(Ecclesiastes 1:1-18)
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 “Futility of futilities,” says the Preacher,
“Futility of futilities! All is futility.”
3 What advantage does a person have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
4 A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.
5 Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;
And hurrying to its place it rises there again.
6 Blowing toward the south,
Then turning toward the north,
The wind continues swirling along;
And on its circular courses the wind returns.
7 All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.
8 All things are wearisome;
No one can tell it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been, it is what will be,
And what has been done, it is what will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
It has already existed for ages
Which were before us.
11 There is no remembrance of the earlier things,
And of the later things as well, which will occur,
There will be no remembrance of them
Among those who will come later still.
12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled. 14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is futility and striving after wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know insanity and foolishness; I realized that this also is striving after wind. 18 Because in much wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
2 “Futility of futilities,” says the Preacher,
“Futility of futilities! All is futility.”
3 What advantage does a person have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
4 A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.
5 Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;
And hurrying to its place it rises there again.
6 Blowing toward the south,
Then turning toward the north,
The wind continues swirling along;
And on its circular courses the wind returns.
7 All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.
8 All things are wearisome;
No one can tell it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been, it is what will be,
And what has been done, it is what will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
It has already existed for ages
Which were before us.
11 There is no remembrance of the earlier things,
And of the later things as well, which will occur,
There will be no remembrance of them
Among those who will come later still.
12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled. 14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is futility and striving after wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know insanity and foolishness; I realized that this also is striving after wind. 18 Because in much wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
Some biblical versions use the word "vanity". Here the word "futility" is used. And in the Spanish version that I'm reading, it uses "¡Pura ilusión!" Pure illusion! So very interesting. And here we have the smartest, wisest person, ever known to mankind, writing this, because the all-knowing Lord God (Jesus Christ) blessed Solomon with tons of wisdom. So in this book of the Bible, Solomon is logging his journey of discoveries regarding life, human nature and purpose.
Since we are social beings, most of what people do is done to protect oneself from others, manipulate others, and/or win people over. But whatever we work towards, or however we try to disguise or glam up our bodies, it will all whither and erode and come to an end. So what is the point in all of that?
We talk about how we can learn from hindsight, yet, we forget all too quickly. How people think on their own is pure illusion. They create their own belief system and values in order to support whatever illusion/s they are trying live in, to suit their personal desires. And because life can become mundane, people are continuously looking for ways to entertain themselves, or try to create drama (good or bad) in their lives. But even that becomes "old", and never fulfills or satisfies a person, and so the expeditions of the all-elusive will continue.
Then if and when we hear anyone talking about a new way of thinking - think again! It will just be a somewhat clever way to disguise something old. As verse 15 says, whatever is crooked cannot be made straight. Yet that is what we sometimes do in attempts to justify wrong behaviors. We try to come up with "new and clever" ways to disguise the problems and issues.
The biggest problem is that the world is not interested in hearing that they are sinners in need of saving, or in God-of-the-Bible. In fact, the world prefers to either redefine Him into some kind of god or gods (created in their own image), or they try to explain Him away altogether, like with the theory of evolution, which says that everything is just an accident.
Without God in our lives, everything is wearisome and futile. Even seeking after wisdom and knowledge, if it is without God, it is foolish, empty and pointless. And one will very quickly realizes that the more we know, the more we know there is to know. And this can definitely bring one into despair, because it causes us to face our own limitations and shortcomings compared to all the issues in the world!
Meanwhile, we have God's truth, written out for us to clearly understand that the Lord has a plan and purpose. The all-powerful and all-knowing Lord created us and everything for a reason! He also loves and cares about us and desires that all have a personal relationship with Him. Therefore, we can choose to go to Him to be saved and receive eternal life.
Then we can do things in His perfect way, with His help, with joy and purpose! And then, in His will, with His wisdom, life will make sense! We will have clear direction, with purpose. And with His help and guidance, we will be able to find and develop purposeful relationships in our lives, to go through life together, with unconditional love, edification and encouragement, which will circle back to the Lord. At least this cycle makes sense and is the very opposite of futility!
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