Empty or Eternal
(Ecclesiastes1:1-11;
2:12-16;
3:18-22;
6:10-12;
8:16-17;
9:1-12)
Ecclesiastes - The Teacher
Artist Unknown
What is the meaning of life?
The book of Ecclesiastes has puzzled many Biblical students and scholars for millennia. Why would King Solomon (presumably its author) have expressed such frustration over the futility of his life?
Didn’t Solomon construct the tremendous Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem?
Didn’t he also the most elegant and extravagant palace ever constructed?
Wasn’t it Solomon who ruled the nation of Israel during its most peaceful and prosperous era ever?
And didn’t Solomon 700 wives and 300 concubines?
Despite his bounty, Solomon was unsatisfied with the apparent futility of life and searched for meaning.
"’Meaningless! Meaningless!."
says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.’"
Where can a meaningful life be found?
Can a human life really be reduced to eight score and ten, or whatever number of days a mortal may be granted upon the earth? Isn’t there much more to be had than a linear length on a lifeline?
I cannot speak for others, but I can offer my own experience. Before I accepted the Lord and His plan for my life, putting my trust in His Word (the Bible) and the promises it contains, I knew no meaning in life.
Sure, I could try to find peace through pleasure, acceptance through accomplishments and happiness through happenstance. But all of those positives have limits.
Only by choosing the Lord’s plan for an abundant eternity in personal relationship with the living Lord of the universe did I find meaning that cancelled the futility of a temporary time of breathing earth’s air.
Have you come to the same conclusion? Where do you find meaning in life?
Will you pray with me?
Great and glorious God,
In You, my life makes sense.
In You, my life has a purpose.
Teach me to trust You
More each day.
Thank You
For making my life count
For eternity.
Amen.
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