Have ears to hear the title
Have ears to hear Ecclesiastes (13) (Ecclesiastes 4:13-16)
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have ears to hear >
In ancient Israel, when kings were crowned kings, they rode a donkey instead of a horse. The horse is reminiscent of war, but the donkey symbolizes peace. When Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem as the Prince of Peace, many people greeted him at first, but Jesus was not excited by the cheers and was not discouraged by the insults of those who followed him. Because he always listened to the sound of the drums in the sky and went out.
How many world drums are there to tempt the souls of the fortress? The drum sound is compressed into the sound of “Strength is Justice!” If you listen closely to the sound of the drums, the figure of Jesus riding on a donkey and the figure of Jesus not resisting no matter how hard he attacks seem powerless. But not using power and not using it are different. The power to subdue powerful people without using power is the real power. To have no strength and not to resist out of fear is humility, but it is courage to quietly walk in the path of righteousness even though there is strength. The source of such courage in Gandhi and Martin Luther King is the ‘ear to hear’.
Isaiah 50:4 says this. “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a learner, that I may know how to help the needy with a word; He wakes me up every morning; He awakens my ear to understand like a scholar.” A true scholar (disciple) is a person who has ears to hear God's voice every morning through the Word and prayer. Those who start the first hour of each day with the Word are those who have the greatest source of victory. God-given ‘scholar’s tongue’ and ‘scholar’s ear’ are the two main sources of victory in life.
What a blessing it is to have your ears open. Isaiah 50:5 says this: “Because the Lord GOD has opened my ear, I have not rebelled, nor have I turned back.” When your ears are opened by the grace of God, you will have the courage not to retreat. In the end, true strength and courage come from ‘ears to listen’. When your ears are opened, the door of blessing will also be opened. Just like a mother who can hear her baby's cry even when there is a lot of noise around, a person who can understand the sound of heaven even in the noise of the world is truly blessed.
< Rely only on God >
The reason Jesus did not lose his composure on the way to the cross was because he focused on the voice of God rather than the voice of the world. Hear the voice of God with ears to hear and ears open. The wisest life is to have an ear to always hear and live according to the will of heaven, just like Jesus who lived to the sound of the drums of heaven, not the sound of the drums of the earth.
The reason the old king mentioned in verse 13 did not have wisdom was because he was dull and did not know how to be touched. The problem is that they don't have ears to hear. To have ears to hear is to have wisdom, and to not have ears to hear is not wisdom. Many warnings are given through events large and small in life. You have to be able to listen to the warning. In particular, we must know how to listen to God's voice that the glory of man will soon disappear (verses 15-16). True wisdom is knowing that there is nothing glorious under the sun and living completely dependent on God alone.
Humans seem strong, but they are weak. No one is without weaknesses. Some people have many things, but they are powerless when it comes to money. Some people are detached from money, but they are powerless in front of the opposite sex. Some people have a clean relationship with the opposite sex, but are powerless for their sense of honor. Some people seem wise, but they don't pray. Some people pray hard, but they are very proud. Some people are loyal, but their material life is very stingy. Some people have passion, but their words are bad. A person with such a weak appearance must depend only on God to live.
Goliath believed in his ability in front of David and was confident, but David trusted God and was confident in front of Goliath. Like David, believe in God completely and never lose confidence in the face of any problems. Believing in God does not always lead to prosperous things. Believe it or not, you will often have to go through the nights of life. In Mark 4, the ship on which Jesus rode also met with a storm. However, if you show true faith in the storms of life, there will be a history of working together for good.