Sorry for the delay in posting today!
King Solomon searched for happiness in every earthly way imaginable - his wealth and power put him in a position to literally do just that. He had wealth, power, prestige, food, women, houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, fruit trees, herds, flocks, slaves, silver, gold, treasures - literally everything you could possibly think of to ensure your earthly happiness. According to our society's view today, he should have been a very happy man. But what did he discover? It was all vanity, all meaningless. It didn't work. It may have brought a fleeting happiness, but it did not bring everlasting joy.
Why not?
Because he was looking at earthly treasure, and he was looking at himself.
We were created to worship, but we were not created to worship ourselves or any other earthly god. We were created to worship the Creator, the One true God. Any focus outside of that cannot bring us true joy. But when we are focused on Him, when we are focused on glorifying Him, that is when we experience true joy, no matter our circumstances or possession. So counter-cultural!
Are we living in light of this truth? Or are we chasing after a lie in our pursuit of happiness?
In Revelation we see a mighty angel coming to announce the final judgments on the earth, straddling the land and the sea to indicate that his words dealt with all creation. This angel represents the amazing power of God - and we are on His side! We don't need to know all the details of the end times in order to live for him now.
As believers we ought to pray for God's justice to be carried out and His plan to be fulfilled because of the triumph of His kingdom. These words are sweet to believers because it brings encouragement to us, but it sours our stomach because it also makes certain the coming judgment against unbelievers.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Ecclesiastes 4-6; Revelation 11
2 comments:
"What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun."
There are so many truths in Ecclesiastes but this one really sums it up for me.
I like the (somewhat depressing) encouragement in chapter 3
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
There is a time for everything. A season that will pass and change into a new one.
The same verse Pamela quoted about nothing being new is the verse that jumped out at me today. Pamela and I were just talking about how we often think that today is so different than Jesus' time, and that's not the case. He faced the same temptations we do today.
It does encourage me knowing that all previous generations had to deal with the same issues that I face. We just need to stay focused on God.
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