majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Ecclesiastes 2:24-26,
"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find
satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases
him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he
gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to
the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the
wind."
Solomon presents an honest look at this life. It is a view that most,
I suspect, whether within or without the church, refuse to
acknowledge. This life, the activities done "under the sun", are
meaningless if done under the context of "under the sun". Solomon's
observation is that we all die and leave behind whatever it is we
invested our lives in for this life. He says, "So I hated life,
because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of
it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I
had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who
comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?
Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my
effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless." Solomon
points out we are all going to die and leave it all behind anyway, so
the things that often attract us, the things many of us invest our
lives in all come to nothing after a relatively short time.
We have all heard stories of some successful business man building up
a successful company, leaving it for his children upon retirement only
to see the children sell it off and squander the money on short term
excess. What good did it do? It is not lasting. What we do in this
life has no real benefit... unless it carries benefit into the next
life. I am reminded of the parable Jesus told of the rich fool, "The
ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to
himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he
said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build
bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And
I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many
years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.' But God said to him,
'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then
who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will
be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward
God." Luke 12:16-21.
Jesus taught us to invest our lives in eternal things. He said, "Seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well." Matthew 6:33. If we invest our lives in eternal
things, we will have an eternal reward. If we invest our lives in what
is "under the sun", well, Solomon discovered it is simply an empty
exercise. We will leave it all behind.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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