Ecclesiastes 5.1 Guard
your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to
offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. – The Preacher
A friend of mine calls it, Ecclesiast(ics)… it makes me
smile. As I read the Preacher’s words today, I thought of life in its bigness,
and man in his smallness. We men try to wrangle life – it’s fitting that we do
given the One who calls us to call Him Father. But He never calls us to wrangle
life – all He ever calls us to is friendship.
I suppose, for some, that is over-simplistic: surely
there must be more to Gawd than
friendship! If not, why all the bother? God bothers because this isn’t about
us; it’s about Him. He just happens
to like us. And why not, it seems He went to a lot of bother to breathe life
into us. And God intends for us, His creatures, to live lives other than we’ve
come to accept.
And so, the expectation of men and mankind is, somehow to
come to know this God who wishes to befriend them. So, we build houses of the
holy and there meet, to get to know God. And the Preacher says: if that is your motivation, then guard your
steps when you go to the house of God – go near to listen, rather than to offer
the sacrifice of fools, who don’t know what or why they do…
Faith, that ‘believing’ friendship with God, is intended
to be mindful, not mindless. Our faith is to be reasonable, thoughtful,
meaningful, and purposeful. Or else, why do it? The sacrifice of the fool is at
best: rote. The fool goes through the motions not thinking or knowing why. He
only does.
I’ve heard the description of insanity as: doing the same thing over and over,
expecting different results.
Going to the house of God with unguarded steps
(mindlessly, thoughtlessly) is a dangerous business. To do so is to believe
that merely action is all that is required with no thought of purpose or
meaning. What kind of friendship is that? The sacrifice of fools has no
meaning.
So, if what the Preacher says is true, then what shall we
do? We should, if we care about God’s friendship, invite Him into our daily
lives. We should strive to find meaning and purpose on even the dullest days
because every day – eventful, or no – is a gift from this Great One who seeks
our friendship.
Wow, how about that!?
My wife asked me, what are you going to do today? I
rattled of a few things but paused inwardly and said to myself: and not forget about God. I am going to
the House of God (His presence) today with guarded steps because I don’t want
to waste today, and I don’t want to miss out on His communiques with His
friend: me.
Father, Your word
says: Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. And You know me: nothing
much more than a wordy dreamer, schemer. May I shut up today, or at least perk
up, listening for Your voice. May I use the time I have in these moments to
guard my steps in Your presence, and to listen for You. Amen
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