This article about King Solomon, is one of a series of articles built around the theme, “What would they say to us now?” From the perspective of eternity and a completed life, what would they say is really important to us today?
Some people seem to have it all: status, power, money, even love. They’ve chased and tasted, every desirable thing the world has to offer. Yet in their core, whether confessed or not, there is a nagging, unsatisfied void; a hollow pit that only grows as the seasons of life run their course.
At some point, we have felt the emptiness and the longing. We have all struggled for meaning and chased the wind.
MICHAEL JORDAN
Serious basketball fans remember October 6, 1993. On that day, Michael Jordan, the man who was unarguably the game’s greatest player at the age of 30, called a press conference and retired. He had won a third championship and seven consecutive scoring titles. There was no injury, no shocking revelations and no contract dispute.
He told the media, “The game offers no more challenges to motivate me. Having accomplished everything basketball could offer me, I have decided to call it a career.”
Jordan tried baseball and eventually came back to basketball but that retirement in 1993 said a lot about Jordan. He was saying of his career, his money and his success, “Been there! Done that! Now what?”
ECCLESIASTES: THE BOOK FOR OUR GENERATION
Years ago, a king with more power than the president, more money than Bill Gates and more fame than a rock star chronicled his search for life’s meaning in the Book of Ecclesiastes. King Solomon discovered a profound answer to the struggle to find purpose, but it wasn’t where he expected it.
Our world is full of people who have tried the bizarre, the extreme and the exotic, experimented with every whim and thrown away all restraints, only to have come up empty or frustrated.
King Solomon ruled Israel for 40 years. He was wealthy, powerful and wise. He had and experienced what few men have ever had. He dressed for success. His assets surpassed what the wealthiest have today. He had the world at his fingertips. He rationalized his inconsistent behavior, lived an unrestrained lifestyle and compromised spiritual truth.
There is no greater book for our generation than the book of Ecclesiastes. The book asks one question over and over: what’s life all about? That’s the question that the rest of the Bible answers. If you don’t know the question, you won’t appreciate the answer.
Like Solomon of old, people today have tried everything and come up empty. People have tried pleasure and ended empty. They’ve pursued education but ended up frustrated. They’ve tried materialism and been bored. They’ve tried religion and found dissatisfaction.
SOLOMON’S SEARCH
Solomon’s search parallels the lifestyle many are following today. Here’s what I see people trying.
Party harder. I thought in my heart. Come now I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good. But that also proved meaningless. Laughter I said is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish? (Ecclesiastes :2:1-2).
Solomon partied long and hard. He did not restrain himself in any way. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. (Ecclesiastes 2:10). What a blast he must have had. The palace would have rocked with the music. There were endless feasts. Solomon was the ultimate party animal. Solomon denied himself nothing. He constantly pushed the envelop of pleasure.
Solomon discovered that pleasure is temporary, pleasure is superficial, there is a law of diminishing returns and unrestrained pleasure has serious consequences.
Study more. Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom… I saw that wisdom is better than folly just as light is better than darkness. (Ecclesiastes 1:12-13).
Solomon became the ultimate professor and the quintessential answer-man. His knowledge was unequalled in his day. He was an expert in every field.
What did he conclude? Then I thought in my heart, The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise? (Ecclesiastes 1:15). Solomon would say a thief with a Ph.D. is still a thief. Worldly education says that credentials make you a better person. They do not! More information does not change the heart.
Work harder. I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. (Ecclesiastes 2:4-6).
Solomon embarked on a massive public works program. There were parks and public swimming pools. There were massive buildings and houses and temples.
What did he conclude? He said when he got to the top of the ladder, the ladder was leaning against the wrong building. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:11). He said there may have been momentary enjoyment, but each time he repeated the process, there was less enjoyment in it for him, so he concluded it wasn’t worth it. He said, that’s not where the answer to life lies.
Acquire more. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well – the delights of the heart of man. (Ecclesiastes 2:8).
Solomon became the consummate materialist. There was silver, gold, singers and a harem. Solomon called them the delights of the heart of man.
It is always dangerous to think that money and possessions can deliver what they promise. Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
What was the result of Solomon’s search? Despair. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them. (Ecclesiastes 2:11). He said the eye is never satisfied, the ear is never satisfied and there is really nothing new.
IF SOLOMON COULD SPEAK TO US, WHAT WOULD HE SAY?
You can have the best the world has to offer and still not be satisfied. God gives wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil. (Ecclesiastes 6:1-3). You can win the lottery but end up with nothing.
Think about death. A good name is better than fine perfume and the day of death is better than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:1-2).
Reputation and character matter a great deal. A good name is to be treasured,
It is good to go to funerals. A funeral home can be a great classroom. You will certainly learn more about what’s really important at a funeral than at a wedding. Weddings deal with the fairy tale world; funerals deal with reality.
Remember your Creator. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
Remember your Creator. He’s the source of life. He’s the Rock. He is unchanging. He’s reliable.
Every life must have a focal point. When we make ourselves the center of life, life is meaningless. There is only true meaning when we make Christ the center of our lives.
Solomon sums up his findings with a plea to youth by saying you won’t always be young. Before you know it, you will be old and feeble and incapable of making decisions. Give God first place in your life while you can.
Think about what God can do. Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:13). We can’t make a crooked tree straight, but God can. God can do what we can’t do. He can change what we can’t change.
Your life may be a tangled mess right now, but God can solve the issues in your life.
Enjoy life while you are young but remember that judgment day is coming. Be happy young man while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment. (Ecclesiastes 11:9).
The greatest futility is to live life without discovering the reason for living. What a waste to live without knowing why!
Remember your Creator in such a way that you take action. Remember in a way that influences your values and lifestyle.
Fear God! 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. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
At the start of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said he was going to experiment, He set out to experiment, study and acquire everything he could in hopes of discovering what would give life meaning. After he tried pleasure, possessions, philosophy, intellectualism and religion, he concluded it was meaningless.
He said, here’s the bottom line: fear God. That basically means to worship God whole-heartedly. Fearing God does not mean to cringe before him in fright; it means to live before God with reverence, respect, awe, wonder and surrender.
Every person must answer the question: What is the meaning of life? If answered correctly, it’s possible to bypass all the destructive roads we could follow. Jesus said, I have come that you may have life, life to the full. (John 10:10).
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