Self-Awareness: I Can Be Distracted From My Danger

One of my seminary professors once told us of a faithful member in his church who planned to divorce his wife. Surprised, my professor asked why. “My wife and I are unequally yoked,” the man explained, “I try to lead our family spiritually, and she fights me at every step.” As an example, the man shared that his wife refused to come in the room when he read Scripture to his family in the evenings. When my professor asked if the wife gave a reason for this, the man replied, “Yes, but it’s ridiculous. She says it’s because I drink beer. I don’t see anything wrong with an occasional beer in my own home.” Suspicious, my professor asked, “How much beer are we talking about?” As it turned out, the man wasn't enjoying "an occasional beer"—he drank a 24-pack of Bud Light and passed out in the floor every single night. He thought his wife was his problem; apparently he had been distracted from his actual danger. Solomon says that we can be, too.

We can become so absorbed by the problems, unfairness, and mysteries of life that we are blind to far more pressing problems in our personal lives. V23–25 describe Solomon’s tortured search to understand "why": “God, why did you let my dad die? Why didn't you answer this prayer? Why did do you allow this suffering?” He is lying awake at night, searching, questioning, critiquing God. His questions consume him. He finally concludes that the explanations are beyond him—"that which has been is far off, and deep, very deep (24)." He realizes that there will always be much that he can’t change, understand, or control. Obsessing over God's "secret" will is above his pay-grade as a finite human being.

Man's responsibility is to focus on God's revealed will: the clear commands of Scripture. He gives an example in v26: "And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her” (26). In other words, I need to stop worrying so much about solving the great mysteries of the universe and just worry about being faithful to my wife today. Running the cosmos is God's business; keeping his basic commands is mine.  

God will not tell us everything that we want to know in this life, but he has told us everything that we need to know (see Deut 29:29). If I walk in obedience to God's clear commands, I may not get all my questions answered, but I'm going to be OK. If I ignore or defy God’s commands, it will ruin me. This is my real danger in life: getting involved in sexual sin (v22), a rebellious attitude toward authority, uncontrolled anger, lying, laziness, slander and gossip, etc. I need to be a lot more worried about keeping my life between the lines of God's moral law than I am about getting all my questions answered. V27–29 seem to be saying don’t kid yourself; we’re all vulnerable to blowing up our lives with sin! God made us upright, we have all sought out many schemes. V28 uses "parallelism," an ancient Hebrew way of making a point. When he says, “I only found 1 man out of 1,000 with integrity, and not a single woman,” he just means that "we’re all sinners." That's why our focus needs to be on walking daily with Jesus in repentance and obedience.

Mark Twain once said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me—it’s the parts that I do understand that give me so much trouble!” That is Solomon’s message. Instead of obsessing about the things God won’t tell us, we don’t know, and can’t control, I need to focus on what I do know and can control: Obey the Word. Kill the sin in my life. Trust God with the rest. This will keep me plenty busy! It will keep me walking humbly, happily, and safely with the Lord.

FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT, SEE:

Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church