Words of the Preacher

5-5-20

Eccl. 1:1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

How long did it take the wisest and wealthiest man on earth to realize that? It takes most of us a life time to come to that realization and many never realize it. When I read the book of Ecclesiastes I feel so sorry of Solomon. It seems like he lived his whole life enjoying the things of life and came down to the end and then realized ” all is vanity”.

I don’t know if Solomon realized it in time or not. His heart was led astray by outlandish women to serve other gods. He seemingly lost focus on what the important things in life were. As human beings it is so easy to get side tracked. We want everything we can get our hands on. We can see through this quarantine how anxious people are getting. We get anxious and nervous when we are confined. We want to be free. This is why the Word of God offends people. It binds them, restricts them from doing their will. People want to be free to go where they want to go, dress the way they want to dress, come to church when they want to come. We want to be free. We haven’t learned that all is vanity. The only thing that matters is our walk in God.

Those who learn the secret that the Word of God doesn’t bind us, it sets us free. We have lived so long in the bondage of the flesh that we think we are free. We don’t know what real freedom is out side of Christ. We resist anyone who tries to help us be free. This is why we are always looking back and thinking that the former days were better than today. Again the Preacher said: Ec 7:10 Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.

Today should be a better day than yesterday. If we are growing in God, then we are closer to him today than yesterday. People are always wanting to go backwards. Paul admonished us to go forward: Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

One reason we look back is because we want to go back and correct things. We think we would do things different, but we wouldn’t. We would make the same mistakes again. Again the Preacher said: Ec 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Here we have a wise man and a foolish man. The difference in these two men is the house they visited. The mistakes we have made, the failures we have suffered is what causes the sadness of the countenance. As the Preacher said, we are better men and women because of our faults, the heart is better. Yes if you want to live in a dream world to where you never did anything wrong, live in a house of mirth (pleasure, glee). If you want to live in a real world and have a wise heart then you will have to experience the house of mourning.

Ps 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Yes, the Preacher was a wise man.

R G Walker