[Discoveries] 06-13-08 Pearls -- Ecclesiastes 7:28

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

/*... while I was still searching but not finding -- I found one upright 
man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. -- 
Ecclesiastes 7:28*/

There are a few verses in the Bible that are just plain provocative and 
this is one of them. I cringe and wonder, "How did this get in here?"

But there it is.

And if ever there was a verse that didn't square with my experience, 
this is one of them. I know many godly women who love the Lord with all 
their hearts, and, honestly, not as many men.

So let's see if we can figure this out.

If Solomon was the author of Ecclesiastes then we know that he had so 
many wives that I doubt he even remembered their names. No wonder he had 
a jaded view of women. (Yet, how did he manage to write Song of Solomon? 
I'm stumped on that one.)

Now, I have a confession to make. When I started writing this 
devotional, I had no idea how to answer the questions that this verse 
raises. I walked into this one blind as a bat.

But I think perhaps the Lord just gave me the answer. It's found in 
Matthew 7:6: "Do not throw your pearls to pigs."

Let me explain.

What could be more precious to the Lord than one of His daughters who 
dearly loves Him? Here in Ecclesiastes we have a madman -- mad in the 
sense that he temporarily abandons God and tries to find wisdom apart 
from Him. Why would God give what is precious to a man like that? 
Remember the "anatomy of awe" devotional a couple days ago? A woman who 
loves God cannot be reduced to a premise in a philosophy book. She will 
elude this man and his search until he stops searching and starts 
finding God.

Be encouraged!
Dwight

You may freely post, reprint or redistribute this devotional provided a 
reference or link back to _DwightClough.com_ 
<http://www.dwightclough.com> is included.

Discoveries Devotional -- Inspiration in Your Inbox is provided daily by
Dwight Clough Ministries, Inc.
1223 West Main Street #228
Sun Prairie, WI 53590 USA
Dwight Clough Ministries is supported by your donations.
Visit _www.DwightClough.com_ <http://www.dwightclough.com> for more 
information.

Change your subscription: 
_http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/discoveries_

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/discoveries/attachments/20080607/faf6e5a0/attachment.html>