As we read in yesterdays post the book of Ecclesiastes starts with an aging Solomon’s assertion that all things are meaningless apart from a relationship with God. Life is in vain, its empty there is no lasting satisfaction apart from an eternal relationship with an Almighty God. He went so far as in verse 10 to say everything that has been done will be done again, there is nothing new, nothing special, its has been done, and it will be done again. It is futile. Now with that being said Solomon decides to go point by point to prove his original thesis. In first point he hits an area he knows best, wisdom.
To understand Solomon’s comments on Wisdom, we must first understand Solomon. In 1 Kings 3:5, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said "Ask what I shall give thee". In verse 9, a humble Solomon gives his reply "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" and the lord granted his request in verse 12 "Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee." Solomon became the wisest man to ever walk the face of the earth. His wisdom was unmatched by anyone before him, or after him. This being said if there is anyone who can speak to wisdom it was Solomon.
Now before we go any further I would like to encourage you to flip your own Bibles open to Ecclesiastes 1:12-18, and take a few moments to read it. I’ll be using the King James Version through this post, as its one of the few without copyright rules.
As established earlier Solomon’s wisdom was unmatched, yet he spent much of his life outside the will of the Lord. Solomon had spent years concentrating, thinking and searching out the meaning of life and here in these verses we see the four conclusions he came up with.
The first we see in verse 13 "And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith." Solomon’s conclusion is actually found in the second part of this verse where he says "this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith." In other words Humans can’t help but seek out the ultimate meaning of life; for the most part we must believe there is a reason to our existence.
Next on to verse 14 "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit." Solomon’s second conclusion goes back to his main theme. He has seen it all. He feels he has adequately experienced all that life has to offer and all is "vanity and vexation" or in a more modern day English it’s all in vein and an irritation or annoyance
His third conclusion is found in verse 15 "That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." I like this verse as it is saying sometimes in life there are issue’s we cannot resolve. No matter how hard we try no matter what effort we throw at it, it will remain "crooked". This is by no means saying we should accept sin, because we cannot fix it. Yet there are many things out there that we within our own wisdom cannot fix.
Finally we see his last conclusion in verse 18 "For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." It’s strange to think that the wiser you are the more grief you have, yet it’s true. For example as we grow in the Lord we come to a greater understanding that there will be those who will never come to know the Lord, and with that comes the grief; as no matter what we do, we will each have friends and possibly family who will end up in hell someday.
As we wrap this up, we can take away a truth that there is no point to wisdom outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ. There will always be problems we cannot solve. There will be sickness we cannot cure. Even the wisest man the earth has ever known found his wisdom had its limits. The only hope we have for true meaning in life is a lifelong relationship with the one and only God through His Son Jesus Christ. As we think about an action point today, let’s stop looking to the world for answers; instead look to He who made it.
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