• Read Ecclesiastes 12

The opening verses remind me of our time in Revelation. Days of
trouble are surely coming. Write out the answers to the following questions on a sheet of paper:

• What do we learn about God from this chapter?

• How about us? What do we learn about people?

• How is the Teacher calling us to respond?

• Read Ecclesiastes 9

More lessons from “under the sun.” On a separate piece of paper, write out the answers to the following questions:

• After reading this chapter, what are the sobering or discouraging parts?

• What are the observations that are encouraging or bring life?

• What’s your take home from this chapter?

As we continue reading through wisdom literature, remember from
Proverbs that wisdom was around before all of creation. And we can
glean from wisdom’s insights as we seek to live life well and for the
Father’s glory.

• Read Ecclesiastes 1

According to the Bible Project video, we are now reading from the
“middle aged critic” portion of the wisdom literature.

• What does the author observe about life according to this chapter?

• How is creation portrayed in this chapter? Does anything pop out to you?

• Can you think of something new “under the sun”?

• What is comforting about there being nothing new under the sun?

• Read Proverbs 30 (focusing especially on verses 24-31)

I love verses 7-8, his utterly honest appraisal of himself and what he
sees as necessary to live wisely.

• If you could ask two things of the Lord, what would you ask?

• In verses 24-31, what’s the most interesting creature to you, and what do you learn from them? (Don’t be ashamed to have to look them up, I had to look up several of the words!)

• Read Proverbs 8

We are hearing from the wise, young, teacher as we read these next
couple days!

• On a separate piece of paper, write out the answers to the following questions:

• Who is the “me” in verse 22?
• Describe God’s work in creation from these verses (mainly 22-31)
• Why does it matter that wisdom was around before any of the creation? What’s the writer’s point?
• Of all the visuals listed as a part of creation, which stands out to you today?

Last week, we looked through the Psalms, the largest collection of
poetry in the Bible. This week and next week we are going to look at
some portions of the wisdom books in the Bible: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
and Job.

For an overview of these books, we turn again to our friends at the Bible
Project:

Spend some time just sitting with the Father this morning.

Listen to this hymn and be peaceful before the Lord:

Search Me, O God: