Episode Details

Pray

Read: Ecc 4:4-16.

Meditation

Now we have a peculiar little story in verses 13 through 16, it’s almost a parable. Solomon tells the story of a foolish old king who did not know how to take advice. We will open this up a bit more later, but for now notice the old king. What was the defining mark of this king? That he did not know how to take advice. He did not listen to people. He had cut himself off from good advice. And so the poor and wise youth was better than the hard-hearted and isolated old king.

Envy and laziness both tend towards isolation, but here is another cause: the inability to listen. Listening to no one but ourselves is a sure way to reach a dead end in life. You can have all the riches in the world, but a poor wise man who listens is better than a rich king whose heart is hard. Fearing God requires a listening heart. It requires a heart that listens to God, and a heart that listens to good advice from others. It requires a heart that looks for good advice from others.

If we see this tendency in ourselves, the tendency not to talk with others, we ought to take note of this warning.

If you simply do not talk to others there cannot be a relationship. That is a danger in itself.

The tendency to argue with others, or an argumentative spirit, is an indicator of someone who does not listen.

The tendency of inattention, giving people only half of our attention; or perhaps of talking too much, these are not good signs.

Someone with a tendency to talk a lot may struggle to listen.

There may be a tendency not to show real interest in others, for this foolish king would not have been one to ask sensitive questions of others to better understand them.

It may be someone who interrupts, someone who formulates what he wants to say while the other is talking.

It may be someone who lacks a genuine interest in the other person as they are speaking, or someone who is quick to form opinions on others.

All these things show us tendencies towards isolation and individualism. As and if we follow these patterns ourselves, we live in our own mental bubble, and we are not open-hearted. We are becoming like the old king of the parable. Perhaps it was old-man Solomon reflecting on himself.

As Solomon has shown us, being self-focused is a dead end in life.

But what then can we do? Perhaps as we have looked at some of these areas, you have noticed some of these patterns in your own life. I certainly have. At different points every one of us will be self-focused in some way or another. So how do we respond?

As Solomon points out, rather than living in isolation, we must seek to live in community. We must rather be the poor, wise, youth, if that is what it comes down to. It is the cure of Christian fellowship that we need. Two are better than one (v. 9), and a threefold cord is not quickly broken (v. 12). There is strength in numbers. Better is a poor but wise youth who listens than an old and foolish king who does not.

Where does this leave us? Consider a few points of application to ponder.

First, it is only as we turn to God that we can find restoration from the isolation that sin brings. As we have seen in these meditations on individualism, isolation is destructive. In the biggest sense, however, our isolation is ultimately an isolation from God. Although we were created to be in relationship with him, through our sin we have cut ourselves off. Even as Christians, when we pursue sin, we are running from God to try to do it ourselves. This world is full of people who do not know God and who have not come to God.

If that is you, as you read these words, if you have not come to Christ, then there is one message to hear: if you remain isolated from God, you will find yourself alone in a dead end. Your life will pass you by. Even if you are successful, as