Day 8/28 – Competition and Oppression

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Competition and Oppression
Day Two Hundred Forty

“Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.” Ecclesiastes 4:4

Solomon says that man’s propensity to compete with others reveals his depravity. Success in work springs from people competing with one another. Solomon says, “I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun.” 316 Competition feeds the instinct to oppress. Thus nations with a capitalistic system of economics realize the need to establish controls around the few that become very good at competing, for if such people are not checked, they will use their power to crush their competitors.

You will never work for what you cannot keep as hard as you will for what you can keep. For this reason, socialism failed. Capitalism understands the nature of man and therefore succeeds. But as you find yourself motivated by competition, know that you are but a short step from oppression, and only the Holy Spirit can keep you from crossing the line.

If you fail to establish limits on your appetites, you can easily end gaining your sense of worth from your ability to accumulate. Solomon illustrates a vacuous life by describing “a person who has no one, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ‘For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?”‘317 He works to accumulate with no one to whom he can leave it. Such competition reveals a warped value system from any point of view.

316 Ecclesiastes 4:1
317 Ecclesiastes 4:8

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Psalm 123-125 1 Corinthians 10:1-18 (New King James Version)

Psalm 123-125
Prayer for Relief from Contempt
A Song of Ascents.
123
Unto You I lift up my eyes,
O You who dwell in the heavens.
2
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He has mercy on us.
3
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!
For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4
Our soul is exceedingly filled
With the scorn of those who are at ease,
With the contempt of the proud.
The Lord the Defense of His People
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
124
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say—
2
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
3
Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
4
Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have [a]gone over our soul;
5
Then the swollen waters
Would have [b]gone over our soul.”
6
Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
7
Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the [c]fowlers;
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
The Lord the Strength of His People
A Song of Ascents.
125
Those who trust in the Lord
Are like Mount Zion,
Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.
3
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
On the land allotted to the righteous,
Lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.
4
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
And to those who are upright in their hearts.
5
As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways,
The Lord shall lead them away
With the workers of iniquity.
Peace be upon Israel!
Footnotes:
• Psalm 124:4 swept over
• Psalm 124:5 swept over
• Psalm 124:7 Persons who catch birds in a trap or snare

1 Corinthians 10:1-18
Old Testament Examples
10 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us [a]tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now [b]all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our [c]admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to [d]bear it.
Flee from Idolatry
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the [e]communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
18 Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices [f]partakers of the altar?
Footnotes:
• 1 Corinthians 10:9 test
• 1 Corinthians 10:11 NU omits all
• 1 Corinthians 10:11 instruction
• 1 Corinthians 10:13 endure
• 1 Corinthians 10:16 fellowship or sharing
• 1 Corinthians 10:18 fellowshippers or sharers