Lessons Gleaned from the Most Foolish Wise Man to Ever Exist

Scripture:
For man w does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.
Ecclesiastes 9:12
Context:
According to Jewish tradition King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes towards the end of his life. After all the folly, missteps, mistakes, and flat out rebellion against God he record this collection of proverbs. These are the words of a man who was given wisdom beyond anyone prior to him or to come after him, these are also the words of a man who although possessing such wisdom made some of the most foolish choices in life. Experience and divine understanding converge here in the words of the wisest person to ever live, king Solomon.
King Solomon likens the world that the children of men will grow up in to an evil net and a snare. King Solomon is speaking from the experience of being caught in the evil net, from being snared. Ecclesiastes is practically a written lesson plan given to help teach the children of men how to escape be caught in the evil net or snared. He says it will suddenly fall upon them, but he gives advice about how to duck the net and side step the snare.
Reflection:
Learn the hard lessons from other's experiences and be wise enough heed their lessons learned.
Application:
Now I say this delicately and with a heavy heart. I have served in youth ministry now for the last 3 and a half years, I have come in contact with all kinds of youth. The youth that sadly get entangled in the evil net and snared the most are the ones whose parents have tried to shelter them from such things. The problem is not the sheltering it is that they never gain the experience and learn to avoid these things; they never learn how to exist in a world where there are evil nets and snares. So the moment the harness is off, the moment the bubble is popped, and they venture out into this strange yet interesting, dangerous yet stimulating, deadly yet vibrant world they reach for the evil net and jump on the snares.
It is a twofold drama that unfolds into tragedy. One the one hand we have our sheltered youth who end up being ravaged, and on the other hand we have the youth who live in this lost world being denied the God given missionaries that could help them navigate this dark world. I honestly believe that instead of trying to keep them guarded against the world, we need to be equipping them to be in the world and not get caught up in the evil net and become part of the world. As Christians we are called to be the light and salt of the world. Light is useless pressed into the bosom of security, and salt is useless unless it shaken out of the protective confines of its container and sprinkled onto the world.
Prayer:
Lord, give me wisdom, the wisdom that you tell us to ask for in James. Give me the ability to learn from the experiences of others and to soak in all that you would have me learn from my own experience. Amen…