Ecclesiastes Part 4

Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
Teaching Pastor: Lloyd Shadrach

We have been gas-lighted (manipulated (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.) by the world of flesh and the enemy of our souls.

Adam and Eve lived in paradise and communed with our God, but the enemy caused her to question his goodness, leading to the fall. Instead of questioning the enemies validity, she began to question a perfect God and what she had been commanded. 

Previously in the book of Ecclesiastes it was made clear that pleasure will not fill  the void of our soul.  Now Solomon looks at the ability of Wisdom and Work to fill that void.

In 2:12-17 we see that death is the great equalizer. We may all argue or disagree on what we come face-to-face with in the afterlife, or if there is an after life, but none of us can or do question death.  We all die.  In v. 16 Solomon proclaims that there is no lasting remembrance of the wise.  None of us will be remembered, not in any meaningful way.  Memorial day just passed us by, and many thought back to "remember" friends, loved ones, and fallen strangers.  Many people are memorialized, and sure, we all "remember" Hitler and his terrible deeds, or the acts of love and mercy performed by Mother Teresa. 

Will any person or act, good or bad, or WISE, be remembered 5,000 years from now?  Personally, as much as times have changed in the 32 years I've been alive, I cannot even begin to comprehend the world my son will be an adult in, much less a world in 5,000 years.  While I can't imagine that world, it likewise will not know or remember me and my generation, even the most memorable of my generation.  Wisdom will not bring us remembrance, we are all forgotten and end life in death.

Solomon laments in v 18-23 that like wisdom, work also does not fill the void.  He laments that what he works for he must leave to whomever comes behind him.  While Solomon worked hard, and gained much, he had no control over his sons acts with what was left to him.  When we are gone we lose all control of that we have worked for.

v. 24 "There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work.  I have seen that even this is from God's hand."

The above verse is a carpe diem passage.  We are to enjoy the everyday things of life both literally and figuratively.  All that encompasses life should be enjoyed. 

As mentioned previously, even work was a gift from God.  Work became distorted after the fall, but we were made and designed to work and find joy and fulfillment.  The fall distorted work, but we all still have a longing and desire for work.

Any work we do, should be done as though it were a gift from the Lord, because it is.

We are made for more than this world offers, yet we can still eat drink and say know all we have is from the hand of God.

No one can experience goodness apart from God. 

My heart breaks as I grow and realize the goodness and pleasure that comes from knowing God.  I live in the deep south so everyone proclaims to be a "Christian," but my desire is to see everyone truly rest in the peace and pleasure that comes from knowing the Lord and living in relationship with Him.

Life in God's world is a gift, not a gain.  It is not something we work for and gain or earn, rather it is a gift and gifts are only enjoyed when they are received. 

Receiving our work as a gift will make it joyful.

Finally death = separation.  For me and all Christians, physical death is separation from the body, but it is really only the beginning.  I will be reunited with God, a fate much more pleasing than the pleasures offered up, from God, in this physical world.

Without salvation we cannot eat, drink and enjoy life, with it...even work is pleasure.

In the world we live in today, someone dies every 1.8 seconds.  My prayer today is that they knew and experienced life's pleasure, through God, so that someone is reunited with the Lord in ultimate pleasure every 1.8 seconds.  What a blessed world that would be.