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Daily Devotions

Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 
Day 
Day 11

"I set my heart to know wisdom"

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:17

SEEKING FURTHER WISDOM

The Preacher expressed deep commitment to seek answers to the things that greatly troubled his heart and mind. The path that he chose to explore was knowledge and wisdom. Perhaps these would yield the answers he sought.

“And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly.
I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
Ecclesiastes 1:17-18

1. “And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly”

a) Three specific goals were delineated:
i) Wisdom
ii) Madness
iii) Folly
b) These were difficult areas to study.

Nevertheless, the Preacher embarked on this pursuit.

c) Wisdom in itself would be a vast field.
i) There would be so much knowledge to acquire and to digest.
ii) Wisdom is to be found, distilled from knowledge.
d) Madness
i) He did not disclose how he would go about doing this.
ii) It would indeed be a formidable task.
e) Folly
i) This is another difficult challenge.
ii) It would be difficult to understand why people would choose the path of folly.

2. “I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind”

a) Even before he went very far, he had a deep “sinking feeling”.
b) His perception informed him that he was “grasping for the wind”.

3. “For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow”

a) We must assume that between Verse 17 and Verse 18:
i) The Preacher had read extensively.
ii) Gained much knowledge and wisdom.
b) His conclusion at this stage of the research:
i) Much wisdom may be obtained.
ii) But with wisdom, grief was also discovered.
iii) Wisdom did not solve everything.
iv) Wisdom brought a fresh sense of grief.
c) Increase of knowledge:
i) Increase of knowledge was possible.
ii) But like wisdom, knowledge was not everything.
iii) Increased knowledge brought in an increment of sorrow.