MEANINGLESS VS. SATISFYING
Carey Madding
Today's Scripture:
“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 1:2, ESV
Theme: A life all about yourself, your comfort, and your success is meaningless. Seek Jesus and live for others.
PITIFUL
If you read the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, you just feel so sorry for this poor soul, “the Preacher.” He is weary of life; his toil is useless; the sea will never be full, no matter how many streams run into it. He has not seen even one good thing with his eyes, nor heard anything pleasing with his ears. Nothing is exciting or innovative: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9b, ESV). There is no joy in remembering the past or hope for the future.
REALITY
However, we know that the Preacher is really Solomon, king over all Jerusalem (Ecclesiastes 1:12). This is the man to whom God gave not only wisdom unlike any other, but riches, honor, and long life: “Behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days” (1 Kings 3:12-14, ESV).
Jesus described him as majestic: “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Luke 12:27, ESV). Jesus also compares Himself to Solomon’s wisdom: “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42, ESV).
WHAT DOESN’T WORK
What we can learn from Solomon is that a life spent pleasing yourself is meaningless. We know he had a thousand women (1 Kings 11:3). Yet he wrote: “And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters” (Ecclesiastes 7:26a, ESV). His foreign wives did, in fact, ensnare him and turn his heart to worship pagan gods.
His great wisdom does not comfort, though he preaches we should seek wisdom throughout the Proverbs. “The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, ‘What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?’ And I said in my heart that this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:14-15, ESV).
WHAT DOES SATISFY
What does satisfy is Jesus. He does not promise glory or honor. The New Testament Epistles certainly speak of being married to “one wife,” not having concurrent sexual partners, so God asks us to refrain from the “free love” that Solomon experienced. Jesus promises just enough food, money, clothing that we need: as we read above, God will clothe us if we do not worry, but trust in His plans. And most importantly, though we are not promised that God will give us long life, He does promise to give us abundant, everlasting life. If we seek His kingdom first, everything else falls into place with proper priorities.
Make It Personal: Have you sought success, fame, or riches, yet been left unfulfilled or dissatisfied? Have you thought your partner would meet all your needs for affirmation and comfort, yet are still longing for peace and joy? Everything that the world offers us is but a shallow imitation of the things of God. Wine and good food are pleasing, but the believer who is following God has, like Jesus, “food to eat that you do not know about... My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:32, 34, ESV).
Pray: Father, I want my life to not only have meaning today, but eternal purpose. Help me to seek You, to follow Your Son, and to serve others rather than myself. In Your Name I pray. Amen.
Read: Luke 12:22-34; John 4:31-42; John 10:10
Weekly Memory Verse: "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT