Ecclesiastes 7:25 says, I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness.  Solomon devoted himself to searching for the truth on his own, not to following the will of God.  He went so far as to live in wickedness to understand life.  Sometimes, people today are tempted by others to try something that they know is wrong, but decide that they really cannot know without experiencing it themselves.  It may sound good or look good, and they may reason that one time cannot rally hurt, but then find themselves enslaved by this one time thing.  We must acknowledge that sin is sin and there are no one time wavers.  God will never lead us to the decision that a small, one time sin will be okay.  Verse twenty six says, And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.  Solomon, with all his wives and concubines, knew something about sexual temptation.  Though he seems to be putting the responsibility on the woman, we know that it was the condition of his own heart that caused him to sin.  What started as giving in to the temptation of one woman ended up as a thousand.  Though there may be times when the woman is tempting us, more often it is just our own desires that lead us to be tempted.  The woman may have done nothing more than just be someplace where we are.  Solomon also says that if we are following the will of God, we will not fall into the temptation of lust.  We can really never put just the woman on trial.  There are many more cases today where a woman is arrested for prostitution than there are of men who are arrested with her.  There are rape trials where a woman's attire or past are tried to be used as an excuse for the act, but in God's design, the man will always bear a greater responsibility.

Ecclesiastes 7:23 says, All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.  Solomon had been discussing the failure of pleasure to bring happiness in life.  He had been given great wisdom from God, the Author of all true wisdom, but he had not lived wisely.  To know what God wants from His people is not enough.  We must live under His authority.  Solomon had said that he would be wise, but found the practice of living controlled by that wisdom to be far from him.  We, as followers of Christ, have vowed to live under His leadership, but often the way we live is far from the way He would have us to live.  We may look to our own understanding instead of looking to God for understanding.  No matter how wise we may think we are, without acknowledging God as the Lord of all, it will amount to nothing.  There are some very intelligent people in the world today who lack any wisdom.  We must remember that true wisdom comes from God, and many of these very intelligent people say they are to smart to believe in God, so they really do lack wisdom.  Verse twenty four says, That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?  I believe Solomon was speaking about knowing the mind of God.  God is far above us in His knowledge, and His knowledge is so deep we can never comprehend it all.  We certainly can never understand God by attempting to find knowledge in the things of this world.  We can only accept His will by faith and rely on His revealing His will to us.  When we begin to feel wise in our own understanding, and leave God out of our thoughts about life and the world, we are really just as the fool.  Now today, we might say that we should not use the term fool, but we must remember the Biblical definition of the word.  It is someone who believes with all their heart that there is no God.  No matter how brilliant they are in the eyes of the world, or even in their own eyes, in the eyes of God, they are a fool.  Solomon, in all his wisdom, often acted as a fool.  If we begin to look for wisdom anywhere other than through God, we will be acting the same way.

Ecclesiastes 7:19 says, Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.  I believe Solomon was warning us against relying on worldly strength, or power, to make us secure.  We deal with sinful people in all situations, as Matthew Henry points out.  Even the best of people are but sinners, either redeemed or unredeemed.  We cannot find peace and security in this world, no matter how strong or how many strong people we have guarding us.  It is only in wisdom, the acknowledgement that God is ultimately in charge no matter what happens on this earth that we can find peace.  Evil will continue to work to destroy even the most powerful person or nation, but we as followers of Christ must put our faith in Him.  This means, I believe, that we must seek His guidance in all things and not rely on our own intelligence. No matter how brilliant we may be, if we don't look to God for guidance, we are acting the same as a fool.  Verse twenty says, For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.  We may feel that we are pretty good people and really don't need forgiveness, but Solomon reminds us that there is none without sin.  If we could redeem ourselves, then Jesus would not have needed to die on the cross.  Verse twenty one says, Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee.  We don't need to wonder about everything people say about us.  If it is the truth, it will either cause us to be prideful if it is good, or bring us despair or anger if it is a lie.  We really cannot control what people say about us, so the best action is to simply live under God's leadership and forgiveness.  Even if we were to hear our servants, or those we in a position of power over, curse us, we are not to become angry and self-righteous.  Solomon gives us a good reason for this in verse twenty two, which says, For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.  If we are followers of Christ, we always need to remember that we are simply sinners saved by Grace.  We may not have even cursed anyone, or shown anger toward anyone, openly, but we are held to a higher standard of what is in the heart.  We cannot become angry at sinners for sinning, because we ourselves are sinners.  We must hate the sin, but forgive the sinner.

Ecclesiastes 7:16 says, Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?  When Solomon warns us against being overly righteous, what does he mean.  I believe it is a warning against being self righteous, where we begin to rely on our own goodness to justify our actions.  It is good to condemn sin, but when we condemn the sinner, especially the repentant sinner, we are becoming overly, or self, righteous.  Another example would be studying the Bible.  This is a wonderful thing, but if we spend all our time studying and none practicing what the Bible teaches, the we are over righteous.  The same applies to wisdom.  If we reach the point that we know everything about the world, and especially about God, then we have become overly wise in our own mind.  We therefore will not listen to others, and possibly not even to God.  Verse seventeen says, Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?  Just as Solomon warned us not to be over much righteous and wise, here he warns us of the opposite.  We are not to be over much wicked and foolish, or we may die before our time.  Now, there are those that believe that no matter what we do, our death day is already established.  This can lead us to do foolish things, or it can keep us foolishly doing nothing.  Where is the need to act with any restraint, on the one hand, or where is the need to act with any urgency on the other.  Verse eighteen says, It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.  We are not to just attempt to remove ourselves from the things that happen in the world, but we are to act under the leadership of God to attempt to correct them.  We must rely on the leadership of God in all things, and not on our own understanding.  We may feel that we are a very smart person, but without God's leadership, we will be acting as a fool.

Ecclesiastes 7:13 says,  Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?  Solomon was reminding us to look to God when we consider the things of this world.  No law of man is ever going to make the things that God says is wrong be right.  We need to acknowledge this as God's followers, and never accept anything less.  Sin will always be sin, which is anything that goes against God's will.  Still, we must be careful that we hate the sin and not the sinner.  When we begin to hate the sinner, then we are not acting in accordance with God's will.  Verse fourteen says, In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.  When we prosper under the leadership of God, realizing that He is the author of prosperity, we should be joyful.  If we find ourselves in adversity, we should remember that God is still in control and rejoice in the Lord.  I believe Solomon is saying that in the perspective of God, they both amount to the same thing, which is nothing.  Again, we are to keep our focus on God, and we should live rejoicing each day that as His followers He has given us everlasting life.  The things of this world will always be but of this world.  Verse fifteen says, All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.  I believe Solomon was saying what we often say, and that is that life is not fair.  Why should the righteous die young and the wicked live long lives?  We are looking at things from a worldly view when we have this attitude.  This life, no matter how long, is but the blinking of an eye in terms of life everlasting.  If a righteous man dies young, that is not a reflection on the value of his or her life.  We have not been deprived of anything, since if we are followers of Christ we go away to everlasting life.  If a wicked person lives a very long life, that person has not gained anything, as they go away to everlasting separation from God.  Even if a righteous person's life were cut short by a wicked person's actions, the righteous person still wins.  This world is not the destination of the soul.

Ecclesiastes 7:11 says, Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.  If we inherit material possessions, and we do so without the wisdom to use them wisely, they will either be wasted away or will cause us to feel that anything we want should be ours.  Even an inheritance is to be used with wisdom.  This is not earthly wisdom, which says get more only for you and your family with no concern for the rest of the world.  I believe Solomon, when he refers to wisdom, is referring to the leadership of God.  When our only concern is for material things, then an inheritance really does us no good.  At some point, it will all be left behind for someone else's inheritance.  An inheritance used wisely with wisdom, or God's guidance, is a good thing.  It is not how much or how little we have that is good or bad, but how we use what God blesses us with.  Verse twelve says, For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.  Solomon says that both money and wisdom are a defence, but wisdom, the acknowledgement that God is in charge of our lives, gives us life.  We may go through live without many problems because we have a lot of money, or wealth, but what without acknowledging God, it will ultimately fail us. I don't believe Solomon was preaching against riches, but against seeing riches as the purpose of life.  If we do have riches, we must acknowledge that God is the One Who has blessed us with them and the One Who leads us in how to use them.  We must never feel that somehow we are more important to God and therefore He is blessing us more.  God loves all people equally, from the poorest to the richest, but He expects all to follow His leadership.  God will never judge us for what we have, whether ten talents, five or one, but for how we use what we have for Him.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 says, Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.  We need to remember that Solomon was speaking about material things.  We are not to quickly be angered by things that are simply worldly things. There are those who are said to be ready to fight at the drop of a hat, and they will drop the hat.  There are people who seem to be angry about everything.  Solomon warns us that anger rests in the bosom of fools.  This does not mean that there are not things that we should be righteously angry at.  When the things of God, those spiritual things, are being trampled on, we are have a right to be righteously angry, as Jesus was when He cleansed the Temple.  I realize there is sometimes a fine line between when we should react to things that happen to us and when we shouldn't, but as Solomon was saying, if we react to everything in anger, then we are being a fool.  If you remember, one characteristic of a fool is that he has said in his heart that there is no God.  When we begin to be angry about everything that happens to us, we are not following God's plan for our lives.  We might question where to draw the line, but we must remember that Jesus drew the line at the cross.  If ever there was a Man with reason to act in anger, it was Jesus.  We are to follow His example.  If every time someone does or says something to offend us we say that they will pay, this is not what Jesus taught.  Verse ten says, Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.  We often glorify the past, the good old days.  Matthew Henry points out that men have always been bad and God has always been good, no matter the time period.  When we look to the past as being better than the present, we tend to forget the problems and glorify the good. Even if the past were better, we cannot live there.  Our challenge as followers of Christ is to make the present the best that we can.