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The book of Ecclesiastes is a reflection on life by king Solomon of Israel. God had given him all knowledge and wisdom and because he asked for those things and not the usual power and riches, God gave him those things too. What happens when one is blessed with everything?
As it is today, power corrupts the morals and the judgment and so it was in the life of the smartest man on earth. He lamented that he saw no meaning in life; no matter what you achieve, you die and leave it to another. In fact, mankind had no “special” place in the eyes of God, animals live and die the same way. There is nothing special about man.
Chasing after the wind; everything is chasing after the wind. Or is it?
He forgot that life isn’t about himself. At the end of the book, he throws out the sum of his thoughts; fear God and do what he tells you.
So a man given all wisdom comes up with that assessment of life? His observations were right. LIfe seems to repeat itself generation to generation. People live, people die, everyone and everything, up in smoke.
Solomon didn’t know why he was on the earth. I would venture to say that he didn’t cultivate the knowledge and wisdom God gave him. The fundamental questions of life, he couldn’t answer. Why are you here and what is your destiny? Granted he lived long before the coming of Jesus Christ but we are clearly told what we are here for back in the time of Moses. Knowing the Word of God is so vital.
We, like the animals and everything created, are here for one purpose: to give God pleasure, to love God. We’re not here to achieve anything except a close relationship with God and to persuade others to do the same. Forget the nice house, cars, college degrees, your children living better than you, and all the rest of the trite things we strive for.
The Bible puts it this way: What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
The only thing valuable about you is your soul. Bank accounts, land, reputation are gone once you are buried. The greatest of men are simply forgotten. I remember my parents, they were wonderful people, but their life was like a vapor; they are simply gone and the place they once were remembers them no more.
We have gobs of “smart” men these days. They are no smarter than Solomon. Some of the very rich are striving to find a way to live beyond their life here. They are very smart fools because it’s appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment.
In the end, I agree with Solomon. Fear God for he holds the very breath we breathe in his hand. Do what God says for that is the way God knows you love Him. All your heart, all your life, all your mind; there’s nothing left to give then. God needs to know that you love Him otherwise He has no use for you.