Everything Is Meaningless - How to Spot a Fool

Well, if you were around back in 2014, which I think most of you were, if you might have been an opportunity had an opportunity to see the film called Imitation Game.

Till that film came out, it was an Oscar winning film, or at least nominated.

The name Alan Turing probably didn't mean too much to you.

Maybe you don't still know that name.

You ask who was Alan Turing and why was he so important?

Well, turing was born back in 1912 and as he grew up, he got the opportunity in England to be a part of the government's Code and Cypher School.

And say what was that about?

Well, he was basically a code breaker and by the time he got to the point that World War II began in 1939, they called him to be a part of this really major code breaking part of the government because they had a problem with this device called the Enigma Machine and he was part of the team that was set to break the Enigma code that was topped out on the machine and the Germans and their allies used it to encrypt and code secret messages to one another.

So he was a part of that a code breaking team and his role.

After he finally was able to do that, they came up with another machine called the Bomb and it was able to figure out all what a great name right, figure out the code to the Enigma Machine and the Enigma code.

And because of that, turing and his team really shortened the war by a great deal and they saved a lot of people.

And I use that to kind of give an analogy for us, because in a spiritual sense we all, I think, need a solution that sort of breaks the Enigma code of life.

Solomon has been talking about the meaningless of life and that it is an Enigma.

We don't always know why we go through the problems that we go through and there's not always answers available to us readily.

But when it comes to solving problems, making tough decisions and here's what I've found is that people make a plan A and A.

What Plan B?

Sometimes plan C and a, d and so on.

But I found that the perfect plan doesn't always exist.

And I was interested to hear about this couple of guys who got together and they were good friends and the one friend said to the other he said I know you've been having trouble finding the date and he said yeah, I have.

He said well, I went ahead and got you set up with a blind date.

He said you did what?

So why did you do that?

And he said what's the matter with that?

He said, well.

He said what if the girl is just not good looking and I have to spend the whole day with somebody that I really don't want to be with?

And he said, well, there's wait a minute, there's an app for that.

And he said the way the app works.

You download the app and when you get on your date, if it's like you're kind of not liking what you see, the phone will call you on this little app and then you can pick up the phone and say mom, is that you, are you in trouble?

I'm going to go and you're free on get out of the date.

He said, well, that sounds like a, sounds like a plan.

So the guy got out, he got on the date and right before the girl arrives he's thinking well, this is going to work out great.

The girl walks in and they get to look at each other and all at once, before they get the chance to even greet each other, the girl gets a phone call Mom, is that you, are you in trouble?

So, as I say, life is full of problems, right, and we don't always have the answers by using human wisdom.

We need the wisdom of God, can't rely on our own experience, can't rely on our own knowledge, and so we have to look for something beyond ourselves.

Right, and Solomon has been reminding us all along that we live in a world, as I said, where life is meaningless.

And what do you do when life doesn't make sense?

Where do you go?

Hope?

You go to the Lord.

And you know we have this sometimes, this little bag of tricks, we.

I call it the little bag of tricks.

It's something we always revert to to give us our answers, the way we work.

But the thing that we find in this passage is sometimes the best way to learn the value of anything is to look at its opposite, and this is what Solomon does.

He's been talking about wisdom and now he turns, in chapter 10 of Ecclesiastes, to talk about something else, the opposite.

He's going to contrast the wisdom of God by looking at the foolishness of a fool, and he's going to show us in the process what do we do when we run out of answers.

So let's look at that.

If you've got Ecclesiastes 10 up, we're going to read this together and just see what Solomon has to teach us.

Solomon is teaching here in Ecclesiastes 10.

Let's just read together Dead flies make the perfumers ointment give off a stench.

So a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left.

Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense and he says to everyone that he is a fool.

If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were, an error proceeding from the ruler.

Folly is set in many high places and the rich sit in a low place.

I have seen slaves on horses and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

He who digs a pit will fall into it and a serpent will bite him.

Who breaks through a wall, he who quarries stones is hurt by them and he who splits logs is endangered by them.

If the iron is blunt and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength.

But wisdom helps one to succeed.

If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.

The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.

The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness and the end of his talk is evil madness.

A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him?

The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.

Woe to you, o land, when your king is a child and the princes, your princes, feast in the morning.

Happy are you, o land, when your king is the son of the nobility and your princes feast at the proper time for strength and not for drunkenness.

Through sloth, the roof sinks in and through indolence the house leaks.

Bread is made for laughter, wine gladdens life and money answers everything, even in your thoughts.

Do not curse the king, nor, in your bedroom, curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

And so you think about this passage, and Solomon's words here may not be easily followed.

I went through this week and just tried to make some sense about putting the words and thoughts he had in mind, but I came to this conclusion Solomon's lesson in this chapter is really simple Don't be a fool.

Don't be a fool.

And to make the point, he really does.

He begins with one of the more memorable verses in the whole book, and I just like this verse.

It's the verse one.

It says Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench.

So a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

And so you get the picture.

There's this perfumer who is making a batch of perfume and he is making something that smells good and although there's nothing wrong with the fragrance, maybe while his back is turned, maybe someone comes up and interrupts him in the course of his business making this perfume, and the sweet smell draws the flies and some of them die and they fall into the mix and they turn the batch of perfume into a stinky bouquet.

And that's the picture he wants you to see.

And it's super seize, it covers the whole chapter.

So keep this in mind as we go through this.

You say well, how could this happen?

This fly, when he's doing this?

Is he not paying attention?

Well, that's what happens in life A moment of apathy, a moment of self-indulgence, a moment where we are careless and somehow the fly gets into the perfume.

And so Solomon says don't let that happen.

Don't be a fool.

Solomon here has this, and I think you know we can almost smell this image, can't we?

This smelly image is really like a pungent way of describing a fool's offensive behavior.

And that's the point.

It doesn't take a lot right.

Look at that line that says a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

You might circle that word little right, a little honor.

Folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

This takes a little foolishness, doesn't it, to stink up a place.

You think about it For life, for work, for marriage, for relationships, for money.

A single mistake can get you fired, a single sin can destroy your marriage, the wrong word can end a friendship that maybe has lasted for years, and you think about it as something you take a risk on can ruin your reputation.

Just takes a little thing.

And how many of us could say at one time in our life we've done something small.

Maybe you've sent a text to somebody and you go oh, after you sent it, what did I just do?

Or the spelling thing happens and it changes what you meant to say in the first place.

Right, it's like how could I say that?

But this is Solomon's point.

All it takes is one rash word, one offhand comment or root remark or hasty decision, one little thing and it spells everything.

So with that image in mind, I want us to go through this.

This wise king Solomon gives us a wise look at a fool and remember, he's contrasting that between wisdom and kind of highlights it.

So when we hear the word fool, what do you think about?

When you think about a fool, I think a lot of people just consider a fool as somebody who's silly, who's like a clown, maybe frivolous jokester, or even a stupid person.

But the Bible attaches a moral idea to this person who is called a fool, and that's why Jesus says if you call somebody a fool, you're in danger of the fires of hell because you're thinking about, you're saying something about the moral, about the heart of that person.

You don't know that, but there are a number of words in the Hebrew that talk about and describe a fool, and they range from in meaning, from someone who is naive and irresponsible, someone who is ignorant of God in his ways, all the way over to the extremely Godless person who scripture in Psalm 52.1 says he says in his heart there is no God.

So you see, there's a range of meaning for a fool.

But, among other things, the person that's like that is marked by pride, he's marked by arrogance, he has no sense of sin and he's ultimately has no fear of God.

Remember, the Bible says the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

And so he is careless, reckless and indifferent about the most important thing, and that is the eternal consequences of his actions.

And I want you to see he gives us four observations here.

He makes that we need to see as he talks about a fool, and they have to do with the heart, the power, the character and the failure of a fool.

So let's look at these.

Let's first look at the heart of a fool, and that's in verses two and three, one through three.

Solomon states something pretty obvious.

He says you know you deserve people, and some people make foolish choices while other people make wise choices.

Well, we know that that's true enough.

But he goes on to tell us why that person makes foolish decisions, and he gives us two reasons.

The first reason is this he says the fool's heart is bent toward godlessness.

Look at the verse, verse two.

He says a wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left.

And so you have this picture of someone who is, who is bent toward things that he knows displeases God.

Maybe he doesn't know that displeases God, but he's inclined toward them.

And sometimes our heart is maybe we don't even realize it sometimes is inclined toward the things that God doesn't see as pleasing to him, and it can ruin our life.

And so Solomon says it's like two people walking down a road here, and the choice has to be made in life about what direction do we take when we have the opportunity.

Do I go to the right or do I go to the left?

And by the way, this is not talking about political right and left, right, it's not that.

It's the choice between good and evil, right and wrong.

And so the fool can't make a good decision.

He's directionless because he doesn't have a godly heart.

He has problems there.

And so making the right decision, having the wisdom to choose the right thing, that's wisdom.

And it's because of this inclination toward his heart he chooses the wrong road.

So you can say the fool is going down the wrong path.

Now I know for all of us.

We all want to know and have the right direction.

We want to know that we're going the right path.

Well, the thing Solomon tells us is choose wisdom and you will.

You hear from God and you will.

So don't be bent in that way.

Don't be a fool to head out in a godless direction.

Second reason he talks about is that the fool lacks understanding of where his choices will take him.

He chooses the wrong road, but he also doesn't know that the road he's chosen is going to end up in a terrible place.

He says this.

He says if you are, even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, in verse 3.

And he says to everyone that he's a fool.

In other words, everybody can see this guy's nuts.

He is a fool.

And if you're pursuing wisdom, guess what?

If you are pursuing wisdom, you can tell in a moment when someone is acting like a fool or saying something that's foolish.

So, over and over in the book of Proverbs, we find this lack of understanding or lack of sense that Solomon is talking about, and this is what gets the fool into trouble.

Proverbs 15, 21 says this folly is a joy to him who lacks sense.

But a man of understanding walks straight ahead.

And so we see the fool has an empty head because he has a godless heart, and so Solomon is wanting us to see this first point it all has to start.

It starts with the heart.

Are we inclined toward the things of God or are we not?

And maybe some of you here today don't know God, and the way you find out is do you pursue wisdom?

And we're going to find out where that leads us to in just a minute.

Solomon goes on, though, to note an ironic reality, as he brings up something that occurs in places of influence and we see that and that is in the power he describes of the fool Verses four through seven.

He says folly is said in many high places and the rich sit in a low place.

You ever said this, he said.

You ever said how did that person get there?

How did that person get in that position?

I've said that.

Maybe at your work, maybe in places where someone was over you, or you know, you've thought about how did that person get the position of being the vice president and the person who was kind of wise and seemed to have things together?

He's the low man on the totem pole and he doesn't have much influence at all.

That will not withstanding that God puts people in place of authority.

Solomon still.

He identifies this oddity as the real world.

This is what happens, in fact.

He says the source of that, he calls it evil, and he says in verse five, he says an error proceeding from the ruler is the source, and that word Hebrew.

In Hebrew, error refers to sort of a thoughtless, reckless, unthinking sin, the person.

Whether they do it through ignorance or arrogance, they do something that is against God, and you know when that happens, it brings a level of pain to everybody below them, and you know that Solomon gives us some really good advice about this, though, because he tells us what are you supposed to do when somebody's like that, when you, when you were having to deal with a fool?

Well, first thing, he says, is don't resign because you're discouraged.

Verse four says if the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.

In other words, don't give into the evil that you see going on around you and the people that seem to be fomenting it, that seem to be causing it.

Occupy your post, stay in your position, be faithful where God has put you, and you know who knows that you might be in that very place, because God has put you there for your own influence and you have no clue about how God is going to use you to stay where you are.

And I'm not saying that there's not a time and we aren't called to leave, but in the most, most cases, god puts us where he puts us because he wants us there, he allows us to be there and it's wise, he said, to stay put and to do that.

A second reason he calls us to and how do we deal with fools in those situations is simply this expect the unexpected and outrageous.

Verse seven says I have seen slaves on horses and princes walking on the ground like slaves and I think, by our own observation and reckoning, you know some we would say are our in power, who shouldn't be in power.

And we also say that there are some people that ought to be in power, that why aren't they there?

Because they seem to be the more wise person, wise people.

What shouldn't be is, and what isn't happening should be happening.

He says it like this and I give you a different translation of it in verse seven, I've seen unproven upstarch writing in style while experienced veterans are put out to pasture, and that's really common.

Here's the thing I think, maybe more than any time in history.

I've seen this happen in our day, when people who are in power we think maybe they shouldn't be, and the outrageous things that they do, we kind of question and say, god, why are they there instead of somebody else?

And I think that way you probably have to, but we have to say that as followers of Jesus Christ, you know, we don't get to make that call.

God is in control of the person that's in those places because, guess what?

He has put all authorities in place.

He's the one has put those people there for his own purposes, for his own reasons, and this is why we should not resign.

God's power is greater than the greatest sin, and he is also able to make you effective in the place that he's put you.

Maybe you carry more power in the place that you're in right now than you would be if you were where you wished you could be Right, and so we just don't know how God works things out.

But this is this is really what Ecclesiastes is talking about.

Solomon is talking about.

This is the power of the fool.

He has a lot of potential to do a lot of damage.

Just a little thing will change a lot of things that are not good.

Now, third thing he brought and brings to us, and this has to do with the character of a fool, and that's versus 12 through 19.

And I am skipping over some verses We'll come back to verses six and 11 in a minute but verses 12 and 15, they sort of summarize Two issues that flow from the fool's heart, that have to do with his character, because character flows from the heart, he says.

Verse 12, the lips of a fool consume him, and verse 15, the toil of a fool wearies him and so he's talking about what your words and your actions?

And one of the primary characteristics of a fool, according to Solomon, is they talk too much.

They have more words to say than to know what they're talking about.

And the general tone of a fool's conversation, really, if you listen well, is it's bent toward evil things and talk that is godless.

It doesn't reflect the nature and person of God or God's ways.

So even to the point of saying some really insane stuff, and you can make some application of that on your own, but God is the last thing on their mind when they talk.

Listen to what he says.

The words of a wise man's mouth when him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.

It's a word that says that his words eat him up.

How ironic is that he speaks words but his own words eat him up.

The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness and the end of his talk is evil madness.

In other words, it leads to insane stuff.

A fool multiplies words though no man knows what is to be.

In other words, the fool doesn't know his future.

He doesn't even think about his future, much less eternity, and he can't tell anyone even though he thinks he can about those kinds of things.

And see, he says, who can tell him what will be after him?

Well, nobody.

Nobody can talk to a fool, because they're not listening, and so they talk to him.

That's a second characteristic of a fool, he says as we talk about.

His character is that they actually do very little work.

Now, they may be busy, they may be about a lot of stuff, but none of it is kingdom stuff.

It's nothing that will do good, he says.

The toil of a fool worries him.

He's busy, but he doesn't want to do any work, for he does not know the way to the city.

So what in the world does that mean Doesn't know the way to the city.

In other words, he's busy for no good purpose.

He's on the road but he's going nowhere and he doesn't really care that he gets there.

Not knowing the way to the city is a way of saying that his activity is pointless and worthless and it accomplishes nothing.

And this is what Solomon sees.

That's what he observes.

They do very little work.

In verse 16, I think it is Solomon's thoughts sort of lead him on.

He's talking about these things that have to do with character, and he brings a warning to a land or a nation who has the unfortunate experience of being under a person in power who doesn't know when it's time to roll up his sleeves and work.

City leaders make it a bad place to live.

Listen to the words.

Woe to you, oland, when your king is a child.

It doesn't mean he's literally a child, it means he acts like a kid and your princes feast in the morning.

Happy are you, oland, when your king is the son of the nobility and your princes feast at the proper time for strength and not for drunkenness.

Through sloth, the roof sinks in and through indolence, the house leaks, and so, because of laziness, the nation, the land, suffers and it falls apart.

Here's something else, because I think in the end, solomon he sort of makes this tongue in cheek comment in verse 19.

Maybe you caught it.

He says, well, money answers everything.

Yeah right, I think that's what he's saying Money, money answers everything.

And think about who knew this better than Solomon, who'd had the riches of the world and could have chosen to do anything, pretty much just like people who are rich today and they get to the end of the road, the journey of pursuits, and they're not happy, they're empty.

Now, my mom used to say money is not everything, but it sure sues a world of hurts.

Now I thought well, that's true, that can be true, but it doesn't solve everything, it doesn't solve the most important things.

Solomon, I think, is saying that there's something far more important, and that is that you and I have peace with God, and then we have the peace of God.

Money can't buy those things, it can't buy happiness, it can't buy joy, it can't buy peace.

What will you trade for those things?

God has to be in the mix.

This is what Solomon is getting at.

So far, solomon's observations have shown us the heart, the power, the power and the character of someone who he calls a fool, and all to highlight how vital wisdom really is.

It's like that.

Set this apart so you can see how important wisdom is.

Look at the fool.

Now let's go back up to verses 8 and 11.

Now let's see 8 through 11 and see the last thing he describes, and that's the failure of a fool.

And it's shown to us by four examples.

He says by an example of digging a pit, quarrying stones, cutting a tree and charming a snake.

He says he who digs a pit will fall into it and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall, he who quarries stones is hurt by them and he who splits logs is endangered by them.

If the iron is blunt and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength.

But wisdom helps one to succeed.

If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.

And so if you notice in those verses, if we think he's talking about the fool and I think he is the fool gets bitten twice in these examples and at first glance I mean I would read through this and I thought at first well, maybe Solomon is just describing life.

I mean you put yourself out there and invariably, if you put yourself out there, you're going to get hurt.

That's just life if you take the risk.

But I think he's saying something far more important.

Now I was really struggling.

What is he saying in these verses?

This week I ran across a verse in Proverbs 26, verse 27, which kind of threw some light onto this passage for me and hopefully for you.

Proverbs 26:27

It's verse 26 of Proverbs 26, 27 and it reads like this whoever digs a pit will fall into it and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.

So that verse is almost identical to what we're reading in Ecclesiastes in some part.

But what is he saying in that verse?

It kind of says for every evil action by a fool, there is an equal and opposite reaction that's going to come back on him In the end.

It's going to harm him or crush him.

Living like a fool, you don't get off.

It's got free.

It will come back to you.

That's what he's saying.

In the end result is basically this the folly is self-destructive If you choose to live a certain way, if you leave God out of the picture and you let your heart bend you to things that aren't godly and are not pleasing to him.

It's self-destructive.

And so what we have in these verses illustrates a sort of poetic justice.

This is what Solomon's getting.

It's poetic justice that falls upon the person who rejects godly wisdom, and as he does, he acts like a fool.

This is the failure of a fool.

Well, solomon ends after he describes the person who is a fool.

He just ends this passage by leaving us with a word to the wise.

He's now talking to us and heard a quote by Charles Spurton, who said one time the doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of our own ignorance.

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of our own ignorance.

In other words, we're not always as wise as we think we are Right, and at one time or another I've been a fool, you've been a fool.

Oh, guys, children, I've been a fool right.

Sometimes we do things we regret.

Sometimes we look back and we go.

Why in the world did I do that?

It spoils a lot of sweet things Going back to that image that he puts out there at the front, flying the ointment, and one of those things has to do with the foolishness of criticizing those in authority.

He ends this with verse 20 and says even in your thoughts do not curse the king, nor, in your bedroom, curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

In other words, you never know who's listening, even in the most intimate places in your bedroom.

Don't be surprised, the walls have ears.

You know, years ago I had a chance to go to China with a friend on a mission trip.

We had a chance, we brought one UT student with us and we got there to China and it was, as I say, it was, a mission trip, sort of undercover.

We were warned don't do anything foolish Like don't flaunt your Bible we could bring our Bible at that time but don't try to share it with anyone.

Well, that was the reason we were going there.

We were going to and I won't tell you what the organization was, but it was interesting.

We got there at the place in Beijing and walked into the hotel room and we could.

It was weird because we could just see the people at the desk were just looking at us and were thinking what is this about?

And we got up to a room and we kind of jokingly said well, I wonder if the room is bugged.

So we started talking silly stuff just to kind of get a rise out of the people.

If they were listening and nothing illegal or nothing, that would have really gotten us into trouble.

Probably foolish anyway.

But you know, here's the thing.

There are governments around the world.

If you say something about those in authority, it could land you in a deep, in a deep trouble, maybe put you in prison, maybe, I don't know, maybe you could lose your life.

But he's talking about.

Don't say this in the presence of the King.

We forget.

There is a person we call the King of Kings, that always hears, always sees.

Here's what it says in Exodus 22, verse 28,.

Exodus 22:28

You shall not curse a ruler of your people.

And so, in spite of the evil effects of the foolish people, sometimes we see around us and over us.

You know it's wise to keep our thoughts to ourselves, because the King of Kings hears and he sees, and we never know what's going to happen, how he's going to respond to that.

Jesus, even in our ministry to this world, reminded us of the benefit of being wise.

He said in Matthew 10, 16, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, and so as we live in the world we're living in and we have the problems we're facing, be wise, be wise.

So today I thought, as we went through this, I thought well, this stepped on my toes a little bit.

Maybe it stepped on yours and maybe you feel like, boy, I've been a fool at times.

Maybe you've done something foolish this week and you regret it.

Here's the thing there's hope for a fool and there's hope for the fool in the gospel, because you can begin to follow a person that will change everything.

The Bible says that Jesus is the wisdom of God and it says in Colossians 2, he is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge.

Think about that.

You hold a key, if you know Jesus, to the wisdom of the world.

That's incredible.

It's found in a person and his name is Jesus.

So the better you know Jesus, the more opportunity you have to connect with him and get the wisdom that you need for any problem you're going through or any failure you have met this past week or in your past.

I want to kind of go to the end of this for us and just make this an exercise for us, because I think none of us.

We've all been fools at one time or another.

Right, we've all made mistakes, and we only got wisdom to make it in this world.

And Solomon basically tells us don't be a fool, be wise, get wisdom.

And so I want to read you a verse out of James 1.

And this is a promise that you can hang your life on If you don't know what to do.

You're going through some struggles and you're wondering how do I handle what I'm going through?

It could be a health issue, a marriage issue, grandkids' kids' issue, maybe it's something at your job and you're just like well, I don't know what to do here.

Well, here's what James says If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all, without reproach, and it will be given him.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.

So it is a promise God gives wisdom to those who seek it and who actually show enough faith to do what.

Ask him for it and he says I'll give it to you generously if you'll just ask.

So I want us to end our time.

If you'll stand, and right here, right now, I'm going to give us just a minute and just say you're going through something today, some problems, some struggles, something where you need answers.

And right now, in the moment that we have here together, would you just ask God for wisdom for that thing?

Let's do that.

So, father, we know that you hear our prayers as we offer these things up to you in faith.

We do pray that you would generously pour out your wisdom where it's needed today, lord, that we don't want to come up with our own wisdom.

You tell us that there's an earthly wisdom and there's a heavenly wisdom, and we pray right now for wisdom from heaven.

You know, the thing that makes me think today is that if you don't know Jesus, you don't have wisdom, but you can ask Jesus right now to be part of your life.

You're just the most wise thing you can do today and say Jesus, I don't know you.

Would you reveal yourself to me today and maybe, if you're here and you do know the Lord, that you would be humble enough to say it's not working, things are not right, things are broken and I need an answer.

And the promise that we have is that Jesus will not leave us high and dry.

He will, through His Holy Spirit, give us, through the spirit of wisdom, what we need.

And so, father, we just give you thanks and praise for what you're going to do this week, as you reveal yourself to us and you show us what you want us to do.

We thank you for that and ask, in Jesus' name Amen.

God bless you.