Ecclesiastes: Wisdom For Living Well: An In-depth Bible Study

by Courtney Joseph, Beverly Wise

Many of us have lives that are full. We have full bellies, full closets, full calendars, full trash cans, full purses and full email inboxes. But at the end of the day, we are empty. God made us all with a built in desire to find the meaning to life and to spend time on things that are meaningful. This in-depth Bible Study will take you verse by verse and chapter by chapter through the book of Ecclesiastes. We all long to live well and Ecclesiastes provides the wisdom we need to do just that! Join us on this journey as we identify the obstacles that stand in our way and draw near to God, through daily study of His Word. You can find more resources including a free video series to correlate with this study over at WomenLivingWell.org.

Genres: Christian

138 pages, Paperback

Published May 5, 2016

About the author

Courtney Joseph is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute with a degree in Evangelism and Discipleship. After over a decade of leading women’s Bible studies, mentorships and workshops in her local church, she decided to move her ministry on-line at WomenLivingWell.org where she has over 1.5 million views of her videos on youtube. Courtney’s passion and sincerity has made her a leader in the Christian blogging community. She is the Founder of WomenLivingWell.org and GoodMorningGirls.org.

Reviews

[Jerusha Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this Bible study. It helped me consider and change some of my attitudes toward my work.

[Aubrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not find this book useful for bible study. I did not relate to the author's frequent Disney allusions or social media challenges. Moreover, I was deeply distressed by statements not apparently rooted in Christian teaching - such as page 48's "For every positive there is a negative. The sum total is zero," a tenet more at home in Eastern religions like Taoism than in Christianity - which were shared in passing with little to no supporting scripture. My group slogged through four of this book's six weeks of study, struggling to understand the book as much as, or more than, Ecclesiastes. We consulted the scripture in its original Hebrew, read Bible commentaries, and sought the counsel of other learned folks before ultimately deciding that, if we were already going to such lengths of research and study on our own, then this book was superfluous at best and at worst was actually a hindrance to our study. We finished the final five and a half chapters of Ecclesiastes on our own.

[Amy Bessin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This study lacked the depth and direction that I have come to expect from studies chronicling a book of the Bible. The questions were surface level, and even obvious connections were often not made. I probably would have gotten just as much by just reading the book of Ecclesiastes.

[Shayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Courtney Joseph's studies. I hope she writes more. I did this one with some great ladies at work and I felt like it gave us great discussion points to talk about. I like how she asks questions that really helped me relate Ecclesiastices to my life since when I have read through it previously or have heard it referenced it seemed so old and I had a hard time seeing the relevance. Also she was able to really get a lot out of it which surprised me since I always just thought the Ecclesiastices was saying how much life is awful and unfair and then you die. Ecclesiastices would not have been a book I'd have chosen to study in depth, but I loved Courtney Joseph's Ruth study. I'm glad I gave this a try because I learned a lot and have a much better idea of what it is God is trying to teach us.

[JB · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this in-depth study of Ecclesiastes. I appreciate that the devotions weren’t too long and found myself enjoying the practical elements of how it can be applied to my own life.

One star docked due to spelling and grammatical errors throughout. I also would appreciate a smaller, grab-and-go size. The book is the size of a workbook and a little clunky to deal with when switching between the book and my Bible.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty repetitive, but so is the book of Ecclesiastes. Courtney did a great job pulling out the meaning behind the message and helping to make it all more understandable. God loves us and wants us to enjoy this life we’re given, enjoy food, drinks, rest and enjoy serving through our work and helping others.

[Alicia Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing! It really got into the nitty gritty of Ecclesiastes. It let you read the word and make conclusions while giving you guidance. I would highly recommend this for bible studies or an in depth study.

[Courtney Dziadul · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. While this was more of a dive than most popular studies nowadays, I felt like it lacked so much depth. Sometimes it would skip over things or barely talk about them. I agree with another review I saw in that I would’ve rather just studied the book itself.

[LizC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed going through Ecclesiastes with this study. This book was a good guide. It was focused on what the scripture said, with a little personal reflection as well.

[Rhonda]

Wonderful devotional on the book of Ecclesiastes.

[Mary Palmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much about Solomon and appreciate the way this was set up to study and compare it to how we live today. It was great !

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this in-depth study of Ecclesiastes from Courtney Joseph and her mother Beverly Wise. I learned so much about King Solomon I never knew and have grasped now more than ever our desire should be to please God not man.

[Janna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful study!

[Nikki Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing. I loved this study guide and really hope she releases more study guides and not just journals. It was very insightful and helped me understand Ecclesiastes so much more in depth.

[Melinda]

Amazing study. I'm not much for color coding but I loved Courtney Js insight and research . Ecclesiastes is not the depressing book I assumed .