Who is seeking wisdom in these days?
In prayer, I sought to ask the LORD, what should I post this week and send out in the newsletter. He led me to Philippians 4:8 and to encourage the reader to consider this in light of Ecclesiastes, Chapters 1 and 3. If we are in the End Times, and I do believe we are, how appropriate it is to consider Solomon’s life, his wisdom and his mistakes as we contemplate our own lives as we walk with our Lord Jesus…..
Chapter 1:
The words of the Preacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
What profit has a man from all his labour
In which he toils under the sun?
One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And hastens to the place it arose.
The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north;
The wind whirls about continually,
And comes again on its circuit.
All the rivers run into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full;
To the place from which the rivers come,
There they return again.
All things are full of labour;
Men cannot express it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor the ear filled with hearing.
*
That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which it may be said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.
There is no remembrance of former things
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.
*
I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out wisdom concerning all that is done under the heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
What is crooked cannot be made straight,
And what is lacking cannot be numbered.
I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and I have gained wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge, increases sorrow.”
***
Chapter 3:
To everything there is a season,
And a time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to be break down,
And a time to build up;
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
*
What profit has the worker from that in which he labours? I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity into their hearts, except that no one can find the work that God does from beginning to end.
I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labour — it is the gift of God.
*
I know that whatever God does
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.
That which has already been,
And what is to be has already been;
And God requires an account of what is past.
*
Moreover I saw under the sun:
In the place of judgment wickedness was there;
And in the place of righteousness,
Iniquity was there.
*
I said in my heart,
“God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
*
I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they might see that they themselves are like animals.”
For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal which goes down to the earth? So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?