Each Sunday as I make my way from my office to the sanctuary, I try to make sure that I have two “essential” resources in my pocket: chapstick (because my lips get dry) and mints (because my breath gets stale).
Years ago I was on staff at a church where the pastor did the funeral for an elderly church member who had died. During the funeral the pastor remarked that every Sunday after church, this lady would greet him in the lobby and hand him a Certs – every Sunday without fail. He said, “I’m sure going to miss her.” Then I thought, “We’re all going to miss her!” This pastor definitely needed a breath mint after every service. Probably most of us do!
A person can be sporting a sharp-looking outfit, have their hair looking good, and be wearing nice cologne or perfume. But if they have bad breath, that’s the dominant thing you notice. It seems to overpower everything else. The person with halitosis may not clue in to the problem, but everyone else around him does!
In Ecclesiastes 10, Solomon says that’s the way that folly works. He begins the chapter by saying,
Dead flies make the perfumer’s 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. (Eccl. 10:1-3)
In these verses, Solomon is simply stating that a person shows himself to be wise or foolish by how he behaves. This observation becomes the launch pad for five practical lessons that will benefit us greatly if we take them to heart. They all tie into one truth, which can be summed up as follows:
Because even a little folly stinks, steer clear of stupidity.
That’s the central truth from which spring five practical words of counsel. We’ll cover the first one today.
Remain calm in the face of foolish anger.
“If the anger of a ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest” (Eccl. 10:4). In this situation, the angry person is in a position of authority, his anger is personal, and its a reflection of his own incompetence rather than yours. We know this is the case because of what Solomon writes in the next two verses: “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…” (Ecc. 10:5-6).
This reminds me of an old cartoon I saw in my dad’s executive comic book:
Life can be frustrating for an employee who is more competent than his boss, a student who knows more than his teacher, or a child who is more mature than her parents. And the situation is made worse when they get angry at you, even though the fault lies with them. In the heat of the moment, you may be tempted to become unglued yourself, but Solomon says to stay put and stay calm, “for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.”
Plus it will save you a heap of trouble, because the antics of fools have a way of catching up with them. This seems to be Solomon’s point in verses 8-9:
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.
In these verses, Solomon gives us various scenarios of the harm that can naturally befall a person as he goes about his work. But in this context it serves as an analogy of the fate that will befall a fool. David makes a similar analogy in Psalm 7, saying,
He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls in to the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends. (Ps. 7:15-16)
What goes often comes around. So don’t be stupid! Remain calm in the face of foolish anger.
We’ll look at two more tips tomorrow!