Ecclesiastes 5:1-20

Solomon is on a search for meaning and joy in life.  He has tried to find it in a myriad of locations but to no avail.  Now, at the end of his life, he reflects upon his pursuit of pleasure and makes some observations about how we can find true fulfillment in this life.  It is unfortunate that Solomon did not follow his own teachings earlier in life.  He could have saved himself a great deal of heartache.  However, his writings are a treasure from which we can gain great perspective in life.  In the end he boils things down to the two perspectives on life as a means through which we can find meaning in life.

KEEP OUR PROMISES AND SAVE OUR WORDS: God wants us to be reverent in our relationship with Him and understand that our promises made to Him are important.  We must be very careful about the promises that we make to the Lord and then be sure to keep those promises.  Solomon says it is far better for us to keep our mouths shut and not make any vows than to carelessly make a vow and then not keep it.  Our words are one of the easiest things for us to give away but Solomon says that we would be wise to be stingy with our words, especially our words spoken to God.  This is part of exercising reverence.  We must learn to be careful in the Words we speak to God.


GIVE OUR POSSESSIONS AND SAVOR OUR WORK: As we go through life we will see that leaders have a tendency to oppress those who are under them.  This should not take us by surprise and we can rest assured that every man is under an authority somewhere and will be called into an account for this.  The reason that we oppress others is for us to get ahead ourselves.  We all have this innate desire to accumulate things.  Solomon lets us know that this is a grave mistake.  When we love money and oppress others in order to get more of it, we will find ourselves living in misery.  It is far better for us to find satisfaction in our work and use our possessions as a means of blessing other people.  Our possessions are one of the hardest things for us to give away, yet doing so is a key to finding true meaning in life.  We must recognize that we cannot take anything in the way of possessions from this life into our eternal life.  Greed will leave us miserable while generosity will leave us joyful.  God rewards us for taking pleasure in our work and using the fruits of our labors to bless others instead of hoarding it for ourselves.

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