Introduction: Today I read Ecclesiastes through twice more. The reasons are as numerous as the aphorisms in Ecclesiastes itself.

I had time to read; nothing substantive was being said where I was. I crave depth, not just verbiage. Say something, but please … do not blather.

Illustration: A few moments ago after a supper prepared by Carrie Jane, once again some of the words from Ecclesiastes 5 washed over me:

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay (vv. 4-5).

Question: How clear is that? Crystal.

My thoughts turned to the saints from class at church. There are those who are there rain or shine, week in and week out, those we can count on. And that is the diamond in the rough, you see.

As the called-out ones gathered around Scripture, around the Lord, and fellowshipped with one another, we listened to fellow committed Christian pilgrims share. I listened to a precious lady, whose decades of faithful witness speak for themselves, share how she is amidst the throes of cancer but also of how she knows her fellow brothers and sisters are interceding for her.

We listened to seasoned saints share of calling upon the Lord to heal their loved ones of cancer, of waywardness, of heart issues, of ‘accidents’, etc. but sometimes the Lord determined other resolutions than what we finite creatures tend to desire.

And yet we gathered nonetheless around the same truths regarding God’s sovereignty and our dependence upon him as the wise and good shepherd of the sheep.

God has, per Ecclesiastes, no pleasure in fools. If we are his sheep, we will remain. We will persevere. We will not fall away.

There is so much mere blather out there. Words, words, words, as Hamlet expressed. If one were to focus on the negative only, it would be easy to lose hope.

But we are not of those who lose hope. Why? Because God’s people are kept, sustained, upheld, and encouraged by God himself, and by the under-shepherds who care for God’s people.

It is a privilege and a sacred calling to be part of caring for those who make good on their promises–who assemble, who gather, who contribute, who build up the body, and prove themselves to be the bride for whom Christ died and wed to himself.