Scripture: Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

Scripture Commentary:

Solomon covers two ailments in Ecclesiastes chapter 12: 

1. People who lack purpose and direction in life
2. People who think life is unfair

First, what is your purpose or duty in life?  Is it to suit yourself or to serve God?  Second, why would you think life is unfair?  

Have you been fair or unfair to God? 

Think about what God has done and what He is doing in your life.  If you are reading this, then God has given you another day.  What have you given God?

If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, and have asked for forgiveness, then how can God give you direction in your life?  We must go to God for purpose and meaning in life.  In doing so, we will acknowledge the evil, foolishness and injustice in life and build a stronger relationship with Jesus.

This relationship comes when we pray and study God’s Word.  Life is meaningless and futile without God.  All of us will stand before Him and be judged.  We cannot use life’s inconsistencies as an excuse for failing to live as His child.

Read the Entire Chapter:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+12&version=ESV

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 1: 2-4

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.  What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?  A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

Scripture Commentary: Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.*

All of our human toil and accomplishment will come to naught.  As it was with our forefathers, so shall it be with us.  We need to keep this in mind as we journey through life.  It we don’t, we will become either proud when we succeed (thinking we did this on our own) or sorely disappointed when we fail.

Solomon’s goal was to show that earthly possessions and accomplishments are ultimately meaningless.  Only by pursuing God do we achieve real satisfaction.

We should honor God in all we say, think, and do.

As you take a hard look at your life, as Solomon did his, you will see how important serving God is above all other options.  Perhaps God is asking you to rethink your purpose and direction in life.  As you set out to find the meaning of your life, you must be ready to feel, think, question, hurt, and do more for God.

When we ignore God, it only highlights our problems because there are no answers without God’s eternal perspective.

True wisdom is found in God, and true happiness is pleasing him.

*Ecclesiastes 4: 6

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1

Additional Reading:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 4

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 11: 7-10

Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:  But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.  Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

Scripture Commentary:

Solomon encourages us to rejoice in every day but to remember that eternity is far longer than a person’s life span.  We may live many years; however, our days are numbered.  The wise person does not think only about the present moment and its impact; s/he takes the long range view toward eternity.

Approach your decisions from God’s perspective and consider their impact both years from now and into eternity.

Live with the attitude that although our lives are short, we will live with God forever.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 11

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 9: 10-12

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.  I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.  For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

Scripture Commentary: The race isn’t for the swift nor is the battle for the strong

Who are you going to serve from the grave?  What can you say, and who is listening?  No one because you are dead.

You are to serve Our Lord Jesus Christ while you live.  If you live for worldly things then you are living finitely with sin twisting your life, making it something that God did not intend.  The world honors wealth, attractiveness, and success above wisdom.

Be swift, strong and wise in doing God’s work.  If you are about God’s work, you aren’t focused on difficult situations where the swiftest or the strongest don’t win, where the wise go hungry, and where the intelligent aren’t rewarded with wealth or honor.

Your reward is in knowing you are serving God for the purpose of saving souls.  God has given you the wisdom to do His work.  If you work for Jesus, you are rewarded both here on earth and in heaven.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 9

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 11: 1-6

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.  Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.  If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.  He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.  As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.  In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

Scripture Commentary: Sow to please the spirit*

In these verses Solomon summarizes that life involves both risk and opportunity.  Because life has no guarantees, we must be prepared.  “Cast your bread upon the waters” means that we must seize life’s opportunities.

He who observes the wind will not sow.  In other words, waiting for perfect conditions leads to inactivity.  If you wait for the perfect time and place for personal Bible reading … or if you wait for a perfect church … you’ll never read the Bible and you’ll never join the church.

Take steps now to grow spiritually.  Don’t wait for conditions that may never exist!

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 11

*Additional Reading:
Galatians Chapter 6

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 9: 3-6

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.  For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.  Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

Scripture Commentary: The living have hope

When Solomon says the dead know nothing and that there is no work, knowledge, or wisdom in death, he is not contrasting life with the afterlife.  He is contrasting life with death.

After you die, you can’t change what you have done (or have not done).  Considering the uncertainties of the future and the certainty of death, Solomon recommends enjoying life.  It is God’s gift to us.

We must accept each day’s measure of work, food, and pleasure to refresh ourselves to continue God’s work.

Jesus rose from the dead and showed us the way to everlasting life; therefore, death is not the end.  If you have Christ in your life, it’s the beginning.  For Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8: 12)

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 9
John Chapter 8

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5: 18-20

Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.  Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.

Scripture Commentary: Rejoice – every good thing you have is a gift of God

How did you get your job, or home, or your family?  Do you think it was luck?  Or do you see it as a gift of God?

Look around you.  What do you see?  If you’re honest about it, you’ll see the hand of God at work in your life.  We are drawn into the falsehood of thinking that we are running on our own steam.  You can do nothing by yourself.

Did you get here by yourself?  God has placed you here at this time for a reason.  God wants you to see that what you have – whether it is much or it is little –  with the correct perspective.  Your possessions are a gift from God.  Although they are not the source of joy, they are a reason to rejoice because everything good thing comes from God.

Focus more on the giver than the gift.  Be content with what you have and realize that you have everything you need with God.

Live as God wants you to live.  Be content!

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 5

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3: 18-21

I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.  Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

Scripture Commentary:  What is the fate of the spirit of man?

Our bodies can’t live forever in this present state.  In that sense humans and animals are alike.  Soloman, however, acknowledged that God has given people the hope of eternity.  We come from dust and to dust we will return.  But what of the spirit of man?  We will undergo judgment in the next life and this makes us different from animals.

Our purpose in life starts with whom we know, not what we know or how good we are.  we are not here on earth to serve ourselves, but to serve God and others.

Because we are created in God’s image, we have a spiritual thirst and an eternal value.  Nothing but the eternal God can truly satisfy us.  He has built in us a restless yearning for the kind of perfect world that can only be found in his perfect rule.

God’s plan is for us to live forever with him.  So live with eternal values in view, realizing that all contradictions will one day be cleared up by the creator himself.  He has given us a glimpse; however, we cannot see into the future or comprehend everything.  We must trust him now and do his work on earth.

Are you now living as God wants?  Do you see life as a great gift from him?

He loves you.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 12: 12-14

And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 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 judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Scripture Commentary: No matter what happens in life, the final conclusion is to recognize God as first in your life

These final three verses of Ecclesiastes Chapter 12 tell us that no matter what the mysteries and apparent contradictions of life, the final conclusion is that we must aim to know God.

Solomon shows us that we should enjoy life, but this does not exempt us from obeying God’s commandments. We should acknowledge the evil, foolish, and unjust parts of life, yet maintain our faith in God. Oftentimes we see our human endeavors as not for God, but for ourselves.

One day all of us will stand before God and be judged for what we did in this life. What will you say during your judgment? Remember this, you cannot use life’s inconsistencies as an excuse for not living as God mandated.

God is first in your life. Recognize that human effort apart from God is futile, not Godly. Everything good is a gift from God. Realize that God will judge the quality of your life; He will judge both the good and the evil.

How strange that people that do not know God spend their lives striving for the enjoyment of life that God gave freely as a gift.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ecclesiastes Chapter 12