May The 4th (Psalm, Proverb, & Ecclesiastes) Be With You

Today, I use May 4th as an opportunity to evangelize through Scripture with a Radiating Faith solo sermon. Instead of focusing only on the familiar Star Wars phrase, I use the date as a doorway into Psalm 4, Proverbs 4, and Ecclesiastes 4. This sermon is about taking a cultural moment and redirecting it toward God, wisdom, peace, righteousness, and the eternal truth found in Scripture. 

I begin with Psalm 4, where David cries out to the God of his righteousness and asks for relief from distress. I break down the Hebrew language behind ideas like God making room in narrow places, falsehood and emptiness, covenant faithfulness, emotional discipline, righteous sacrifice, and true peace. This chapter points us toward the peace only God can give, especially when the world presses in with anxiety, distraction, enemies, delusions, and false gods. 

Then I move into Proverbs 4, focusing on the command to get wisdom at any cost, guard the heart, listen to instruction, avoid the path of the wicked, and walk the path of righteousness. I discuss Hebrew words connected to discipline, Torah, the inner self, wisdom, understanding, and the path of life. In a world full of social media comparison, sexualization, fear, anxiety, hatred, and constant distraction, Proverbs 4 reminds us that wisdom is not casual information but life-giving instruction from God. 

Finally, I close with Ecclesiastes 4, a sober reflection on oppression, envy, meaningless toil, loneliness, companionship, wisdom, and the vapor-like nature of popularity and achievement. I discuss the Hebrew concept of hevel, the fleeting mist of life under the sun, and how so much of modern ambition is driven by comparison instead of calling. Psalm 4 gives us peace in pressure, Proverbs 4 gives us wisdom for the path, and Ecclesiastes 4 gives us clarity about striving without God. May the fourth be with you—not the force, but the peace of Psalm 4, the wisdom of Proverbs 4, and the sober clarity of Ecclesiastes 4. 

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Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, today is that day, May 4th, a day where many people go around saying, "May the fourth be with you." Now, this comes about from the franchise Star Wars, where they say, "May the force be with you." At some point, people decided to get punny with it, so to speak, and say, "May the fourth be with you." It has expanded beyond Star Wars fans to just a common saying around this time of year that many people have said to me already in anticipation of May 4th. Just to mention the date, people have said, "Ha-ha, May the fourth be with you." Now, this is something, again, that has touched non-Star Wars fans because people in my life who don't watch the shows or the movies or have never seen them mention it. And I was thinking to myself, and the Holy Spirit upon me, someone said to me, "Mr. Whiskey, may the fourth be with you," as we were talking about the anticipation of this date and I said, "May the fourth book of Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes be with you." See, everyone wants to indulge in this fictional franchise of Star Wars and I'm not villainizing that. There's a time and place for fictional entertainment for sure. But I just felt a calling. Everyone keeps saying, "May the fourth, may the fourth, may the fourth be with you." The fourth what? The force is fictional. But what about may God be with you? May the fourth be with you and it just came to me, may the fourth book of Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes be with you. And if I had anticipated this more soonly more or rather sooner than more soonly, sooner than anticipated, I would have actually made a little booklet of the fourth Psalm, the fourth Proverb, and then the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes. So when people out in the streets were saying, "May the fourth be with you," I would say, "May the fourth," and then X, Y, Z be with you and actually give it to them. But we're settling for this, a virtual sermon that I hope will be very beneficial to everyone leveraging this date for godliness. I am excited to be preaching this sermon. What we are gonna do is break down the fourth Psalm, the fourth Proverb, and then of course, the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes. There is no coincidence behind why I chose those. I chose those because they are all collections of wisdom that can also stand on their own separate from the other Psalms, the other Proverbs, the other chapters of Ecclesiastes. These are three books of wisdom as well as Psalms being a lot more prayer and devotional. But Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, very heavily wisdom. And of course, there is much to learn from the Psalms about the human condition and our relationship with God. So I'm excited for this sermon. This is something that just came to me really just, uh, not too long before May 4th is actually upon us, which is Hopefully you're listening to this on that day. If not, keep it in mind for next year. One of the things I want you to take away from this, ladies and gentlemen, is that everything is a chance to evangelize, and that's not to turn everything into a godly matter. We are to do everything we do with a godly purpose. Again, there's a time and place to enjoy fictional things. I'm not trying to rain on the parade of any Star Wars fans at all, but I did wanna take it as a chance to do something, right? Uh, as a, as a servant of God, our goal should be to, uh, evangelize as much as we can, not forcing it upon people, but putting the information out there, whether it's podcasting, whether it's live sermons on church stages, or it's just day-to-day conversation, and this is a tool I'm using. Feel free to use it as well or cr- uh, come up with your own clever tool that is maybe more subtle or less subtle. However you wanna preach is how you g- wanna preach, and I just encourage you to do so. But I am super excited for this, and let's get right into the first one, which is the fourth Psalm, and we're going to be talking about, uh, some Hebrew language, of course, 'cause I love the Hebrew language. I am going to be reading them verbatim from the New International Version, and so let's get into it. Psalm 4: For the director of music with stringed instruments, a Psalm of David. "Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him. Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord. Many, Lord, are asking, 'Who will bring us prosperity?' Let the light of your face shine on us. Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety." It is very short and sweet, straight to the point. I think this is how many of us probably feel. I wanna start with the Hebrew notations, which is looking at in the first line it says, "Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God." That is the New International Version language. But "my righteous God" is more literally "God of my righteousness." If you look at the Hebrew, and I don't plan to pronounce any of these entirely properly, I have the phonetic notes, but bear with me. Elohei Tzidki, God of my righteousness, or God who vindicates me. Of my righteousness is more than just having a righteous God. This is David saying that God is the source, the defender, and the judge of his righteousness. He is the God of the righteousness. Righteous life doesn't begin with self-confidence. It begins with God as the one who defines and defends righteousness. God is not just a righteous God. It's not just a characteristic of him, but he embodies that characteristic into our qualities our well- as well. So our righteousness is pursuing God. It is liking God. God of my righteousness, right? Our righteousness should be based on God, uh, more so than it is just God being righteous. It is both of those. Then we see, "Give me relief from my distress," right? Separate me from what my distress is. Give me relief from it, oftentimes creating space, as it is here in the Hebrew, which is «bat-sar hir-khav tali.» In the narrow place, you made room for me. This distress is, is representing tightness and pressure, being squeezed maybe by enemies, maybe by the sins of others, maybe by the consequences of your sins, and this is God's rescue as, "In the narrow place you made room for me." Making room, pushing away our oppressors, our enemies, separating us from our sin, which we see in the New Testament and throughout the Old Testament, but especially in the New Testament, that separation of us from our sin rather than sin separating God from us, right? That's really important to focus on that point. God doesn't just comfort us inside of that ongoing pressure, but he makes a place for us separate, and that's what it talks about when we talk about true rest and peace, which we're gonna get into peace at the end of this psalm, is different than what we have in this world, the worldly comforts and the worldly peace. As Yeshua himself said, "My peace I leave you, my peace I give you, not as the world gives." And that extends to what our, our Father has always tried to give us and, and what the Bible points us toward what we can have. Then you look in the second line, "How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?" Now this, of course, is throughout the Old Testament abundantly these people praying to false wooden idols, golden metal and bronze and stone statues and idols and all these delusions and false gods, going into heathenism and paganism. This is no different than what we see today with different forms of new age spirituality, new forms of wickedness and, and witchery, and all kinds of idols, even technological and science idols, and not all of them are physical. Some of them are ideas. Let's look at the Hebrew, which is Reek and kazav. And again, I, I just emphasize those, uh, dramatically so you can understand the pronunciation better. I'm not trying to make fun of the Hebrew language, of course. Those meanings include emptiness, vanity, worthlessness, lie, deception, and falsehood. Looking at delusions in, in false gods. People often emphasize realness to fictional things, cultural trends. In fact, this whole episode, May the Fourth, right? There are people who believe the Force is real. There are people who believe the world of Star Wars is real, right? Again, not making fun of people who enjoy that culture, but some people get lost in that fantasy world. Not just for Star Wars, right? For other brands. Maybe it's Star Trek, maybe it's Game of Thrones, maybe whatever it is. Again, it could be a social media trend. It could be an ideology that is spreading. People chase cultural forces, fantasies, and trends, and they get attached to identities that feel powerful but are ultimately empty. And if people pursue the Bible and God as much as they pursue their fandoms across the different genres and mediums, how much greater would this world be? So I think that's a really important note, delusions and false gods. We focus so much on false gods, saying, "Well, I don't have idols set up in my house," or, "I don't go to a church that's pagan or different." It's beyond the religion. It is about ideology in your heart. It is about your praise and worship and what you are putting your center and focus on and what you believe. It is not about those more material and physical, tangible concepts. And it doesn't have to be organized, which is one of the downfalls. People go, "So I'm not part of any organized false religion." Okay, but what's your individual false religion? Now, going on to the third line in this s- fourth psalm, faithful servant. Faithful servant isn't just about being a good servant. It is about covenant loyalty, and we see covenantal promise and loyalty and relationships a lot in the Bible, and they are what this world is lacking. We have situationships more than covenantal marriages and than covenantal relationships. There is a casualness to everything that has infected and corrupted this world. And so I wanna go into that, looking at the Hebrew kasid, loyal one, devoted one, covenant faithful one. This is not just I'm your faithful servant. It goes beyond that. It is a death- This comes from covenantal love and mercy and loyal kindness, which is thematic throughout the chronological and historic... Messed up that word. Chronological and historical account of the Bible. The point is not that David is perfect or any of us as a faithful servant is perfect, but it's talking about that we belong to the Lord in a covenantal agreement, that God sets us apart. And being a faithful servant is being held to a higher standard and honoring that. Moving on, we look at tremble and do not sin, right? This is about different emotions, including deep emotional disturbance, anger, and trembling. It doesn't deny emotion, but it disciplines emotion. God has the emotional control that we can never fathom and what we need to pursue, and that's why the next line goes into about searching your heart and being silent. Talks about control and listening, and oftentimes our emotions are loud. They don't allow us to be silent. They don't allow us to listen because they're so focused on wanting to be loud and heard that we aren't listening. And you look at the Hebrew for that, uh, word of, of tremble and do not sin, it's rigzu ve'ateike tahu, right? And then looking at the be still, the be silent, the be quiet, vedomu, right? It doesn't say, you know, that may the force be with you as we are putting out on this whole holiday, but it says, "May your emotions bow before God before they become sin." And emotional control is throughout the Bible. And again, it's saying that emotional control and discipline is so important for whatever those emotions are, whether they're angry or sorrowful. And Proverbs has a whole bunch of wisdom on that, especially when it comes to the power of the tongue and listening and speaking, and that goes deeply into emotions. And in fact, Proverbs mentions anger and foolishness and, and emotional control and wisdom in several different facets. Now, the offer sacrifices of the righteous, that's about worship and trust, and it's not just talking about burnt offerings. We think so often in, especially in the Old Testament, the sacrifices, the righteous, all right, we gotta do burnt offerings. But Jesus talks about in the New Testament, Yeshua says, "Deny yourselves to, to, to take up and bear your cross with me." To paraphrase here, you have to deny yourself, and the sacrifices are things of this world and spiritual sacrifices. So worship without trust just becomes religious theater and show. We see a lot of that. We see, in fact, a lot of times in- Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament, we see people who are worshiping and sacrificing, but they're not doing so in righteousness. They're not doing so with trust. And so I think that's really important to look at. It's, it's also the opposite. Trust without obedience is no good either. It needs to be a balance of worship, obedience, and trust. And I think something we can all agree with, let the light of your face shine on us. How many of us, like David, long to see God's face? We long to know God more physically and tangibly, uh, at all as well as emotionally. And I think it's, it's beautiful, you know, to feel like God's light, His... The light of His face is shining on us. Sometimes that's not a physical light, but it's in our life in ways that other people who aren't believers can't understand. And one of the beauties of being a believer is feeling that light shine on us regardless of the physical tangibleness of it. And then the Psalm ends with what I alluded to earlier on, which is peace and safety, not external power. It talks about, you know, shalom and l'ovetach. You know, not just peace as we'd call it peace so casually, but a wholeness, a wholeness in that peace and rest, and then safety and security. You know, the Psalm ends with, "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety." Lying down and sleeping is one of your most vulnerable but restful and healing places, and if you can sleep in peace, it means you are not worried or anxious, and that is a beautiful thing that only God can truly give to us on such a powerful level. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna get into Proverbs 4, which is amazing as well. Get wisdom at any cost, and at any cost doesn't mean committing immorality, but that's to emphasize the importance, the absolute importance of wisdom. Now, "Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction. Pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. For I too was a son to my father, still tender and cherished by my mother. Then he taught me and he said to me, 'Take hold of my words with all your heart. Keep my commands, and you will live.' Get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you. Love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you." Embrace her and she will honor you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown. Listen, my son, accept what I say and the years of your life will be many. I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go. Guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil. They are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say. Turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight. Keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to one's whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity. Keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left. Keep your foot from evil. Now this, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the most difficult things to do, especially now more than ever before in this complete inundation, this environment of inundation with social media, with mainstream media, with fear, with anxiety, with stress, with sexualization, racism, hatred. All the fallen world sins are constantly bombarding us from every corner of our phone to our TVs to our doorways, everywhere we go. And it is hard to walk on this righteous path of wisdom without turning left or right and being distracted, nor walking with other sinners. Cutting off people from your life of a spirit of discernment is important. Now, there's a quote we just read here, the 23rd line of this fourth proverb, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." This line is a very famous line of scripture. In fact, it's one that I have preached before in my sermons. It's one I preached during my sermon against mind-altering drugs and other practices to include hypnosis and whatnot, and I talked about the Hebrew word for heart and how it's more than just your heart, it's your inner self. It is deeply important. And so that sermon will be in the description below to check out. When you talk about everything you do flows from it, that's the outgoings of life Look at that word. You know, it's Ƴotsey ote chayim, the outgoings, the sources, and the springs of life. The heart is not just one area of life. It is the spring from which life flows. Everything you do is affected by your heart. And so if that spring, to use the analogy of water, is poisoned, everything that streams from it will be poisoned. And I wanna go back, though, to the beginning of the proverb, looking at, you know, instruction, where it says, "Listens, my sons, to a father's instruction." Instruction is the English translation, but if we look at Hebrew, musar, it's discipline, correction, instruction, and training. It's not just information. It is a, a lifestyle. It is supposed to be implemented. And you look about the proverbs, looking at some of the other proverbs besides this fourth one, may the fourth proverb be with you, that there are many parts where it talks about when you're receiving this information, don't discard it. Listen to it. Try to receive it. And it talks about those of us who are thinking about discarding it in our youth, many of the people that are speaking did so and regretted it. They say, "Oh, I scorned the discipline in my youth, but now how I suffer the consequences and how I would have benefited should I had just listened." And so when it talks about this instruction and teaching, it's not just information. It i- is a command, and it stems ultimately from God through the author. And so I think that's really important to note, that we oftentimes need to understand it is more than just information. It is training from God for this life. It is preparation. "Do not forsake my teaching." That's Torah, right? It is instructions that are directional and teaching. It sounds like law, and in a lot of English translations, it, it's written and translated as law, which comes across as cold rules. When we think of law, we think of legality and just consequences, and that's true. That's what this is, in the sense that these instructions and teachings are meant to benefit us, and there are consequences if we don't listen. However, this is more loving and fatherly when you realize it's Torah. You know, it shows someone the right path through fatherly love or instructorly mentorship. You know? Ultimately, this flows from the Father, God in heaven. And so we need to know, right, that this is coming from a place of love, not just legality. And I, I love in- The beginning here it says, let me find it real quick, "Take hold of my words with all your heart. Keep my commands and you will live." I love that, the let your heart hold fast to my words. Yidmok devarai libeka. That's the word, you know, we talked about before, libeka. You know, the heart is not just emotions. It's the inner self. It's mind, will, desire, and moral direction, libeka. And Proverbs 4 is commanding you about that center of your person, right? It talks about later on, guard your healths, guard above all, all the things your heart, right? Guard above all else your heart, for all you do flows from it. And this says in the beginning as well, "Take hold of my words with all your heart." So what you put into your heart is important. What you take out of your heart is important, and what you guard your heart with and how is important. And it talks about get wisdom. It talks about getting wisdom like it's a treasure. It says acquire wisdom, acquire understanding. Kene kokma kene veena. Acquire, it can mean buying, obtaining, or possessing. Wisdom isn't treated like a casual preference or a character trait. It's something worth spending your life to gain something, work towards something that is worth it. You, it, get it like it's very valuable, you know? And we have people who will spend so much money, time, and effort on false validation from the world rather than wisdom and wise instructions to live. Throughout this proverb, it talks about this is your lifeline. This is what keeps you alive, adds years to your life, because wisdom means it helps you refrain from sin, and sin leads to death. Wisdom and understanding are related but s- distinct in this, you know. Wisdom, kokma, skillful living, practiced wisdom, moral competence. And then understanding, beena, is discernment, the ability to distinguish between things. Wisdom isn't just knowing what is true. Understanding is being able to tell the difference between what looks good and what actually leads to life. I, I talk about discernment all the time, a spirit of discernment. And then wisdom is not just a treasure, but later on it's likened to a woman that we, we cherish, someone, and wisdom being something that's honored and embraced. You know, it talks about cherish her. Salse leha. Prize her, exalt her, value her highly. Wisdom is personified as a woman here. The son is told to embrace wisdom, honor wisdom, and not abandon wisdom, and we know in biblical terms that covenantal love is all those things. It, this is a contrast to pop culture, where people love fantasy power instead of real wisdom, loving wisdom. And we have people who are pining away over fictional women who are the personifications of different things, oftentimes sinful things. Where are the personifications of, of wisdom? And then we see that Proverbs 4, for a majority of it, is built around the image of a path, and there are a couple different words and a few key Hebrew words that help describe this imagery of a path. We mentioned it in English many times, the word path. You look at Hebrew, you have derek, which is a way, a road, a path, a manner of life. You have orekh, which is a path, a track, and a course of life. A lot of these overlap, but they have slightly different, uh, connotations, meanings. You have also magal, which is a track, course, a pathway. So it's described in many different ways, and I think that really speaks to also, like, a lot of us are on different paths. There's only one true righteous path, right? But we're all on our different paths toward that, and walking that righteous path, and walking towards wisdom and with wisdom, and it talks about also the path. There's a different path for those who are wicked, those who are evildoers, as we mentioned in the English translation as well. You know, when people talk about may the fourth be with you, they talk about a power being with you, and oftentimes in the Bible we talk about God being with you. But this Proverbs chapter is looking at not what power is with you, but what path are you on, right? Because they're two different things. You can have the power with you but be on the wrong path, and you can be on the right path but not have the power with you, right? Wisdom and understanding, different, related, both important. What path are you on? And how is what power guiding you on that path? In God's case, if God is the center of your worship and praise and you're walking down the good path, you're in a good place. But if the love of money, if the love of sex, if the love of whatever it is, insert your temptation or struggles, is the power leading you down the path, it's gonna take you off the path of righteousness and onto the path of wickedness. It's gonna bring you deep down the path of wickedness. We know the path of righteousness is described like the morning sun. The path of righteous is like a shining light. Orekh, which again is that path- The path of the righteous is like a shining light. And we know throughout the Bible, the light is emphasized when it comes to godliness, to shining radiance and light of God's face as we talked about in the Psalm previous, right? The righteous path is not an instant celebrity brightness as we chase oftentimes in this world. It grows brighter till the full light of day. It is a progressional path. See, the world offers instant gratification. God offers exponential gratification, and most of us don't wanna wait for that. We wanna focus on what we can have here now. Again, guard your heart. This isn't just casual self-care. This is serious. More than all guarding, guard your heart. This is strong. This is powerful. Guarding your heart more than anything else you guard. Everything you do flows from there. We talked about that. And of course, give careful thought to the paths for your feet. This is waiting. M- waiting as in like weighting, like W-E-I-G-H. Make level, carefully measure, weight it. Means, you know, this is a practical point. Wisdom is not just avoiding evil. It's preparation and analysis. It's observation and interpretation and analysis and implementation before you take your steps. This isn't just as you're living, but in preparation for everything that you do. Give careful thought. That is really important. And so that wraps up that part of this sermon, the fourth proverb. So we've gone over the fourth Psalm, the fourth proverb, and now in the third and final part that we'll be going over today, the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes. This one is important, and it kinda goes in a order. We talk about godliness and salvation. Then we spoke about the path of what you're walking in wisdom, and now we're gonna talk about oppression, toil, and friendlessness in this fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes. "Again, I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter. Power was on the side of their oppressors, and they have no comforter." And I declared that the dead who had already died are happier than the living who are still alive. But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. And I saw that all toil and all achievement springs from one person's envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves. Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. Again, I saw something meaningless under the sun. There was a man all alone. He had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. "For whom am I toiling?" he asked, "And what am I depriving myself of enjoyment?" Or sorry, "Why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?" This too is meaningless, a miserable business. Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Achievement is meaningless. Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning. The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor. There was no end to all the people who were before him, for those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Now Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite accounts in the whole Bible. It really is, and it talks about so many things. Even right here, we see again the emphasis on wisdom. Let me read it for you again real quick here. "Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning." So we see four things being compared here of really two sets, poorness and wealth, right? Poor versus king, king being wealthy, poor being poor. Wise and then foolish, and they talk about youth versus king, of course. Uh, that part is also a comparison, but we're gonna focus more so on the wisdom versus the foolishness. We look at a couple different statuses here. The youth and the poorness go together, right? Especially in biblical times, your age meant authority Now God doesn't look at that. God says, "Do not say you're too young or too old. What I say to do shall be done." But when we look at human standards, you look at ancient civilizations especially, and even nowadays still, age was equivalent to authority. So you have a poor youth, so he doesn't have much authority and he's poor, versus a f- old king, so he's wealthy and he's older, meaning he has more authority and status, and he's a king. But the king is called foolish and the youth is called wise. And when they talk about these traits, they talk about obviously it says better is the wisdom than all the traits of this world, right? The youth, that's a trait of this world that, that we assign as a society in equivalence to authority. God doesn't do that. The wealth, God doesn't look at that. He looks at what can you give for what you have? What do you deny yourself and what kingdom treasures do I have for you? And then you look at the king's power was all assigned from society, his authority, his age, his kingliness, right? There's only one king, which is God. And the teacher, the wise teacher, the writer of Ecclesiastes says, "Better the poor but wise youth." Oftentimes you see throughout this chapter of Ecclesiastes and throughout Ecclesiastes in general, a couple different terms which I love. It's one of my favorite things again. They talk about under the sun. They constantly refer to everything that took place under the sun, and really it's a representation of this world, this life, uh, before heaven or hell, right? Everything that takes place under the sun. And then of course you look at the repeating of a chasing after the wind. One of my favorite Hebrew words, hevel. There's no exact English translation, but like a dissipation of fog or mist. Uh, it talks repeatedly about a chasing of the wind slipping through your fingers, and we're gonna get into some more Hebrew here. Again, Ecclesiastes comes from Qoheleth, and the assembler is a preacher. Again, this is stemmed from the fact that a wise teacher wrote this. He is often accredited as King Solomon. Some people believe that King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes as his regretful parting letter from this world. We don't know exactly. We know that Ecclesiastes comes from Qoheleth. You know, it talks about assembler, teacher, preacher, one who addresses gathered assembly. We know this was written for many people to read. It's part of the Bible obviously. And Ecclesiastes itself is a preach reflection of life, of suffering, of work, of envy, of loneliness, power and meaning, and many other things. Those are very specific to this fourth chapter We see again, again, the oppressed person is repeated. And again, oppression constantly is associated here with tears and no comforter. And so we see the oppressed, which is ashukim, oppressed, exploited, crushed by injustice. And you look at the Hebrew phrase for they have no comforter, ein lahim menachem. Ecclesiastes 4, I mean, the whole book of Ecclesiastes can be very depressing if you read it the wrong way. When you read it and realize that God is really giving us a humble message talking about life, the end of Ecclesiastes chapter 12, if you've never read that, go read it right now. Please, I beg you. It will change your life. It tells us the purpose of life. And I'll summarize it real quick here, to serve God. To serve and glorify God. Everything else is meaningless. And I'll, uh, the first time I ever read Ecclesiastes, I read it wrong. I felt suicidal and depressed. It is a heavy book. It will make you feel like this life is worthless. But if you read it with the Spirit of God, you realize what it's trying to get us at. It- this, this book, this whole historical account from what was written by this wise teacher, yes, it's a slap in the face, but it's to wake us up from the delusions, the false gods, and the false promises, and the sin of this fallen world. It talks about companionship. It talks about people crushed by power and lacking comfort. Biblical wisdom is not blind optimism. There is reality to the harshness of this world. Again, under the sun is an earthly perspective of fallen life. It's, it's a limited view. It's a limited time. The sun comes and sets. It's not trying to say that life has no meaning in, in God, right? In God, there is meaning, but it exposes how unstable and painful life becomes when viewed only under the sun. And part of this is saying we need to look past the sun to the life beyond this, which is what Yeshua was guiding us towards and what he's still trying to guide us to today for those who have not yet gotten that guidance or have denied that guidance. And they talk about the envy of a man towards his neighbor and achievements spurning from envy, and I think this goes very well with modern day. You look at the Hebrew for it. Kinat ish me're'ahu, the envy of a man toward his neighbor and how achievement comes from this. What it's talking about is how many of us, and this was back then. I'm gonna, I'm gonna put it in modern-day terms. How many of us Or only working hard because of social media highlights, because of the other people we're seeing, because of the envy of what we're seeing. We want someone else's car, someone else's house, someone else's wife, someone else's life. Instead of pursuing the life that God has for us, that God has planned for us, instead of consulting with God, we're consulting social media and mainstream media, seeing this ambition of content creation, business, fitness, ministry, religious performance, everything on social media, whether it's podcasting, whether it's clips on, on different platforms, whether it's maybe even in-person content. We're seeing it's driven by comparison instead of calling. We're l- chasing after the lives of others. We're being called to that rather than answering our calling from God with the life that He designed for us. And again, I mentioned earlier hevel, one of my favorite words, a vapor, a breath, a mist, something fleeting and hard to grasp. This English translation is called meaningless, which is very emotional. But hevel, when you read it in Hebrew, shows us a physical image. It's not just about nothing matters. It's showing that image of instability, of briefness, of impossibility to control. It's not just nothing matters. It talks about our application towards it. Chasing after wind. Reut ruach. Chasing, striving after, shepherding wind. Ruach can mean wind, breath, or spirit, depending on the context. Here in the English translation where we see wind, this is the right idea because we talk about Ecclesiastes isn't just saying chase the spirit force. It's saying that envy-driven striving is like trying to grab the wind. There is a spiritual force for us to chase after and, and use, and that is in godliness. Looking at the fool who holds his hands and destroys himself. Looking at kovek et yadav, folding and embracing your hands. This image is one of laziness, right? Laziness becomes self-consumption. The fool refuses meaningful labor, ends up awe- eating away at his own life, right? Folding and embracing his hands, indulging in laziness, something we're seeing more and more of. We're seeing bed rot and doom scrolling taking over and, and This folding and embracing of hands, bed rotting and doom scrolling are hand in hand, no pun intended, with that. And then speaking of hands, we get into one of the most beautiful lines in Ecclesiastes. Better one hand with tranquility. Better one hand with tranquility than to have... Let me find it real quick. I wanna say it verbatim. It talks about... I can't find it. Hold on. Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls of toil and chasing after the wind. And I think that's really relevant to everything going on nowadays as well. You know, you look at a handful of quietness and rest for that tranquility, melo kaf nakat, right? Contrasted with the two handfuls of toil and trouble, melo kof nayim amad, right? And we, and we look at w- toil and trouble in related to stress, to all these projects we're grabbing after, right? If you wanna use the physical imagery of the hands, all these different projects we're holding onto, but not one handful o- of the Bible and peaceful living, and maybe it's more humble living than all the toil and stress we're grabbing that has shiny things attached to it, like the car, like the house, like the social media highlights. And we need to focus on what we are chasing after and what are we are using our hands to do and, and what are we trying to put into them and put into our lives. Again, we talk about putting into, in our, our previous proverb, what are we putting into a heart from our hands? And then I love, "For whom am I laboring?" Lemi ani amal. We have this guy who's working, no son, no brother, no end to his toil, no satisfaction in wealth. This isn't anti-work. It's talking about isolated, purposeless striving. This is emphasizing the importance of community, the importance of godly purpose behind what you're doing, of answering your calling. And this is so important. For whom am I toiling? It should be for the Lord. It should be for the community. Serving God and serving others is our purpose. And then again, the rest of the Ecclesiastes goes into compounding that with companionship, shared labor, community strength, and I think it's really important. And then of course they talk about popularity is also vapor- And, and that's, that's what we're talking about with all this stuff going on in modern day. If you look at Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 16, "There was no end to the people who followed the new ruler, but later generations were not pleased with him." Right? This is just like some of the celebrities, some of the leaders we have nowadays. You look at, "There was no end to all the people." "Ain ketz lekol ha'am." Massive popularity is not permanent. Think about your followers on social media. You might have a large following now. What about when you're older? What about when you need people? What about when you're going through life struggles, right? We are chasing popularity even though it's a vapor. Popularity is hevel. Trends pass. Crowds move on. These following, these bandwagon trends, all this stuff goes away. There are singers now who people don't talk about anymore, people who were i- inventors and singers and actors and actresses, whatever it is, social media stars, that we've already forgotten about. We, we call it 15 minutes of fame, but it's hevel. To summarize all three of these passages of scripture, all beautiful and impactful ones, you look at Psalm 4, the fourth Psalm, may the fourth Psalm be with you, God gives peace in the pressure. God is salvation and God of righteousness. May the fourth Proverbs be with you, God gives wisdom for the path, and wisdom is important. Pursue that. Go after that. Then you look at the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes, may that be with you, the emptiness of striving without God and the necessity of righteous community. This is it. May the fourth be with you, not the force, but the peace of Psalm 4, the wisdom of Proverbs 4, and the sober clarity of Ecclesiastes 4. I pray that this sermon was a blessing for you. I pray that it was something that will resonate with you today and in the future, and I hope that you have learned something from it and that you will pass this knowledge on. And most importantly, may God be with you.