It seems appropriate here to take an interlude from Kings and Chronicles and look at the book of Ecclesiastes, having come to the end of the historical account of Solomon’s life.
And here in Ecclesiastes, we have his reflections on life as an old man.
This is a very difficult book to talk about, and I’m not sure how I’m going to address it yet.
I heard one pastor who spoke on this book call it, “the inspired book of error.” Meaning that it was a book inspired by God, that sets out the erroneous way men saw life and God.
I’m not entirely sure I agree with him completely on this. On the other hand, I’m not sure I completely disagree either.
I think the difficult thing with tackling a book like this is you really need to take it as a whole, rather than chapter by chapter.
But if you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know I like taking things chapter by chapter.
If I were to sum up the whole of this book in one phrase, however, it’s this: Life is meaningless without God.
And all throughout this book, you see Solomon trying to find meaning for his life apart from God. He looks for it in philosophy, hedonism, work, and in just about every other facet of life.
But in the end, he comes to this conclusion:
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
Throughout Ecclesiastes, you see little glimpses of joy that we can find in life. And that joy is found in God.
But whenever we try to find the meaning to life without God, we’re doomed to come to the same conclusion as Solomon. It’s meaningless.
Why? Because God is life, and he is the source of life. And when we cut ourselves off from God, we cut ourselves off from the source of life.
Where are you trying to find meaning in your life?
As we explore this book over the next few days or weeks, I pray that you would find the emptiness that comes from pursuing the things of this world, and that you would plug yourself into he who is the author of life.
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 