By Peter Kaye |

I always thought the book of Proverbs was just made up of wise quips like 'A stitch in time saves nine'. [The actual words in this Bible book are 'Prevention is better than cure'].

.Ecclesiastes, I've never bothered with much. The one verse I do remember is Chapter 1 verse 9 '... there is nothing new under the sun.' This parallels with the words often used to belittle a new idea - 'we've been here before'.

My knowledge of the book of Job is only a little better. 'Bad things happen to good people'. 'God is good even though our human minds often can't see this when things go wrong and we don't think they should.' 'God has skills and power beyond our understanding.'

Here are three superb overviews of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job - the Wisdom books of the Bible which have given me new understanding. Created by Tbe Bible Project , which I've mentioned elsewhere, they give teaching in an informative and captivating way. Way beyond what you'll get from many preachers..

They are all short videos. You can watch them all inside 60 minutes. And you may need to revise your thoughts on what living well really means!

Proverbs

"Live wisely and everything will turn out OK"

 

Ecclesiastes

"Wisdom isn't the answer. Life is meaningless!"

Job

 

My take away points

  • The meaning of life is beyond our understanding. But life is not meaningless, it's just that we cannot see the true meaning because it is often surrounded by a mist. But for God, there is meaning, purpose behind everyone's life. Perhaps this mist is there because we would not understand what we saw if the mist cleared.
  • The randomness of life as it appears to us - why being wise and good does not gaurantee escape from trouble - is not the way it is. God's sovereignty means that everything which happens in our lives fits perfectly with God's plan. And a test of our faith is to keep believing this even when the awful things happen.
  • We should endeavour to live wisely and obey God's commandments. But at the same time, understanding this is no gaurentee of a trouble free life.
  • Death is the great leveller. The rich and the poor, the important and unimportant, the good and the evil - all will die. And in time all will be forgotten. Unlike mountains, our wealth and achievements, however great, will disappear.
  • The only thing we can really control is our response to the moment.
  • We must learn to give thanks for the 'simple' things of life, a beautiful day, the smile of a friend. Often stuff the world would brand trivial, of no consequence.
  • God wants us to learn something from everything that happens in our lives. Both good and bad.
Writers Thoughts