The Father again addresses his son as he did in the first two chapters. The Father beseeches his son to not forget his teachings. Forgetting the teachings of God and the wise is much easier to do than most are willing to accept. Just how easy it is to forget is found when temptation requires […]
Author: Stephen Ricker
BDBD is Proverbs 2:20-22
The Father concludes this chapter’s wisdom with a promise, “Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.” I thank God that he taught me these and gave me the strength to change my pattern of living when I was in my early twenties. Oh, if […]
BDBD is Proverbs 2:16-19.
Enacting on wisdom has some benefits. Another one is that it will save from giving into the adulteress wayward wife which her deductive words (16). Marriage is a covenant made before God (17). Marriage is making a life-long commitment to another soul. A covenant is a relationship between two partners who make binding promises to […]
BDBD is Proverbs 2:12-15
Enacting on wisdom has some benefits. One is that it will save from the ways of the wicked (12). Some celebrate wickedness. They believe that devious ways will provide wealth, prosperity, and power. Though they may succeed in gaining these, they find that these alone do not bring peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, self-control, and […]
Proverbs 2:7-11
God equips his people so they are able to make sound decisions. “It is better to teach a person how to fish than to give them fish every day,” goes an old saying. So when verse 7 states that God holds victory in store for the upright and verse 8 says God guards the course […]
BDBD is Eccl. 2:1-6
I view these words as God talking to me. God is my Father. I am his son (1). He has great compassion for me. He wants and seeks the best for me. He wants me to grow up and be an adult. He wants me to be just like His Perfect Son, Jesus. He wants […]
BDBD is Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom is personified, a common ploy in ancient middle-east literature (20). Wisdom is beseeching the simple people going about their daily routines in the populated cities’ markets, restaurants, and forums (20,21). The simple people from wisdom’s perspective are those who rejected its call thus becoming mockers, hating knowledge, and not choosing to fear the LORD […]
BDBD is Proverbs 1:8-15
Gain is not bad. Gaining to the point of being wealthy is not bad either. Like everything in this world, I can gain properly and improperly. The ill-gotten gain eventually takes away the lives of those who gain it (15). Verses 10 thru 14 contain a story. The story is a warning to not accept […]
BDBD is Proverbs 1:1-6
The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise words, mostly written by King Solomon, the third king of united Israel around 900 BC (1). Solomon’s wisdom was a gift of God. The Lord offered him anything when he first became king as a youth. He asked for wisdom so that he could lead Israel. […]
BDBD is Eccl. 12:13-14
The conclusion: “Fear God and keep his commandments”. The reason for these is given, “For God will bring every deed into judgment. including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” So is everything “meaningless, meaningless”? People’s pursuits apart from fearing God and keeping his commandments are meaningless. From God’s perspective, our thoughts and […]
BDBD is Eccl. 12:9-12
A common belief about the leading of the Holy Spirit is that we do nothing. Instead, it is believed that suddenly words just come to us. However, these verses reveal that the revelation of God’s words is not always (if seldom) like that. The Spirit’s moving is a mutual undertaking. Solomon is the Teacher of […]
BDBD is Eccl. 12:1-8
The sentimental poem in verses 1 thru 8 is one of the most moving and yet underquoted compositions in the Bible. Read it silently once, speak it out twice, listen to it three times, and the Fourth brings it home. A quiet Saturday morning is an atmosphere of the sound of “Truth” by Alexis Ffrench, […]
BDBD is Eccl. 11:6-10
The general theme of these verses expands on the general theme of the book. Enjoy the light of good times; be happy and banish anxiety from your heart in them with a genuine pure focus for many dark times will come which you will have to deal with. Yet always remember that everything you do […]
BDBD is Eccl. 11:3-6
Might-have-beens and what-ifs should be avoided. They draw life to a slow crawl or even a standstill. They are like stepping into quicksand during a trek to a vacation destination; they keep me from peace and rest. Wisdom tells me to start where I am at and with what I have without getting stuck in […]
BDBD is Eccl. 11:1
Investing is a part of life under the sun for the wise. When thinking of investing money first comes to mind for money is the answer for everything in my generation (10:19). However, more basic and universal possessions are time, body, mind, and emotions. How do I use these? “Casting bread upon waters” is saying […]
BDBD is Eccl. 10:16-18
Human nature is to sit back and rest, take it easy, and not work at all. A lazy mindset is drinking poison laced with honey (18). Nature has an insatiable desire to tear things down. Eventually rafters sag causing the roof of a house to leak (18). A lazy person who does not repair the […]
BDBD is Eccl 10:12-15
A fool according to the Bible is a person who refuses God’s teaching. A fool may be a knowledgeable and intelligent person and yet be a fool according to the Bible. Since the general nature of a fool is to reject God and his teaching they tend to speak words about things they refuse to […]
BDBD is Eccl. 10:10-11
When I was a young man I had several interests that I wanted to pursue; art, music, engineering, and horticulture. Preparing food came later. I was inspired and full of wonder at the masters of these life pursuits. I soon enough discovered that the master’s skill was much harder to match than their final products […]
BDBD is Eccl. 10:8-9
The simplest takeaway from verses 8 and 9 is that accidents happen and I may be the cause of the accident. When unintentional disasters and misfortunes happen I need to admit and accept my part in the cause. When I fall into a pit I dug, then admit and accept that I was the cause […]
BDBD is Eccl. 10:5-7
A ruler can make wise decisions and foolish decisions. A ruler can be wise and foolish. These two simple truths often have little correlation. A wise leader can make foolish decisions and visa-versa. A ruler’s emotional and spiritual stability is more inclined to influence his or her decisions than these two. The same can be […]
BDBD is Eccl. 10:2
The human heart is a bit of a mysterious thing. The existence of the human heart cannot be denied. The human heart is the center of our being; our emotions, thoughts, and will. The heart is the home of the personal life. Heart and soul are sometimes interchanged. “The heart of the wise inclines to […]
BDBD is Eccl. 10:1
Wisdom and honor are compared to perfume. Folly is compared to a dead fly. In my life, I may live in the wisest and most honorable decisions. Yet one foolish decision will tarnish my wisdom and honor enough to become useless and revolting. “As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly […]
BDBD is Eccl. 9:17-18
Emotions can lead us to wonderful moments. Emotions can also lead to dreadful moments. Emotional words can bring light or darkness; life and death; words of healing and words of destruction. During emotionally charged arguments quiet words are spoken by the wise and shouts are spoken by fools (17). The capability to control emotions (and […]
BDBD is Eccl. 9:13-16
Jesus is the poor wise man whose wisdom is despised and his words are no longer heeded. Several of his followers have lived this way too. Their wisdom saves the city from the wrath of God. Yet nobody remembers them.
BDBD is Eccl. 11:11
“The race is not to the swift.” Just ask Aesop’s tortuous and hare. “The battle does not belong to the strong.” USA revolutionary war against Britain, the world power at that time proves this. “Food does not come to the wise.” Just ask the sage walking down from his mountain retreat to obtain food. “Wealth […]
BDBD is Eccl. 9:1-10
Consider this: death awaits you and you do not know when it will come. Consider this: you do not know what will happen in the future; whether good or bad, whether love or hate; whether sickness or health, whether wealth or poverty. The righteous, wicked, good, bad, clean, unclean, those who are religious, and those […]
BDBD is Eccl. 8:16-17
The ways of the human heart and mind are many under every and all circumstances. Multiply that by many people. Try to comprehend the meaning of all that is done on earth. See all that God has done and comprehend it. Comprehension is impossible. That is what the Teacher, the author of this book is […]
BDBD is Eccl. 8:14-15
Some people believe to one degree or another that if a person does bad or evil eventually they will be punished. They also believe that if we do what is right then goodness will follow us all the days of our lives. However, in life on earth (under the sun) sometimes righteous people may get […]
BDBD is Eccl. 8:12-13
Everyone wants to live, not die. Occasionally we may consider committing suicide and a few go thru with it when they lose all hope. Still, for the majority of our lives, we want to live as long as possible. The fear of death is part of living under the sun. The fear of death is […]
BDBD is Eccl. 8:11
The heart of all people is the same from generation to generation. The people who have decided that either God does not exist or if there is some kind of God he/she does not care for humanity and/or themselves, their sense of morality is self-defined. Personally defined codes of ethics shift, swirl, and fade away […]