Seeking and Searching

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

Labor

8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. Ecclesiastes 1:8-11

Solomon continues on the discourse of labor. No matter what we do labor is involved and we are never satisfied. Again he talks about the cycle of life, what is done has been done before and will be done again. As I read this an old song came to my mind, “Kay Sera Sera” meaning whatever will be, will be. 

Then he says a phrase that is repeated many times throughout Ecclesiastes there is no new thing “under the sun”. The phrase “under the sun” is repeated 29 times in 27 verses.

We forget the past which sometimes makes us repeat the same mistakes. As we read through the verses it makes us realize that things don’t change. The  scene is the same but the characters are different. We are doing the same things they did years ago. Obviously the technology has changed but the minds and actions of people are the same.

My take on these verses, learn, learn, learn. Yes, we have to work, everything has labor attached to it whether it is washing a dish to getting ready for bed. We have to put forth effort (labor) to accomplish something.

Where are you putting your effort (labor)? What do you spend the most time doing? Where can you better put your effort?

Ponder the questions and join me the next time as I continue looking at Ecclesiastes and the questions that Solomon raises.

Have a blessed day,
Donna

The Words of the Preacher

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. 3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? 4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. 5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. 6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. 7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. Ecclesiastes 1:1-7

I enjoy reading and studying the book of Ecclesiastes. For the next few weeks I will do lessons/devotionals/my thoughts  on Ecclesiastes. I once heard David Jeremiah say, “Ecclesiastes is a book about everything under the sun without God.” This statement is very true but we can learn much from the “the preacher”, “the son of David”.

Background info:

Writer: Probably Solomon, King David’s son

Time: Around 935 B.C. (late in Solomon’s life)

Place: Jerusalem

Known facts about Solomon:

Richest man at that time I Kings 10:23

Wisest man I Kings 3:13,4:29-30

Most influential king in Israel’s history I Kings 4:29,34: I Kings 10:1,24, I Chronicles 29:25

Had many wives I King 11:3

Reigned for 40 years I Kings 11:42

The book of Ecclesiastes lets us know right away who wrote this book. It was none other than the son of David, who also was the king in Jerusalem, King Solomon. This was written in the later part of Solomon’s life, after he had lived life to “the fullest”. He learned many things by how he lived as well as what he had obtained. Each thing he did made him realize “all is vanity.”

The first few verses of this chapter basically say life goes on. Each generation follows the next. The sun rises and sets each and every day. The wind goes south then turns and goes north. The rivers run into the sea but the sea never gets full. Life continues from one generation to the next, it is the cycle of life.

Verse three says, “What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?” In other words, “What do you get from working so hard?”

Join me on this journey of exploring Ecclesiastes.

 Have a blessed day, 

Donna