Memory Text: Ecclesiastes 6:7 NKJV “All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied.”

Sunday, February 11 Safest Place on Earth?
Jeremiah 6:14 NKJV “They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.”
Jeremiah 6:14 COMMENTARY FAMILY BIBLE NOTES The aim of all false doctrine is to flatter men with the hope of impunity in sin; and its result is to make them impudent and hardhearted, and thus plunge them into irremediable ruin.
Psalm 115:1-7 MKJV “1 ¶ Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy [and] for Your truth’s sake. 2 Why should the nations say, Where now [is] their God? 3 But our God [is] in Heaven; He has done whatever He has pleased. 4 Their idols [are] silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 5 They [have] mouths, but they do not speak; they [have] eyes, but they do not see; 6 they [have] ears, but they do not hear; they [have] noses, but they do not smell; 7 they have hands, but they do not handle; they have feet, but they do not walk; they do not mutter through their throat.
Isaiah 44:9-17 MKJV “9 ¶ Those who make a graven image [are] all of them vanity; and the things in which they delight shall not help; and they [are] their own witnesses. They do not see nor know, that they may be ashamed. 10 Who has formed a god, or melted a graven image that is good for nothing? 11 Behold, all his companions shall be ashamed; and the craftsmen; they [are] from men. They shall assemble; all of them shall stand; they shall dread; they shall be ashamed together. 12 He engraves iron with a tool. He works in the coals, and forms it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms. Then, he is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is weak. 13 He fashions wood, and stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil; he shapes it with carving tools, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to sit [in the] house. 14 He cuts down cedars, and takes cypress and oak, which he makes the trees of the forest strong for him; he plants a tree, and the rain makes [it] grow. 15 And it shall be for a man to burn; for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles [it] and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god and worships; he makes it a graven image and falls down to it. 16 He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts roast and is satisfied; yea, he warms [himself], and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image; he falls down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me! for you [are] my god.”
Isaiah 45:20-22 NRSV “20 ¶ Assemble yourselves and come together, draw near, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge—those who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. 21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is no one besides me. 22 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Isaiah 45:20 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY Let all that have escaped of the nations, not only the people of the Jews, but those of other nations that were by Cyrus released out of captivity in Babylon, let them come, and hear what is to be said against the worshipping of idols, that they may be cured of it as well as the Jews, that Babylon, which had of old been the womb of idolatry, might now become the grave of it.

Monday, February 12 When Gold Rusts
Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 KJ21 “1 ¶ There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2 a man to whom God hath given riches, wealth and honor, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not the power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.”
Ecclesiastes 6:2 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE A man may possess much earthly goods, and yet enjoy nothing of them. Possession and fruition are not necessarily joined together; and this is also among the vanities of life. It is worthy of remark, that it belongs to God as much to give the power to enjoy as it does to give the earthly blessings.
Matthew 6:19-20 KJ21 “19 ¶ "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”

Tuesday, February 13 Family Matters
What kind of family turmoil is shown in these verses?
Genesis 4:8 KJ21 “8 ¶ And Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.”
Genesis 37:19-22, 36 NLT “19 "Here comes that dreamer!" they exclaimed. 20 "Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into a deep pit. We can tell our father that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we’ll see what becomes of all his dreams!" 21 But Reuben came to Joseph’s rescue. "Let’s not kill him," he said. 22 "Why should we shed his blood? Let’s just throw him alive into this pit here. That way he will die without our having to touch him." Reuben was secretly planning to help Joseph escape, and then he would bring him back to his father. 36 Meanwhile, in Egypt, the traders sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.”
2 Samuel 11:1-4 NLT “1 ¶ The following spring, the time of year when kings go to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to destroy the Ammonites. In the process they laid siege to the city of Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 2 Late one afternoon David got out of bed after taking a nap and went for a stroll on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite." 4 Then David sent for her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. (She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period.) Then she returned home.”
2 Samuel 13:1-2, 6, 11-12, 14 NLT “1 ¶ David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. 2 Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible that he could ever fulfill his love for her. 6 So Amnon pretended to be sick. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him, "Please let Tamar come to take care of me and cook something for me to eat." 11 But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, "Come to bed with me, my darling sister." 12 "No, my brother!" she cried. "Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! You know what a serious crime it is to do such a thing in Israel. 14 But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her”
Matthew 10:35-37 NKJV “35 "For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 "and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his [own] household.’ 37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
1 Corinthians 5:1 MKJV “Everywhere [it is] reported [that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as is not named among the nations, so as one to have [his] father’s wife.”

Wednesday, February 14 A Long Life?
Ecclesiastes 6:6 KJ21 “yea, though he live a thousand years twicetold, yet he hath seen no good. Do not all go to one place?”
Ecclesiastes 6:6 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN If the miser's length of "life" be thought to raise him above the abortive, Solomon answers that long life, without enjoying real good, is but lengthened misery, and riches cannot exempt him from going whither "all go." He is fit neither for life, nor death, nor eternity.
What do these texts say about the problem of death?
John 5:28-29 KJ21 “28 Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice 29 and shall come forth—they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
John 6:54 NKJV “"Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 10:28 NKJV “"And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
2 Timothy 1:10 NKJV “but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, [who] has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,”
Hebrews 2:14 MKJV “Since then the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same; that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death (that is, the Devil),”
Revelation 21:4 NKJV “"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."”

Thursday, February 15 More Griping
Ecclesiastes 6:7-12 NIV “7 ¶ All man’s efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied. 8 What advantage has a wise man over a fool? What does a poor man gain by knowing how to conduct himself before others? 9 Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 10 Whatever exists has already been named, and what man is has been known; no man can contend with one who is stronger than he. 11 ¶ The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone? 12 For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?”
Ecclesiastes 6:7 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY Our lot is appointed. We have what pleases God, and let that please us. The greatest possessions and honours cannot set us above the common events of human life. Seeing that the things men pursue on earth increase vanities, what is man the better for his worldly devices? Our life upon earth is to be reckoned by days. It is fleeting and uncertain, and with little in it to be fond of, or to be depended on. Let us return to God, trust in his mercy through Jesus Christ, and submit to his will. Then soon shall we glide through this vexatious world, and find ourselves in that happy place, where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
Ecclesiastes 6:12 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE Futurity is with God. While he lives, man wishes to know what is before him. When he is about to die, he wishes to know what will be after him. All this is vanity; God, because he is merciful, will reveal neither.
Why don’t the things of this world satisfy us?
Isaiah 57:12-13 BBE “12 I will make clear what your righteousness is like and your works; you will have no profit in them. 13 ¶ Your false gods will not keep you safe in answer to your cry; but the wind will take them, they will be gone like a breath: but he who puts his hope in me will take the land, and will have my holy mountain as his heritage.”
Romans 7:5 BBE “For when we were in the flesh, the evil passions which came into being through the law were working in our bodies to give the fruit of death.”
Romans 7:5 COMMENTARY FAMILY BIBLE NOTES In the flesh; in their natural state, with no ground for justification except obedience to law, and under the necessity of perfectly obeying it or suffering its curse. Its strict requirements and its awful threatenings, instead of leading them to love and obey it, were the occasion, through their wickedness, of exciting against it greater hatred and more violent rebellion; thus, in the language of the Holy Ghost, "bringing forth fruit unto death."
What advantage does a wise man have over a foolish man?
Proverbs 1:7 ESV “7 ¶ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 3:35 ESV “The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.”
Matthew 7:24-27 NIV “24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."”
Matthew 25:1-4 NIV “1 ¶ "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.