October 30th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
"2 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad”, and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man.
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Next comes the flight to pleasure following the failure of wisdom to give the answers to life. What is said in these verses prompts the reflection that it may have a good deal to say to us today about so much of the 'sick' theatre and literature around, and the never-ending mad round of pleasure indulged in with such frenetic activity. Sometimes we say of a man that he indulges in one long round of pleasure and does not have a single serious thing in his mind. But is this really so? Perhaps, once there were many serious thoughts in that mind for which no answer was found and he turned to the round of pleasure as an escape from the intolerable questionings of life. At all events (1, 2), this also proved an illusory hope. In 3ff, we are introduced to a broader spectrum with the lure of culture. Two things stand out here. One is that when we read these verses we find ourselves thinking 'What a tremendous zest for life, what an intensity of activity'. Just to read of all this is exhausting. But is there not something underlying this? Do we not detect in what is said a quest for an answer that persistently eludes? It is true that from one point of view it is a very full life that is described, with nothing diluted or watered down. It is very much a matter of 'one thing after another’. Some people have an incredible energy to expend, and do expend it, in such a 'living-it-up' pattern, yet the answer is always the same - vanity. And the impression that comes through, in spite of the cultural abundance, is one of a basic dreariness of life, with the same old round, getting nowhere, and a spectacle of unceasing activity, with no progress, always coming back to 'square one'. The verdict must always be the same: vanity and vexation of spirit, and no profit under the sun (11).
October 29th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
“12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children…
October 28th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
“12I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children…
October 27th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
“1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?4 A generation goes, and a…
October 26th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 1:1-18
“1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?4 A generation goes, and a…
October 25th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 1:1-18
“1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?4 A generation goes, and a…
October 24th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 1:1-18
“1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?4 A generation goes, and a…
October 23rd 2021 – Psalm 116
“I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold…
October 22nd 2021 – Psalm 115
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.4 Their…
October 21st 2021 – Psalm 115
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.4 Their…