Dead Flies

"As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor" (Ecclesiastes 10:1).

Something so small can change everything. Ask the politician who has spent his life serving the people, then makes one small mistake and suddenly everything is over. Or the corporate CEO who has built an empire of sorts, then makes one unwise decision and suddenly the Board of Directors is asking her to step down. Any company may be one bad product launch away from irrelevance, and it's often said that the church is always just one generation away from extinction.

Well, not "the" church. That will last forever (see Matthew 16:18). But your church and my church. When the church fails to continue to be relevant, when we keep living as if it's 1950 all over again, when we fail to reach the next generation, we are on the edge. It is "folly," the Teacher says, to neglect wisdom and instead rely on our own smarts or lean solely on our own preferences. It's like dead flies collecting on a spot of perfume; even the sweetest-smelling perfume can be turned sour.

I think of King Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12. Not familiar with him? Maybe it's because he chose folly over wisdom. When his father, Solomon, dies, Rehoboam becomes king and the people come to him, asking him to relieve their tax burden. They say that if he does that, they will willingly serve him. Rehoboam asks for three days to think about it. (He shouldn't have needed three minutes!) During those three days, Rehoboam consults two groups of people. First, he asks the elders, those who had advised his father. They suggest he do what the people ask. Then, he goes out drinking with his buddies, and they tell him to respond this way to the people (in a veiled sexual innuendo): "My little finger is thicker than my father's waist." Which way do you think Rehoboam chooses? He chooses the way of folly, and he loses most of the kingdom because of it. It's the beginning of the end for the kingdom of Israel.

One wrong decision can have devastating consequences.

Our folly can become dead flies on perfume.

And that, the Teacher says, is once again why we need to rely not on our own thoughts but on God's wisdom, God's leading and guidance. We need wisdom. We need God's wisdom. If we rely solely on our own, we might as well get out the fly swatter.