HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 957
Ecclesiastes
T O W A R D T H E E N D O F H I S L I F E , a famous person is inter-
viewed. The first question is asked: “You’ve lived a full life. What would
you like to tell everyone watching and listening tonight?” The audience
leans forward, waiting for a profound response, some helpful words
that could make their lives as successful as this person’s.
What you will be
“Life is meaningless!” the famous person blurts
reading about
out. “Completely meaningless!”
For the first time in his life, the interviewer is
1:1– 2:26
The futility of life—where is
speechless. The audience is stunned. Is this all
the meaning?
there is to life?
3:1– 6:9
The book of Ecclesiastes begins in just this
Life is full of trouble and
way. King Solomon, the most famous person of
apparent contradictions—
his day, is interviewing himself, engaging in selfthe importance of finding
purpose
analysis. “How would I portray life to others?”
he asks himself. “Meaningless!” is his reply.
6:10 – 8:17
Developing the right attitude
“Empty, hollow, without significance.”
about God—the value of
What makes Solomon’s words even more surwisdom
prising and perplexing is that he is known as the
9:1–12:14
wisest man who ever lived and also possibly the
Solomon’s final conclusions—
richest. Solomon had it all. It is actually not until
life’s true meaning
the end of the book that we realize that he started
the book this way to get our attention. Solomon did have it all but he just didn’t
realize it until his closing days, after he had made a real mess of his life. Before
we make any more of a mess with our lives, Solomon is trying to show us the
futility of life without God.
Solomon looked at life as one grand experiment, and in the end he concluded
that the experiment had failed. The relationships he developed apart from God
were disappointing. The business ventures he explored apart from God brought
no real joy or satisfaction. The music, the gardens, the arts—what was the point
if they could not be seen as a gift from the eternal God who loves us?
All of this dawned on Solomon, but almost too late. Everything he tried apart
from God was either disastrous or meaningless. He couldn’t take another dead
end. Now, having tried virtually everything his heart desired, he returned to
the one true desire of his heart—a relationship with God himself. He finally
realized that God is the only hope for meaning and an eternal future. If
only he had realized this sooner. If only he could prevent this heartache in
others.
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