June 6 - Ecclesiastes 1:12-6:12

Good morning everyone,

Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon in the later years of his life. He was the son of King David and Bathsheba; he was only the third king that ruled all of Israel sitting on the throne for forty years, 965 to 925 BC. Solomon was the wisest, richest, and most powerful man of his time. As I mentioned yesterday, his wisdom was spoken of all over the earth and his wealth was far beyond imagination. Arguably, no man, before or since, had all the wealth, glory, recognition, and honor that was given to Solomon. What more could any man wish for in this world … right? But even with all his abundance, Solomon was not happy guy. In Ecclesiastes 1:2 he writes, "Meaningless! Meaningless!"Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” 

How does one get to that place in life? A place that is void of energy, enthusiasm and optimism. From the time we are young kids we start thinking about what we want to do with our lives.  With wide eyes we look around at the people we know, and at some we don’t know, the ones who appear to be successful and happy in life. Curious individuals who have peeked our interest and we think, “Yep! When I grow up, I want to do that! That’s what I want to be.” And so we begin our pursuit. For some it may be putting out fires, for others being a nurse, maybe construction, an entrepreneur,  a dancer, maybe even an attorney. Who knows? The list is endless, but one thing I am fairly certain of, not one of us, when contemplating our careers or life plan, thought, “I hope life has no meaning to me when I am fifty.” Agreed?

No matter what we ,as children, feel our “perfect” grown-up life will look like, the kind of hopes, dreams and goals we set in place for our future; there comes a time when we have to stop living the fantasy. A time when we take our education, our preparation and all the tools we’ve readied ourselves with and start living the real world. Yikes! At first it is intimidating at best, scary for sure, but by placing one foot in front of the other we march forward in quest of true happiness. We think that if we just get “that” job life will be great or if we marry that certain someone we’ll be happy, or have a few children, we’ll  feel complete, get the promotion, buy a house, a new car, a dream vacation all designed to make us happy and they do, for the moment. So many people go through life pursuing money, prestige, power, or position, in an attempt to find happiness; believing that will fill the void they feel inside. Sadly, this approach never works. In fact, more often than not, this just leads to frustration because they never find what they are really looking for.

True happiness is found only in Jesus Christ. I know it sounds like a bit of a cliche’ but it is so true. All of our hungers for wealth, success, recognition, entertainment, etc., point to a deeper hunger that only God can satisfy. The Bible says we are to seek our happiness in God, after all He made us to be a happy people. Right? Psalm 146:5 says, “Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” Our happiness should not be dictated by our circumstances but more upon our thoughts. When we turn our thoughts to God, to His gifts, and to His glorious creation, we experience the joy that God intends for His children. When we trust that we are exactly where He wants us to be, doing exactly what He wants us to be doing, how can we help but be joyful. I absolutely love the freedom and the peace I am allowed in not requiring any “thing” for my happiness but relying totally on the agape love of of my Abba Father. Solomon, presumably had it all, lost his love for God which rendered him miserable. May I suggest, as the song encourages, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Amen?

Have a really good day and to God be the glory!

God bless you all …