The Preacher …

… wrote:

For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool. (Ecclesiastes 2:16 KJV)

Our youth pastor gave the lesson Wednesday night, continuing a study as the youth joined adults.  The youth meet with adults when school isn’t in session, so we go to hear the lesson with them.

Studying Ecclesiates, especially during a joyous season, is a bit odd.  Here is the man deemed one of the wisest of his time and he writes a book that confirms 1) there is nothing new under the sun, and 2) it’s all הבל    הבל, emptiness or vanity. He finds like transitory and unsatisfactory.

Sounds a lot like we do, doesn’t he? Our expectations are seldom met. Our relationships waver between good and “Oh, dear, where do we go from here?”  Our jobs seldom gives us more than the agreed upon salary, and little in the way of satisfaction or progress.

Solomon saw all of that.  He saw what was remembered from previous generations and saw that both the wise man and the fool were dead, buried and forgotten.

How could he possibly forsee that the very words he wrote of the despair felt by all would be read thousands of years later.  Not because of the twelve chapters of discovering life’s emptiness, but for the closing truth.  I’ve used it often, for it is God’s truth, an absolute truth. Not a relative truth that wavers, too, between good and “Oh, dear, where do we go from here?”

Solomon did tell us where to go and what to do:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 KJV)