Blake
Member
Ecclesiastes 1, written by the "Preacher", who only identifies himself as the son of David, King in Jerusalem. While it's unknown exactly who wrote it many Christians speculate Solomon was the author. It's one of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament. What I absolutely love about this book is the nature of it, it isn't a New Testament Gospel of good news, which although are probably the crown jewels of the written word which bear the words of Christ and His ministry and life, Ecclesiastes paints a different picture -- the futility that we sometimes experience in life, the drudging on, the monotony -- it's an investigation of the futility of life, how fragile and how vain it can be, how it comes and it vanishes like smoke, one generation after another, without meaning.
I appreciate the sublime wisdom of Ecclesiastes because Christians are within the grace of God, but that doesn't mean they can't become world-weary. Christians (should) seek after wisdom, but know that even our own wisdom is futile and insignificant, wisdom is the jewel of our human intellect but it has no eternal profit, only the propitiation of Jesus Christ has eternal profit, and so here the "Preacher" discusses the life of man.
Reflections of a Royal Philosopher
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains for ever.
5 The sun rises and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south,
and goes round to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already,
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to happen
among those who come after.12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be numbered.
16 I said to myself, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
For some these may be hard words, but I believe that many of us have likely felt this way before. Time slips by, all is vain and fleeting, generations come and go but nothing really changes. As the Bible says, there is nothing new under the sun, except for the God-man Jesus Christ.
I recommend a good reading of Ecclesiastes if you get that world-weary feeling. It's nice to know that there's a scriptural foundation for such a notion, there's an infectious idea in modern Christendom that if we aren't happy or positive, we aren't right with the Lord, but there is an appointed season for all feelings... feelings are transient and egotistical, the fruits of a heart which man can't rightly understand (Jeremiah 17:9), but the word of the Lord endures forever, and it is just to praise Him regardless of how you currently see the world. Whether all is vain or all is glorious, whether you are in a season of reaping or a season of sowing, whether jubilant or depressed, happy or sad, lethargic or on fire, He is God and God is worthy of praise.
I appreciate the sublime wisdom of Ecclesiastes because Christians are within the grace of God, but that doesn't mean they can't become world-weary. Christians (should) seek after wisdom, but know that even our own wisdom is futile and insignificant, wisdom is the jewel of our human intellect but it has no eternal profit, only the propitiation of Jesus Christ has eternal profit, and so here the "Preacher" discusses the life of man.
Reflections of a Royal Philosopher
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains for ever.
5 The sun rises and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south,
and goes round to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already,
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to happen
among those who come after.12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be numbered.
16 I said to myself, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
For some these may be hard words, but I believe that many of us have likely felt this way before. Time slips by, all is vain and fleeting, generations come and go but nothing really changes. As the Bible says, there is nothing new under the sun, except for the God-man Jesus Christ.
I recommend a good reading of Ecclesiastes if you get that world-weary feeling. It's nice to know that there's a scriptural foundation for such a notion, there's an infectious idea in modern Christendom that if we aren't happy or positive, we aren't right with the Lord, but there is an appointed season for all feelings... feelings are transient and egotistical, the fruits of a heart which man can't rightly understand (Jeremiah 17:9), but the word of the Lord endures forever, and it is just to praise Him regardless of how you currently see the world. Whether all is vain or all is glorious, whether you are in a season of reaping or a season of sowing, whether jubilant or depressed, happy or sad, lethargic or on fire, He is God and God is worthy of praise.