Friday, July 25, 2025

Ecclesiastes Chapter Seven, Patience Is Its Own Reward

Ecclesiastes 7:8 The end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. [9] Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

At first verse 8 seems a little disconnected. At first glance the preacher is conjoining two different thoughts. But in fact it is just two different ways of looking at the same matter. The conclusion of something is better than its inception, says he. Why? Well, from personal experience as an author, while beginning a novel is exciting with boundless ideas whirling around one’s head, finishing the novel is infinitely better. You’ve brought your story and characters to the conclusion you envisioned for them; you’ve navigated your plot and character developments, and settled them into their happily ever after.

Excitement gives way to the realization of satisfaction, as time, energy, creativity, etc. give birth to a finished product that represents the sum of one’s efforts. The latter portion of the verse addresses the issue from a different perspective. The proud in spirit may celebrate or congratulate themselves when they begin an endeavor. But it takes real patience of spirit to complete said endeavor. Writing, building, painting, or whatever it is you’ve put your hand to, the outcome reflects your industry. It takes genuine perseverance to finish a project one’s engaged in, and is a reflection of the commitment and care the person involved has poured into it. Most of all, patience is involved. The old saying that good things come to those who wait may be applied here. Another saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” more clearly expresses the idea that to create something, patience is a requisite.


The patient in spirit will endure and succeed; therefore they are better than the proud in spirit, just like the end of a thing is better than its beginning. Technically the whole of a project is present in embryo when a venture begins, but it requires the sure and patient hand of its creator to bring it into being for others to see, experience, and appreciate. The ultimate example of this concept would be God Himself, of course. We read concerning creation, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good,” Genesis 1:31. Our Lord expressed the same as the preacher when he taught, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it–lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish,’” Luke 14:28-30.


Verse 9 is a lesson about the burden of anger. Culturally, I find the American fascination with anger in cinema interesting and disturbing. It has been pointed out that the trend for the last some years has been that a powerful person is someone who vents their anger, lashes out and really just lets go. It’s a sign of strength. Rather, it is a sign of weakness when someone is easily and always angry. They lack discipline, self-control and the ability to permit reason to triumph over fleeting emotion. In short, such characters in the media are children when it comes to matters of anger and its consequences. But the younger generation seems fascinated by this, and wants to be that character, lashing out with desperate rage, uncaring about who they hurt or the damage done, so long as they can express themselves in a tempest of violence.


Rather, the Biblical outlook on anger is that a man of strength suppresses his anger. He does not vent it in a childish manner, like a young boy denied a toy in the store so he throws himself to the floor and pounds his fists impotently. It’s a shocking and embarrassing display. It does show much about the person who succumbs to it; it reveals their lack of interest in the welfare of others, or any interest in practicing inner fortitude enough to subdue one’s own anger. Yes, Jesus our Lord drove out the merchants from the Lord’s house in zealous anger, but His anger was on His Father’s behalf against a people who certainly knew better. It wasn’t the childish tantrum of a man not getting his way; it was the incensed Son offended on His Father’s behalf that His people ignored and mocked simple, ancient commands.


Anger, we are informed, rests, or finds its home or its dwelling place, in the heart of fools. A fool lacks fortitude and self-control to employ, so when something angers them, it passes through the sieve of their emotional filter and finds instant release. Someone mature does not rush to be angry. In short, we are not to hear or see something displeasing and immediately respond with anger. James writes, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God,” James 1:19, 20. Why? We should be eager to hear the entire matter out. What we hear and see may (and likely is) only a fraction of what is happening. Therefore James counsels us to be slow to speak or respond to the matter, and slower still to come to wrath. Yes, there are times to be angry about something, but even when we are angry we are informed not to sin in our anger or let it fester, Ephesians 4:26. We may become angry, but we are not to rush into it, or let it control how we think and act. Anger is a response to something we perceive as unjust; in that respect we ought to take our Father’s example. Though the entire race of Adam’s children are always and only unjust, yet despite His anger concerning our sin, He is patient and kind, wanting everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth. His anger is tempered by love and mercy. So ought ours to be.

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