Solomon wrote three
books that are recorded in the Bible: The Song of Solomon is a book that
sizzles with the language of love and the chemistry of romance as a young man
remembers his first love. The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings
written from the vantage point of a successful, middle-aged man who had lived
long enough, and looked around enough, to know some things that were worth
passing along to whomever might care to take the time to read them. Then he
wrote the book of Ecclesiastes—his autobiography—and it’s not a pretty sight.
Not
only is Ecclesiastes not a pretty sight, it’s the ugly story of a incredibly
gifted man who’d been chosen by God to be king, but who became a cynic and
spent the most of his adult life plastered—or “chasing the wind” as he refers
to it. He’s honest—painfully so—with us as he tells his story, exposing his
passions and pursuits: sex, money, power and fame; then admitting to us his
feelings of comprehensive failure as a man as, one by one, all his exclamation
points became question marks.
He
lived his life in the fast lane, one of the wealthiest and most brilliant
people who ever lived (Ecclesiastes 2:8-10). When he comes to the end of his
life he asks: “So what? What’s next? Somebody tell me because I don’t know!
I’ve tried it all and I don’t know!
I don’t have a clue! It’s just one big zero—a waste of time and energy!”
Who
can blame him for asking? There’s got to be a better way to make our way
through life. There has to be a way:
· To avoid squandering our years;
· To avoid such crippling regret at the end;
· To avoid the loss of our chance to make a real
difference;
· To avoid losing life in the living of it;
· There has to be a way to avoid wasting a lifetime…
Ever
used a treadmill? How about an exercise bicycle? Let’s not forget the
stair-stepper. I’ve used ‘em all
at one time or another… You know what they’ve all got in common? You don’t get
anywhere on ‘em. Ever! Run, pedal or climb all you want—and you’ll be right where
you started when it’s all over. In fact, going nowhere is part of their design.
The whole idea is that you can pour out your heart and soul on these things for
as long as you can stand it while you don’t go anywhere!
It comes to mind that life can be a lot like exercise equipment—going nowhere fast. From what I can gather a lot of us are fed up with it. And we’re beginning to wonder if maybe there’s something more, something better, something grander.
In Phillip L. Berman’s, The Search for Meaning, American’s Talk About What They Believe and Why, he tells the story of Alexander Curry, a thirty-something Wall Street trader, whose six-figure income gave him most of the stuff that most of us think dreams are made of. By age 30, he was financially secure for life, and wanted to quit—but for some reason he hasn’t—and he wonders why:
“I’ve always felt that there was something that I could do and feel I was doing something of real tangible benefit. Trading, arbitraging future markets, does not have any real tangible benefit, in my opinion. I mean, it serves a purpose for the economy, but I don’t think of myself as really doing a hell of a lot for society. I’m really doing more for myself. I would have to say that I feel that there is a lack of purpose in my being. I don’t understand why I’m here. I don’t really try to understand why I’m here because I think it would probably be futile. It does provide a real hole in my existence.” (Ballentine Books, 1990, p. 27).
Is
there a legitimate and attainable alternative to the “sunrise, sunset”
mentality that had become so meaningless and dull to Solomon, and maybe to lots
of us as well? Absolutely.
If
you’re ready to get off the treadmill it’s decision time. Your decision, and
mine, will need to come in the form of commitment to something grander and
nobler than maybe we’ve really considered before. Solomon eventually recognized
it, so we might as well take his word for it and save ourselves the misery:
“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep his commandments...” (Ecclesiastes 12:13a)
In the New Testament a guy named Paul, who’d been everywhere, done everything and seen it all, made a similar discovery:
“I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8 NASB)
And just because I like the way he says it, let me throw in this last one written hundreds of years ago by St. Augustine.
“He
who has God has everything. He who does not have God has nothing. He who has
God and everything has no more that he who has God alone.”
God
has this whole thing rigged. It’s a setup. God has so designed us that we can
only find what we’re really searching for when we find him. Happy New Year!
(Ed Saucier)
