Nothing new under the sun!
OK - so I have been reading Ecclesiastes and it’s working on my head! Here’s why…
The key word in this book is the word - “vanity”. A good Biblical definition of vanity is, “the futile emptiness of trying to be happy apart from God”. I like that… and it’s true. And yet try as we might we find ourselves like Solomon chasing the winds of vanity. Here was a guy who had it all… count it off… wisdom, riches, influence, power, prestige, popularity… and by all means don’t leave out pleasures. I mean we are talking one big bowl of vanity. He calls these things his discoveries - “under the sun” (verse 9).
But here’s the bottom line - in the end of his life he says they left him empty. He discovered that nothing could fill that God-shaped place in his heart but God himself. So let’s take some advise from this wayward king… there’s one thing he gets very right in this book. He says - “go ahead - it’s OK to eat, drink, rejoice and the like. But above all live to do good and at the top of the list… fear God!
I’m preaching to the choir I know… but I like it
