17. Drawing Near to God
Hymns: 314 Nearer, Still Nearer 334 Sweet Peace, the Gift of God’s Love 338 Show Me Thy Way, O Lord
Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes
(Remember Now Thy Creator)
– Drawing Near to God
Ecclesiastes 5:1-3
1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. 3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
OUTLINE
- Prepare Yourself (v1a)
- Be Ready to Hear (v1b)
- Be Not Rash With Your Mouth (v2-3)
INTRODUCTION
Solomon has delineated for us the vanities of life in the last 4 chapters. The profitless endeavours that men embarked upon, he has tried them all and found them wanting. They do not satisfy his heart. He felt the emptiness after indulging himself in this pursuit of life under the sun. A life without God, he laments, is meaningless, empty, like a vapour that quickly disappears into oblivion, most disappointing. He was confronted to evaluate this world’s value system, a godless system. He found it lacking, crooked, cannot be made straight, wanting!
Recall the theme in this series of messages from the Book of Ecclesiastes – Remember Now Thy Creator. Or more literally, Now! Remember your Creator. Solomon tells us to come back to God immediately. Cut your losses and be on the path of true profit for your life.
He tells us that all is vanity with one exception – service to God.[1]
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Only that which is done for the glory and honour of God will endure. And He bids us to go to the House of God, go into the sanctuary, worship God! The jigsaw puzzle of life will fall into place. In worship, you will find true peace and joy, wisdom and strength to live life.
For the first time in this book, he referenced himself to God. What took him so long? You will find that life for many is the journey of going astray under they hit rock-bott0m, experienced the futility of trying to live “outside” God’s radar. And they come back to God.
I am reminded of this hymn sung to a Korean tune entitled “O Come Unto the Lord”:
O Come Unto the Lord
Oh come back to the Lord
No matter how heavy
And how great your sins may be
There are no sins that Christ
Our Saviour cannot bear or not accept
The great depth of the Lord’s loving heart
It is far deeper than the skies.
O Come unto the Lord
Oh come back to the Lord
Our Lord is waiting for
Your return both night and day
He is anxiously waiting for you
With His doors kept open wide.
As if He’s waiting in the night
For His lost child to come back home.
O Come unto the Lord
Oh come back to the Lord
No matter how hard hit
And how beaten you may be
The Lord’s hand will comfort you greatly
They will touch and will heal you
O come unto the Lord who loves you so
Please come back home, please come back home.[2]
The commentator Charles Bridges said well, “Let us…go into the sanctuary. Precious privileges belong to the house of God. Never does he fail to cheer his humble worshippers.”[3]
How then should we approach God, how should we draw near to Him?
- Prepare Yourself (v1a)
- Be Ready to Hear (v1b)
- Be Not Rash With Your Mouth (v2-3)
(1) Prepare Yourself
1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God,… for they consider not that they do evil.
The word “keep” means “to watch or to guard”, it means “to keep within bounds or restrain” in our context of doing evil – for they consider not that they do evil.
Come with a true and sincere heart to draw close to God. Willing to confess and mourn for our sins and make right with God. Most of all, it means iving a life of obedience before Him.
Not to give the sacrifice of fools. Not for an outward show to let everyone see that we are pious. That kind of worship is empty.
We are to come to God with great reverence and awe before God who is thrice holy. We are to know that we are sinners saved by grace. No merits of our own except God showing mercy to save us.
Come not flippantly, prepare your heart to approach God. Make time and take time to prepare yourself.
Watch the motions of the psalmist’s heart as he approached God in Psalm 5. He was troubled with trials of difficult people that came his way. He sought wisdom from God for a way forward.
Psalm 5:1-12 To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. 2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. 3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. 4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. 5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. 7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; (The psalmist faced difficulties, persecutions for his obedience to God’s commandments, he sought God for a way out of his predicament) make thy way straight before my face. 9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. 10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee. 11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. 12 For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
(2) Be Ready to Hear (v1b)
1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
Come with a heart prepare to listen to the voice of God speaking to you. He speaks to us through His Word in the hymns that we sing, the Word of God read and meditated, the Word of God exhorted.
Humble yourself before God, be ready to hear, be ready to obey the instructions that God will give you for your spiritual well-being.
Proverbs 2:1-17 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
This is the result or the outcome of your seeking…
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. 10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; 17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God….
(3) Be Not Rash With Your Mouth (v2-3)
2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. 3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
Swindoll said well, “Be quiet and stay calm because God hears the inaudible and sees the invisible.”[4]
Let your heart not wander (do not daydream). Focus and concentrate on your worship of God. Consider carefully what we will utter before God.
For a dream cometh through {in consequence of} the multitude of business. The verse is meant to confirm the injunction against vain babbling in prayer. Cares and anxieties in business or other matters occasion disturbed sleep, murder the dreamless repose of the healthy labourer, and produce all kinds of sick fancies and imaginations (confused and incoherent). [Pulpit, (Jill) Commentary]
Take heed these words of Jesus:
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Pray not like the hypocrite. The word “hypocrite” means “one who wears a mask, a pretender’ like a stage actor. In the ancient times, actors put on mask as they act the various roles on stage. Jesus is warning us against the sin of putting a mask on when we pray. Jesus warns of the hypocrites who pray because they want to seen of men, seeking for men’s accolades. To them prayer is a show to impress men and so their prayer is not toward God not toward self. Not the worship of God but the worship of self.
We are to be very careful to be sure that our prayer is the sincere worship of God and when we are upon our knees in the very presence of God we are indeed worshipping God and not allowing self to come in the way.
Jesus asks that we take serious consideration to subdue hypocrisy and increase the grace of truthfulness in our lives. We are to be sincere in our piety, hating the evils of hypocrisy.
We are to be aware of the deceitfulness of the heart. The hypocrites would love to pray standing in public places so that they may receive the praise of men. This verse certainly does not teach that we should not pray in public. Prayer is made a mockery by such hypocrites. Jesus exhorts His disciples to flee such hypocrisy. Jesus did not exhort His disciples to flee public prayer. Jesus is not condemning public prayer but Scripture does command believers congregate to pray. The infant church begun with corporate prayer in Acts 1 and continue to grow from strength to strength as the church gathered to prayer.
When we pray, we get into the presence of God to be alone with God and nothing should stand between God and us! Jesus warned against allowing self to come in the way. Therefore, we are commanded not to pray as a hypocrite.
Therefore our eloquence or lack of eloquence must be assessed from God’s viewpoint, a matter known only to God. He is able to discern the very motives of our heart. There are those who fear to pray publicly because they fear that they could not stand public scrutiny and therefore shunned from public prayer. But we need to realize that prayer meetings are the very essence and life of the church.
When Jesus said, “6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly”, He is not teaching that we do not go for prayer meeting but prayer in secret. It is not a prohibition to go to prayer meeting. But Jesus is teaching that when we pray we are to keep our focus upon God and Him alone, do not be distracted. Whether you are praying in secret or publicly, you are to do the same, let your prayer be directed solely to God.
CONCLUSION
- Prepare Yourself (v1a)
- Be Ready to Hear (v1b)
- Be Not Rash With Your Mouth (v2-3)
[1] Charles Bridges, Ecclesiastes, Banner of Truth Trust, 1992, 97.
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EoakU2035o
[3] Charles Bridges, Ecclesiastes, Banner of Truth Trust, 1992, 97.
[4] Charles R. Swindoll, Living On the Ragged Edge, W Publishing Group, 2004, 137.