When All Is Said and Done

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). I know, I know…that doesn’t sound like a very encouraging way to start a note of encouragement! However, Solomon had some very important things to say after he wrote this rather discouraging-sounding statement. It’s not hard for us to become discouraged enough that we want to cry the same cry when we look at our lives. Sometimes the pressure builds up so much that we know exactly what Solomon meant. Or, we think we do, anyway.

Actually, Solomon seems to have been speaking out of something other than frustration. First of all, Solomon wrote at the direction of the Holy Spirit, so that makes this a little different from the petty frustrations I have from time to time. Solomon was not writing out of frustration, but out of experience. What Solomon had discovered is that trying to gain happiness by any other means than by giving yourself completely to the will of God is vain, futile, and worthless. And Solomon had tried everything he could try.

Ecclesiastes 2:1, he said to himself, “‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.’ And behold, it too was futility.” Boy, wouldn’t you like to give yourself that test? Solomon actually tried to find happiness and fulfillment in personal, physical pleasure. He held nothing back from himself and, in the end, he found that pleasure, too, was vain and futile. Pleasure just will not work when it comes to making you truly happy or fulfilled.

There are a lot of people in this world who have the same idea that Solomon had: to test themselves with pleasure. They hold nothing back; there are no holds barred. Anything goes! And yet they find themselves increasingly unhappy rather than happy. You do not have to be a genius to look around and see that unhappiness reigns supreme in the lives of many, many people. Maybe you’re one of them.

You will be happy to know that Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes is not a book of complaints that life is unfair. When he says all is vanity, he means all that originates with man. There is hope. There is encouragement to be had if you will look in the right place. In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes, we find some words of true wisdom. In 12:1, he says, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them’…” In other words, stop looking for fulfillment in yourself or here on earth and turn to God before it’s too late! Read Ecclesiastes 12:2-5 and apply what is written there to the running down of the human body as we grow old.

Solomon gives one more bit of advice for those who are searching for happiness and fulfillment. In 12:13, he says, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” There is nothing I could say that would be more encouraging than that. True happiness, true encouragement, can only come from God. Know that anything other than total commitment to God is futility. And know that He loves you and so do I.

Donnie Bates

Out of the Darkness

There was a time when every one of us lived in darkness. The apostle Paul said he once lived apart from law (Romans 7:9), which meant that he was innocent and sinless (Romans 5:13). The only time that Paul could have been innocent and sinless was when he was a child. All of us were innocent and sinless when we were children, but at some point, we grew mature enough to be responsible for our actions. At that point, sin became alive, and we died (Romans 7:9). Before becoming a Christian, a person is dead in his or her transgressions (Colossians 2:13).

In Psalm 107:10, the psalmist gives a perfect description of the life of every person before he or she becomes a Christian. We all lived in darkness and the shadow of death. We were prisoners in misery and chains. Sometimes it feels like we still are. Life can sometimes be just that miserable. And it was our own fault! In Psalm 107:11, we read that this condition is because: “…they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High.” Sometimes even Christians rebel against the words of God and spurn the counsel of the Most High. When that happens, we find ourselves right back in misery and chains.

Psalm 107:12 says there are consequences to our actions. The consequence of the actions of rebellion is suffering. As long as the rebellion continues, there is no way out. We may be able to find temporary solutions that make us feel better, but without submission to replace the rebellion, there is no real, lasting solution. We stumble and there is no one to help. The only effective solution is to cry out to the Lord. The New Testament is full of passages that tell us the details involved in crying out to the Lord. And when we do that, according to His conditions, He will save us from our distress (Psalm 107:13).

In bringing us out of our distress, God brings us out of darkness and the shadow of death, and He breaks our bands apart (Psalm 107:14). Let’s give thanks, indeed! I know that the comparison to be made here is really about our conversion, but this passage ought to give us strength and encouragement when we realize that our Father continues to do these things. What things? He still shatters the gates of bronze and cuts bars of iron asunder (Psalm 107:16). He is still that strong! There is nothing in creation that has, since the psalmist wrote this psalm, become strong enough to withstand my God! It is still true that if God is for us, no one can stand against us successfully (Romans 8:31). Nothing can separate us from the love of God; nothing, that is, except our own stubbornness. The psalmist said it: there is no remedy to our situation, to our sufferings and affliction, without God. Don’t even try to solve it without God’s help. Submit yourself to Him, obey His will and just watch the chains fall away. He loves you and so do I.

Donnie Bates