Jump Start # 3956
Ecclesiastes 7:26 “And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.“
In the journal and journey of Solomon, that we commonly call, Ecclesiastes, we travel with this wise one as he finds what life is about. What’s the purpose? Is there any benefit to what we are doing? And, sprinkled throughout this seventh chapter and the entire book are expressions such as: I tested (7:23); I directed my mind (7:25); I have seen (7:15), or, as in our verse today, “I discovered” (7:26).
Our verse discovers a woman who becomes a snare and a trap. Much like the adulterous woman of Proverbs 7, the Ecclesiastes 7 woman will ruin many a soul. Her image seems like a spider and she is trying to trap on in her web of lies and deceit. The one who pleases God escapes. The sinner will be caught.
In this picture that Solomon paints for us, we find these words, “more bitter than death.” What an interesting set of words. The woman Solomon had in mind was more bitter than death. There are things that are worse than death. We often get the impression that death is the worst thing that can happen to a person. Actually, that’s not completely true. There are things worse than death.
Here’s my quick list of things worse than death:
· Living as if you are already dead. Some do that. No purpose. No joy. No direction. Just existing.
· Standing before God without faith and hope. Like the rich farmer in Luke’s Gospel, he lived for today. He lived for now. He never thanked the Lord. He never included the Lord. He was not rich towards God.
· Finding the narrow way but refusing to follow it. How Many will be lost eternally but they didn’t have to be. They knew what to do, they just didn’t do it.
· Closing your eyes to the blessings, joys, and promises of God that are all around us. There is so much to be thankful for. There is so much good to be shared and found. There is wonderful encouragement that comes from fellowship, worship and a close walk with the Lord.
· Being cast into eternal Hell. Death ends. Hell doesn’t. Death is a doorway. Hell is the end of the line. After death, there is more. There is no AFTER Hell.
More bitter than death, is what Solomon said. We might consider, more sad than death. More misery than death. More final than death.
From this we ought to see that the spiritual is always greater than the physical. The eternal is always more important than the moment or the now. The Lord is always more important than us.
Things worse than death…now that’s a thought for us.
Roger