Daily Devotional For Sunday, June 7, 2026
Good morning and good day Southside! Today, our devotional is from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. (10) For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. (11) Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? (12) And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart” (NASB).
This section of Ecclesiastes is about comparisons. All of us love to make comparisons, don’t we? Don’t you? You go to the grocery store and compare the same food items from different vendors. You go looking for a car and you compare different models. You go to buy a house and you compare different houses. You are planning to go to college, so you compare different universities with the same degrees. If you are a sports fan, you compare teams in the same sport. If you like a certain style of food, you compare restaurants with that style.
Sometimes the writers in the Old Testament do the same things for the purpose of showing the way of wisdom and obedience. To do this, they compare one thing with another. We see this with the prophet Samuel when he confronted King Saul for not obeying God in killing all the Amalekites and destroying all the spoil. 1 Samuel 15:22 puts it this way: “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams” (NLT).
We see Solomon do this in his comparison of a loving home with barely enough food to eat versus a wealthy home with a feast that is filled with hatred. Look at Proverbs 15:17, “A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate” (NLT). We see Solomon do this in Ecclesiastes 4:1-8, in Ecclesiastes 4:13-16 as well as in our passage for today. Two are better than one in many situations. Two laboring together on the same job or field, finish sooner.
Two who lie down together in the dead winter in open fields in freezing temps help each other stay warm. In the dead of winter, Palestine in the open air or field gets very cold. Even animals know and do this when it is cold, especially females protecting their newborn or young. The two lying down together is not referring to something sexual, but to something perpetual. The goal was to use each other’s body heat under some kind of cover to stay warm and alive.
This Hebrew phrasing was also used metaphorically to refer to having emotional warmth from the coldness of the world or to provide emotional warmth from someone’s cold-heartedness towards you. Remember these opening lyrics from the song by Foreigner, “You’re as cold as ice. You're willing to sacrifice our love, You never take advice, Someday you'll pay the price, I know” (Source: Cold As Ice).
There is a truth that we are better together, than alone. In verse 9-12, Solomon is making a comparison between being alone and having a companion. Falling into a pit was possible in Solomon’s day because pits were dug and covered to catch food. In Proverbs, Solomon uses traps to show the folly of attempting to set a trap for a person – see Proverbs 26:27, Proverbs 28:10, 14 and Proverbs 28:18. We are better together in avoiding traps and if we fall into one, with help from another we can get out of it.
If you come under attack and you are alone, you are going to be a victim. Having 2-3 companions with you, you have a better chance of protecting yourself against the attack. The point of Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 is that it is better to share our work, toil, struggles, fears, and life than to do it alone. Living and working only for ourselves is the best way to turn the American dream into a nightmare. Here is a true story that illustrates this:
News columnist Ellen Goodman described this in a provocative column for the Minneapolis Tribune. Goodman told the tragic story of a man who worked as hard as the man in Ecclesiastes 4. When he died at the age of fifty-one, his obituary said the cause of death was coronary thrombosis, but most people knew better. At the office six days a week, often until 8 or 9 at night, his friends and family said that he had simply worked himself to death. Yet on the day of his funeral, when the company was already making inquiries about his replacement, the president looked around the office for candidates and said, “Well, who’s been working the hardest?” But the killer line was delivered by the dead man’s wife. When a friend said, “I know how much you will miss him,” she said, “Oh, I already have” (Source: James Limburg reprints Goodman’s column in Encountering Ecclesiastes: A Book for Our Time, pp. 61–63).
We are better together. When God created this world, He said this in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (NASB). It is not good to live life solo or as a Lone Ranger. Even the Long Ranger had Tonto, Batman had Robin, Abbott had Costello, Dean had Jerry, Lucy had Ricky, Laurel had Hardy, Captain Kirk had Spock, Timmy had Lassie and you and I have each other. God never designed us to go it alone, but to live in community. There is safety in numbers. All of us face spiritual dangers from the devil.
Jesus described him this way in 1 Peter 5:8 – a lion seeking to devour. We are better together to fight against him. Christians were never expected to live alone, but in community helping one another. Every program and ministry in the church depends upon partnerships. Two are better than one and 3, if God is the 3rd, is totally better. Jesus is a friend to sinners (see Matt. 11:19 and Luke 7:34).
Reflection Assignment: Do you tend to attempt to live life as a “Lone Ranger” or with others? If you are redeemed, Jesus is your friend and partner. The Christian community and the church are your partners also. Trust God’s plan that we are better together than alone. Where do you need to make improvements in this area and why?
Scripture To Meditate On: Daniel 3:16-17, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. (17) If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, in spite of my fear and hesitancy, I want to live and do life with others and especially having You as a partner. No longer will I consider it burdening others; I realize that if I do not partner with others I am burdening them. Show me who that needs to be. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly