Saturday, March 12, 2022

Friday Faithfuls Two: Ecclesiastes

 posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi


 Ok, I know it's Saturday; better late than skipping the week, eh?  Yesterday straight up got away from me...

Or, you know, maybe I was subconsciously avoiding one of the gloomiest books in the whole Bible.  Written by Solomon in his later years, after he had tried to figure out What Life Is All About from a humanistic standpoint.

He failed.  He found everything...everything...to be a waste of time, with no real satisfaction.  Pleasure, wealth, influence, knowledge...all of it.

The verse that hit home this week is his conclusion.

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:  Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. -- Ecc. 12:13 -14.

Solomon kinda messed up on his 'fear God and keep his commandments' conclusion; he had pretty much abandoned the commandments of God in his search for satisfaction in life.  After starting off so well, with two personal visitations, he still did not seek his satisfaction in God but looked pretty much everywhere else...only to come back to it in his old age and realize that was where it would have been all along.

If we collectively took that lesson to heart there would be a lot less grief in the world...but it runs counter to everything the culture endorses. 

 

2 comments:

  1. One of the things that strikes me about that set of scriptures is that it’s a duty to Solomon - when it was a joy and gladness for David

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  2. Amy! I was just thinking today that I hadn't heard from you in a bit and wondered how you were! :-) And yes, I agree 100%. David had a relationship; Solomon had responsibility. For all his wisdom, he missed the key...the One Thing that David wanted (Ps. 27:4)).

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