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June 4 - Ecclesiastes 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's shown here. It is Tuesday, it's the 4th of
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  June, and it's good to have your company, friend.
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  Thanks for bringing me in. This might be part of your daily
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  ritual everyday, or this might be one of the first times you've
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  joined us, or you might be someone who dips in and out and
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  have done for years wherever this is in your daily life
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  schedule. So glad that you're here today
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  because today we are going to do what we always do, which is just
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  sit down and read one chapter of God's Word together and see what
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  God's Spirit has to say to us and shape us in our experience
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  of today. And my prayer is that the words
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  that we share and this time we'll extend beyond the mere 567
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  minute duration and actually colour the rest of the day.
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  You know how people say when you do some good solid exercise that
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  increases your metabolism for the rest of the day?
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  Well, as we read God's word, it increases our spiritual
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  metabolism so that God's Spirit can continue to remind us of the
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  truths that we are about to encounter.
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  How cool is that? And one of the lovely truths
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  that just resounds again and again and again in this book in
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  the Bible is that simple. Simple is better.
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  And we, we try to over complicate our lives, but it's a
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  little things. It's a simple things that really
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  are the greatest. And today is no exception, as
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  the author is going to tell us about the beauty of sharing a
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  life with another person and the minefield of politics.
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  I'm sure we can all relate to that at the moment.
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  Well, all the time, probably. While having said all that, let
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  us sit down at the foot of the teacher and hear what he has to
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  share with us. In Ecclesiastes chapter 4,
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  again I observed all the oppression that takes place
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  under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed
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  with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power
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  and their victims are helpless. So I concluded that the dead are
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  better off than the living. But most fortunate of all are
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  those who are not yet born, for they have not seen all the evil
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  that is done under the sun. Then I observed that most people
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  are motivated to succeed because they envy their neighbours.
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  But this too is meaningless. Like chasing the wind, fools
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  fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin.
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  And yet, better to have one handful with quietness than two
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  handfuls with hard work. And chasing the wind, I observed
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  yet another example of something meaningless under the sun.
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  This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a
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  brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can.
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  But then he asks himself, who am I working for?
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  Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?
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  It is all so meaningless and depressing.
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  Two people are better off than one, for they can help each
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  other succeed. If one person falls, the other
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  can reach out and help, but someone who falls alone is in
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  real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close
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  together can keep each other warm, but how can one be warm
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  alone? A person standing alone can be
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  attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and
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  conquer. Three are even better, for a
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  triple braided cord is not easily broken.
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  It is better to be a poor but wise youth than an old and
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  foolish king who refuses all advice.
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  Such a youth could rise from poverty and succeed.
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  He might even become king. He has been in prison, but then
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  everyone rushes to the side of yet another youth who replaces
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  him. Endless crowd stand around him,
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  but then another generation grows up and rejects him too, so
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  it is all meaningless, like chasing the wind.
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  Thank you Lord, that you have not made us in isolation.
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  We are born and nurtured under the care of the generation
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  above, surrounded by our generation, made for community
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  and love and companionship. Well, thank you for the gift of
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  all of those people you give us in our lives, who we share this
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  with, who each day give us a smile on our face and a reason
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  to get out of bed. Thank you that you are a God of
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  relationship, that within your triune nature you are
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  relationship, and that this is how you've made us.
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  So we come before you, we feel your love, we thank you for your
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  presence, and we praise you all in the name of Jesus.
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  I'm in.