12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I
gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things
that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man
to be exercised therewith. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun;
and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 15 That
which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot
be numbered. 16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to
great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been
before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and
knowledge. 17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and
folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. 18 For in
much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth
sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
Solomon, the wisest king, who
ever lived (I Kings 3:12) searched for wisdom. He searched everywhere. “His
giving himself to the study of natural history, philosophy, poetry, etc., are
sufficient proofs of it. He had not intuitive knowledge from God; but he had a
capacity to obtain every kind of knowledge useful to man.” –Adam Clarke
In all the studying and searching he came to the
conclusion, “all is vanity (emptiness) and vexation (a feeding upon, that is, grasping after) of spirit.” All
the studying and searching of subjects was useless and without a purpose.
He knew he had more wisdom than all those before him but
still felt an emptiness. The more wisdom he had the more grief he felt. When
one increases knowledge the sorrow also increases. What a peculiar thing to
say.
Pondering
this verse I see it as; the more wisdom we get the more grief because our eyes
are open to the happenings (in all realms i.e. Christian, world and politics) in
the world. The more God reveals to us (knowledge & wisdom) we are grieved
because we can understand more clearly what is taking place in the world around
us. As one reads the prophecy to come it
saddens the heart. When we speak to others about it, most will not listen.
It is up to us to continue to be witnesses and
testimonies in this dark world realizing this world is not our home.
Have a blessed day,
Donna
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