Memory Text: Ecclesiastes 5:10 NKJV “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.”

Sunday, February 4 God in Heaven, Humanity on Earth
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 NLT “1 ¶ As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut! Don’t be a fool who doesn’t realize that mindless offerings to God are evil. 2 And don’t make rash promises to God, for he is in heaven, and you are only here on earth. So let your words be few. 3 Just as being too busy gives you nightmares, being a fool makes you a blabbermouth. 4 ¶ So when you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. 5 It is better to say nothing than to promise something that you don’t follow through on. 6 In such cases, your mouth is making you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved. 7 Dreaming all the time instead of working is foolishness. And there is ruin in a flood of empty words. Fear God instead.”
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 COMMENTARY FAMILY BIBLE NOTES Keep thy foot; this and the six following verses contain a warning against inconsiderateness in God's service, in respect to sacrifices, prayers, and vows.
Matthew 21:28-31 MKJV “28 ¶ But what do you think? A man had two sons; and he came to the first and said, Son, go work in my vineyard today. 29 He answered and said, I will not. But afterwards he repented and went. 30 And he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, I [go], sir; and did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of [his] father? They said to Him, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that the tax-collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.”
These texts help us understand the hope we have when we fail.
Matthew 18:21-23 MKJV “21 ¶ Then Peter came to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven times? 22 Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of Heaven has been compared to a certain king who desired to make an accounting with his servants.”
Romans 2:4 KJ21 “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”
1 John 2:1 KJ21 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Monday, February 5 Poor Man
Matthew 26:11 NIV “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”
Ecclesiastes 5:8 NIV “If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.”
Ecclesiastes 5:8 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Exploitation by a corrupt officialdom is not uncommon. Political schemes rarely prove beneficial to the poor. Solomon himself had been guilty of oppressing the poor in order to advance his own grandiose plans (1 Kings 12:4).
How should the poor be treated?
Exodus 23:6 NRSV “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits.”
Leviticus 19:15 NRSV “You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.”
Leviticus 25:39-43 NRSV “39 ¶ If any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves. 40 They shall remain with you as hired or bound laborers. They shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 Then they and their children with them shall be free from your authority; they shall go back to their own family and return to their ancestral property. 42 For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves are sold. 43 You shall not rule over them with harshness, but shall fear your God.”
Deuteronomy 15:7,11 NRSV “7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land."”
Deuteronomy 24:14-15 NRSV “14 ¶ You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns. 15 You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the LORD against you, and you would incur guilt.”

Tuesday, February 6 The King and the Field
Ecclesiastes 5:9 ASV “Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.”
Ecclesiastes 5:9 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE without the field he cannot have supplies for his own house; and, unless agriculture flourish, the necessary expenses of the state cannot be defrayed. Thus, God joins the head and feet together; for while the peasant is protected by the king as executor of the laws, the king himself is dependent on the peasant; as the wealth of the nation is the fruit of the labourer's toil.
Deuteronomy 10:14 ASV “Behold, unto Jehovah thy God belongeth heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein.” Psalm 8:6 ASV “Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet:”
Psalm 24:1 ASV “A Psalm of David. The earth is Jehovah’s, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein.”
Psalm 115:15 ASV “Blessed are ye of Jehovah, Who made heaven and earth.”
James 5:1-8 God’s Word to the Nations “1 ¶ Pay attention to this if you’re rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you. 2 Your riches have decayed, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be used as evidence against you. Like fire, it will destroy your body. You have stored up riches in these last days. 4 The wages you refused to pay the people who harvested your fields shout to God against you. The Lord of Armies has heard the cries of those who gather the crops. 5 You have lived in luxury and pleasure here on earth. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered people who have God’s approval, even though they didn’t resist you. 7 Brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord comes again. See how farmers wait for their precious crops to grow. They wait patiently for fall and spring rains. 8 You, too, must be patient. Don’t give up hope. The Lord will soon be here.”

Wednesday, February 7 Never Enough
Ecclesiastes 5:10 NKJV “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.”
Ecclesiastes 5:10 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE The more he gets, the more he would get; for the saying is true:-"The love of money increases, in proportion as money itself increases."
Ecclesiastes 5:10 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The life devoted to the acquisition of wealth is rarely satisfied with what is accumulated. Solomon may have in mind the crowds of petty and higher officials in an Oriental government, each eager to feather his own nest.
Proverbs 27:20 NIV “Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man.”
Isaiah 56:11-12 NIV “11 They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. 12 "Come," each one cries, "let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better."”
Luke 12:13-21 NIV “13 ¶ Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14 Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 "Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ‘ 20 "But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."”
Martha Berry founded Berry College next to Rome, Georgia in order to serve the highland people of that state. Talking about acquiring land with her chief agent one day, she observed, “I’m like the rest of the country people; I want what ‘jines me [joins mine]’” Eventually the college owned 33,000 acres, be noted for a good purpose. Harnett T. Kane, Miracle in the Mountains, p. 142. But many people do not have the good purpose – educating the young – that she had and still have the same attitude.

Thursday, February 8 Naked in the Dust
Ecclesiastes 5:15 NRSV “As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands.”
Ecclesiastes 5:15 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE However it may be, he himself shall carry nothing with him into the eternal world. If he die worth millions, those millions are dead to him for ever; so he has had no real profit from all his labours, cares, anxieties, and vast property!Ecclesiastes 5:15 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Only the spiritual “wealth” a man has accumulated in this life may be carried beyond the grave. Character is the only treasure he can take with him from this world to the next. Accordingly, the Christian will seek ways of depositi9ng his riches in heaven.
Matthew 16:24-26 NRSV “24 ¶ Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”
Matthew 16:26 PEOPLE’S NT COMMENTARY All the wealth, glory, pleasure and power of earth are worthless to the dying man. If he should gain them all and lose his own soul, he has lost all.

Why? It is none of the above. The only reason is that there is a God-shaped void that is impossible to fill with the riches of this world.

I personally see wealth today in much different terms such as having a father and mother in the home to share relationship and family responsibilties. Growing up a generation with the direction from God's Word and guiding the path of those who listen. Seeing love of people through the eyes of God and not the eyes of the world or its values.
Seeing that true poverty is an absence of God from ones life and not the things of the world. I have known life without money and life without God and I would rather have life without money, just give me Jesus.

annie, my two cents, for what its worth.

Your "two cents" are worth quite a lot.