Ecclesiastes 8:2-5
Godly wisdom is obedient and submissive. Beginning in verse 2, Solomon uses an illustration from the royal court to show how wisdom obeys and relates to authority. Just as God’s wisdom in your life means that you trust what you can’t see, it also means you obey what you can’t always understand. Wisdom lives with a sense of humility that knows when to submit and obey, even in circumstances where one lacks understanding.
There was no authority higher than that of the king. In verse 2, Solomon says that wisdom demands that a person keep the king’s command because of God’s oath. It could be a reference to the promise that God made when He put His king on the throne. God’s people were commanded to obey their earthly king because he was the Lord’s anointed. Their obedience to him brought glory and honor to God. As those who have bowed to allegiance of King Jesus, we honor Him submitting to those authorities He has placed. Romans 13 says that we are to be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God.
In other words, the transformation that God’s wisdom brings about in my life impacts my relationship to authority. There’s not a person alive who is not affected by someone in authority. Whether it’s in your home or at school, where you work and where you go to church, you have a relationship to the authority that God has placed in your life. If we’re employees, we submit to bosses that we may not always respect. If we’re students, we submit to professors that we may not always agree with. If the time comes when a boss or an official requires us to do something that is unethical, then we must appeal to a higher Authority–the Lord Jesus! When a religious council commanded Peter and John to stop preaching, they replied, “It is better to obey God than men!”
For more, read Acts 4:19-20; Romans 13:1-7
