the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 5 of 5
Ecclesiastes 10:1-20
Take careful note of the warning in v. 8 – "Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him." God has placed protective barriers around each one of us (for example, the authority of parents or teachers). He Himself knows what is on the other side of the hedge. We sometimes imagine that there are pleasures there and that He is depriving us of them. Certainly not! What He wants us to avoid is a dangerous bite. The serpent lies in wait for us and there does not have to be a large gap to let him sneak in. A small sin, "a little folly" (v. 1), is enough to compromise the testimony of the child of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6), and to replace the savour of Christ with the bad odour of corruption (Galatians 6:8).
The lack of good sense among those who rule us is especially detestable (v. 5 . . .); it has consequences for all those who are their subjects in that they are either victims of it or they adopt the same fault (e.g. 2 Kings 21:9; 2 Kings 21:16). But this is no reason to speak or even to think ill of the authorities (v. 20). On the contrary, our duty as Christians is to pray for them (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
V. 12 reminds us of Christ, the wisest of all. "All . . . wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth" (Luke 4:22).
