Ecclesiastes / chapter 12 (read the chapter)
It’s interesting, isn’t it? Solomon traveled the world, tasted every delight, sampled every pleasure, and denied himself nothing. And at the end of it all, he was left to conclude that all was empty and meaningless, except for this: “Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.” (vs 13) Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 11 (read the chapter)
How, then, shall we live? Solomon has spent a whole lot of time despairing about the condition of this world—how many things are empty and meaningless and random! He says we don’t have control over our lives, and much of what we do goes either unnoticed or unrewarded. So, we must come to this question: How, then, shall we live? Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 10 (read the chapter)
Solomon begins this chapter with an interesting proverb: “As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” (vs 1) He’s saying that it takes far more energy to create something beautiful than it does to muck it up. And unfortunately, in this world, there are people who would rather spend their time going around tearing things down than building things up. Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 9 (read the chapter)
Just in case we didn’t get the message in chapter 8 yesterday, Solomon continues to drive home the point about having little control over the things that happen to us in life: “The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” (vs 11) Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 8 (read the chapter)
In this chapter, Solomon continues his theme that life isn’t fair: “There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.” (vs 14-15) Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 7 (read the chapter)
A few days ago, I quoted from an article written by Aleksandar Hemon about the death of his little girl, Isabel. The paragraph I quoted began with a sentence that, at the time, I left out, but I will quote now: “One of the most despicable religious fallacies is that suffering is ennobling—that it is a step on the path to some kind of enlightenment or salvation.” Now, I don’t know about suffering being a step toward salvation, but I’m not sure I’m ready to agree that suffering is not ennobling. Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 6 (read the chapter)
I think Solomon hit on something extremely important in this chapter. It would seem he’s been building up to it for six chapters, running through lists of nearly everything that can be experienced in this life and calling all of it meaningless—wealth, poverty, wisdom, folly, justice, injustice, toil, laziness, and so on. Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 5 (read the chapter)
I recently went to see the musical Jersey Boys. It’s the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, and it’s a pretty wild story! But nothing floored me more than the revelation that Frankie Valli and songwriter Bob Gaudio (who was, for a time, also one of the group’s singers) have maintained for more than 40 years a personal partnership contract sealed with a handshake. Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 4 (read the chapter)
We were made for community, to have relationships with each other. This is why God said in the beginning, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” (Gen 2:18) Of course, God was specifically talking about marriage in that context (which is very important!), but I believe God also made us for community and fellowship with one another. Continue Reading »
Ecclesiastes / chapter 3 (read the chapter)
This chapter begins with one of my favorite poems—the “time” poem, that there is “a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (vs 1) At the beginning of this chapter, it seems Solomon has briefly turned his gaze from things “under the sun” to a perspective of things “under the heavens.” And I believe he comes to some very beautiful conclusions: Continue Reading »
