As you enter the house of God…
As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. – Ecclesiastes 5:1 NLT
Is our mindset “offering worthless practices” or “hearing from the Good Shepherd”?
This verse underscores my discomfort with practiced/repeated phrases (or whole prayers like “now I lay me down” or “God is great, God is good”) when talking to God. I’m not saying that anyone is going to burn in hell for saying a “taught prayer” but I’m saying that our conversation with God should actually be conversation – not something thoughtless and rote that in our minds covers our “obligatory recognition of God during certain parts of our lives”. If it isn’t conversation with God, we’re missing out on the opportunity for real communion with the living God! And we might even ask ourselves if in our thoughtless we’re calling upon His name in vain.
With that said, my “words will be few” in this post, as I pray we each make ourselves ready to hear from God. Amen.
Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God instead. – Ecclesiastes 5:7 NLT
Harold J. Ballinger 