Ecclesiastes: "The Secret To Life"

 (Ecclesiastes 1: "What is the Good Life?")

(Ecclesiastes 2: "Hebel Happens")

(Ecclesiastes 3: "He Who Dies with the Most Hebel Wins")

(Ecclesiastes 4: "Fatalism, Flux, and Figs")

(Ecclesiastes 4 and 5: "If it makes you happy, why are you so sad?")

(Ecclesiastes 5 and 6: "Shadows that Cover the Land")
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  ECCLESIASTES 11

      Sorry I haven’t written in a while.  I tend not to write when life is good.  After I “gave up” last time, something settled inside me.  I recently realized there have been a couple cool changes in me.

    I don’t live in fear. I don’t understand the wind, but I still sail and do business on the seas.  I  prepare for the unexpected  - I send boats out 8 different directions so if storms sink one, the other still go on.

     I don’t know when it will rain, but I don’t stop planting.  I just plant at different times.    

     I don’t understand how babies are formed in the womb, but I still father children.

     I don’t understand how you work any better now than I did then, but that’s okay.  Wind, rain, and life are better in your hands than mine.

Ecclesiastes: "Shadows That Cover The Land"

(Ecclesiastes 1: "What is the Good Life?")

(Ecclesiastes 2: "Hebel Happens")

(Ecclesiastes 3: "He Who Dies with the Most Hebel Wins")

(Ecclesiastes 4: "Fatalism, Flux, and Figs")

(Ecclesiastes 4 and 5: "If it makes you happy, why are you so sad?")

 Ecclesiastes 5

     Wow. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by what I see and hear as king.  Clearly I was right: we are the problem.  It weighs on me, but it also gives me perspective. 

     I’ve seen evil people get away with a hundred atrocities and still live a long life.  That used to make me question your justice, but over time I have seen that the truly good life is reserved for those who fear you, and who aren’t ashamed to let people know. Evil people might live long, but that’s not the same as living well.  They fear things to – just not you – but that doesn’t make them better people at all.  Those who fear you build towering lives that cast a long shadow: people find shade and rest close to them. 

Ecclesiastes: What is the Good Life?

When I went to the Smokeys last summer, everyone asked me the same question when I got home: “Did you have a good vacation?”

While on the trip, a friend asked me a very poignant question: “I am trying my best to live for Christ. Why do I feel so restless and unfulfilled?  What am I not happy? How do I find the good life?” 

The good vacation.  The good life.

When I got home, I read this in a Newsweek article called "My Transoceanic Midlife Crisis." 

"‘I pared life down to the basics to find out what really mattered to me, to find out what was left when I was defined by who I was, not by what I owned or who I was with. I was letting go of everything that had represented security—my job, my husband, my home, my possessions…It was liberating, but I was like a carpenter with a brand-new set of tools and no wood to work on. I needed a project.’ Sailing won out over ‘less extreme options, such as an organic baking business and planning a motorcycle trip…’

Everyone wants the good life.

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This search for meaning is not a new search.  The book of Ecclesiastes is an often overlooked and seldom discussed book, but it has tremendous relevance for today.

Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon, whose wisdom and wealth was perhaps unparalleled in ancient times.  He is responsible for three books in the Old Testament: The Song of Songs, written first; Proverbs, written second; and then Ecclesiastes, most likely written at a time his kingdom was crumbling around him due to the idol worship he had allowed in the land. 

The title means “one who addresses an assembly.” The word he uses for God is Elohim, which – more than other words he could have used- focused his audience on God as a Creator, and us as the created. Solomon is apparently wanting to address a wider audience than just the Jewish people.

He is addressing a universal human condition.  What is the point of life?  How do I find meaning and purpose and hope in the midst of a world that can be very confusing?