Empty and Meaningless
Ecclesiastes 7-10
I keep thinking of Job as I read Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes. With all that happened to Job you can kind of understand his being down and even fatalistic at times. Job’s children were destroyed, his house was destroyed, and all that he had was taken from him. Solomon, however, had everything a man could want; I mean everything. He was the wealthiest man in the world. He was the most famous man in the world. He had a harem of women to meet every sexual desire. He was king of a nation favored by God. His every wish was the command of all the people. The best wine and food the land had to offer was set on his table. With all of this you would think Solomon would be the happiest man on earth.
Now we all know that money can’t buy happiness but I don’t think we live as if we believe it. That would be another case of having knowledge but not wisdom. Solomon, the man who had everything, wrote a fatalistic book. As I’ve already said, the lesson here is not what Solomon says, which is often wrong, but the fact that life is empty and meaningless without right relationship with God. I’m sorry to keep harping on that but when are we going to get that through our self-centered brains?
Once again let me share with you the words of J. Vernon McGee:
McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Solomon…
“has made experiments in everything under the sun to see if any of it would bring satisfaction and enjoyment to him. He tried science, the study of the natural laws of the universe, which made some contribution but did not satisfy him. Then he went into the study of philosophy and psychology. They didn’t satisfy. He went the limit on pleasure and materialism. He tried fatalism, which is such a popular philosophy of life today. He tried egoism, living for self. Then he tried religion—no religion can satisfy, because only Christ can satisfy the heart. Wealth was another thing which Solomon tried. He was the wealthiest man in the world, but he found that wealth did not bring satisfaction in and of itself.
Now we will see him try the last experiment: morality. Today we would call him a “do-gooder.” I would say that this is the place to which the majority of the people in America are moving. (I think the majority would still be classified as do-gooders.) They are going down the middle of the road on the freeway of life. This group can be described as the Babbitts, doing business in the Big City, under a neon sign, living out in suburbia, in a sedate, secluded, exclusive neighborhood, and taking it easy. Their children go to the best schools. They move with the best crowds. They go to the best church, the richest church in the neighborhood, the one with the tallest steeple, the loudest chimes, and the most educated preacher, who knows everything that man can possibly know, except the Bible (of course, if he did know and preach the Bible, he would lose his job). This is the kind of do-good society Solomon now tries.
… My friend, seeking satisfaction in life by just trying to be a do-gooder is living like a vegetable, not a man! Yet this is the lifestyle of the majority in modern America. They will go to the burlesque show on Saturday night and to church on Sunday morning! What hypocrisy! We have seen our youth rebelling against this type of living. There are two thousand of them over on the island of Hawaii. I had the privilege of ministering to some of them, and quite a few turned to Christ. They have tried everything else. But why didn’t they find Christ in their homes in which their parents were church members? They saw that there was something radically missing in their homes and in their churches. They have seen the hypocrisy, the emptiness of the life of the moralist, the do-gooder.
I believe it is easier to reach a godless atheist than a hypocritical churchgoer. The godless atheist may respond when he hears the gospel for the first time, but the hypocritical churchgoer has heard the gospel again and again and has become hardened to it. That is the real tragedy.”
Brothers, do we live as we believe or do we live like the world, like Solomon, pursuing elusive joy in empty and meaningless worldly pleasures? Let’s get our priorities right. Let’s focus first on our relationship with Christ, the joy will follow!
Have a purposeful day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
