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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

"The Cycle" Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

"Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."

 This is what comes to mind when thinking of Ecclesiastes. Solomon, son of David wrote this book. He had everything a person could ever want in life. He had riches, wisdom, possessions,servants, silver,gold etc. Yet he starts by saying "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity." When I first started reading this book it was an encouragement and yet a discouragement. Is everything really useless? Why go on with life if nothing matters? Yet on an encouraging note I felt like there was understanding on my life by reading this.

 "What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the Earth remains forever. Also the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again." (vv.3-5) 

Does using the word vainity mean that something is altogether worthless? Going back to the question if everything is really useless I question what the word vainity is really saying. Hevel is the hebrew word used for vainity. It implies a vapor or breath. Having looked up this word and reading that definition it changes my view of what this Solomon, son of David was saying. Things come and things go. Dsyfunctional familiy patterns seem to resurface from generation to generation. The sun rises and the sun sets. The waters, sun and wind are always in constant motion, but what does it accomplish? In view of eternity this life on earth seems to not satisfy. In my own life I have lived in many places, I have at times had barely enough and at times been richly blessed. I have merry times with family and very sad times with family. I have eaten meat, gone vegetarian (didn't last too long), went to eating organic and "going green." Yet none of this was new and it is nothing that any other person hasn't gone thru. At one point in my life things seems so sad to me and reading this it can bring a depression to someone reading "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."  Set against eternity things on this earth do not have real value. Thankfully our friend Solomon doesn't end here. In the very last chapter of his book he writes,  " When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity." (ch.12 v13)  We should enjoy our time under this sun on Earth. Life is like a vapor or a breath. I have tried to understand things on this Earth and of this life but I remember a verse my grandfather has shared with me many times. It is found in Deuteronomy 29:29. It says " The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of the Lord."   There are things I will not know or understand butthe things the Lord has revealed to us in His word  to us is mine and yours forever. We are to fear God, keep his commands and be faithful in what we do know.
This brings me to the end of my first blog with a quote from the famous C.S Lewis.

“If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world

1 comment:

  1. Its so funny...I had just read this passage a while back and had thought the same thing. I love this. Thank you for sharing :)

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