telling us to be open to, and even looking for, growth and being challenged in this life.  In other words, don’t seek an ‘easy’ life’’...seeking easy means looking for confirmation and reassurance rather than truth.  The teacher is suggesting that this is what fools do; instead of wanting to know what reality is, they are only looking for evidence that what they think is reality.  In psychological lingo, this is called confirmation bias...and we all do it to some extent, because it is comfortable.  It is a lot easier to look for opinions that agree with ours rather than to critically assess and think about differing opinions that challenge our own.  Perhaps it is just true that, at some extent, we are all just a little lazy.  Either way, wisdom is living life in search of truth over comfort.  That is a subtle but profound idea for sure.

And the second idea that I noticed this morning is this idea that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to see God through your circumstances; meaning, we should give thanks where thanks is due, and we should seek His hand in troubling times, but should understand that good and bad circumstances are not reflections on God’s love for us.  I think (and this is just me) that it is silly to think that God is up there looking down on us and flipping the switch, good or bad, at every little circumstance in our lives...like every time something could happen one way or another He is sitting there making an active determination about whether to let it be good or bad.  I mean, I suppose that could be true, but that just seems silly.  God set up cause and effect in this world for a reason...so He wouldn’t have to micro-manage every little thing.  He can swoop in and do something miraculous in an instance, and He does and has, but more times than not, the world just goes according the way is it generally designed.  That’s why Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are so powerful...God has given them to us so we can understand the general way the world works.  I will say though, going back to my first point today, I don’t KNOW that my point of view on that is correct, but since writing is a one-way form or communication, I am just offering the conclusion I’ve come to in my mind.

At any rate, great reminders and great stuff today!