Ecclesiasties Chapter Two... Solomons exposed heart

1    I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

Here we see where Solomon began to lose good sense and good judgment; it is amazing that a man with such incredible wisdom could be so duped, one would think he would have the power to reason out the end of the path of mirth and folly without having to actually walk it out. When someone chooses to do something irrational, something that defies good sense and logic you have to look deeper into the force pushing them down that road. There is something in them, either a mindset (an irrational fear), an idol, or an agenda that is skewing their thinking causing blindness in that area. So what is the "issue" with Solomon here? I think plain and simply we see Solomon has issues with an uncircumcised heart; he craved the life of parties and excess and so he pursued it under the guises of “seeing what is good for the sons of men” (Eccl 2:3). If he truly loved the Lord and was devoted to pleasing him he would not have been driven to such excesses but rather would have pursued a more chaste life!

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... Wisdom, knowledge and joy for the upright.

18    For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

This isn't really true of heavenly wisdom, is it? Solomon, through previous statements, told us his wisdom and knowledge were corrupted by madness and folly. This will also be true of a saint of God who tries to mix the wisdom of God with the folly of this world, tasting of heavenly things then gorging themselves on worldly entertainment and worldly activities. This kind of mixture will taint and cloud the wisdom that is from above. Let me interject something else Solomon said in this very book; Eccl 2:26 that God gives wisdom; knowledge and joy, in other words wisdom and knowledge flow together with joy, they are compatible. Solomon had wisdom and knowledge but not joy, instead he was depressed because he was not living uprightly, he had lost the "good in His sight" aspect to his walk. We cannot violate Gods standards and expect all to be well; there will be consequences. God may bless one with wisdom and knowledge but only one who is pure will we have joy?

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... We must remain humble before the Lord.

16    I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

"I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem..." We detect here Solomon had a little problem with pride; what he is saying is somewhat reminiscent of the pride of Nebuchadnezzer in Dan 4:29-30. Such boasting is not glorifying to God 1 Cor 4:7 "...And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?". Solomon seems to have lost the humility he once had when he asked God for the wise and understanding heart (1 kings 3:7-12). When God gives one a great gift or talent or ministry there needs to be great humility.

17    And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

"And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly" - Solomon erred greatly in judgment, in fact, one marvels that a man of such wisdom could have concluded that one could mix wisdom and folly. Simple math tells us that if you add two numbers together you get a product of the two. Wisdom plus madness can equal nothing but confusion or vexation.

"I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit." – its no wonder he was vexed, wisdom and folly do not mix any better than oil and water, they are complete opposites! Unfortunately many saints go down the same road today trying to hold on to godliness and worldliness but the two are opposites and do not mix. Trying to mix Christ and the world will never produce godliness, it will always produce disappointment and vexation.

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... Never loose hope of being changed!

15    That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

 "That which is crooked cannot be made straight..." This is horribly wrong; it is the very mission of the Godhead to make the crooked straight. This comment is the direct result of backsliding; it has a note of despair. When people backslide they loose hope of things getting better even though it is at the very heart of the Christian message. In Ecclesiastes We never once read about the repentance of Solomon or him seeking the Lord to break the curses in his life, just indulgence after indulgence. It is no wonder he formulated such opinions. His father, David, knew the secrets of true repentance and seeking the Lord how that would straighten out the crooked areas of his life!

"...and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." that which is deficient cannot be numbered, again is he talking of his own experience how that deficiencies in his own life overwhelmed him? We pity this poor king because he spent no real time seeking the Lord to have these deficiencies resolved. This thought of deficiencies reminds me of Hebrews 12:13  “And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed”. Solomon should have sought the Lord for a healing of deficiencies in his fallen life then it would not have ended short and with such a question mark.

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... Is God to blame for the woes of man?

13    And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

"And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven..." On the surface this seems a noble task indeed but as we move on to the rest of this verse it takes a dark turn that is inconsistent with what God originally had in mind: "...this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith." I have found this statement to be common among the unregenerate that they are more than willing to saddle God with the burden of the unhappiness of mankind. They easily will blame God for mans troubles disallowing room for the disobedience and rebellion of mankind against a loving God as the true root cause; they scarcely even mention the serpent and his part played in the curse of Adam. Now, in Solomon, we see the same unfortunate conclusion that the burden of mankind is the fault of God.

14    I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Really? Again, is this even true? Are all the works of the sons of man in vain? Certainly not! Men’s lives and eternal destinies unfold in that labor. Every pastor, teacher, evangelist, apostle, prophet are working, laboring in the work of the ministry to perfect the saints, the Blessed Holy Spirit is moving upon the face of the deep in the hearts of men in that labor! O' be very, very careful about the opinions you formulate. Do not forget the Phil 4:8 rule which establishes the gates we need to set up to filter out thoughts that are wrong: Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”.

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... What will be our mark in this world and in the world to come?

11    There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

What Solomon is saying is, no one from the past is remembered, and everyone yet to be born will be forgotten too. This very book of Solomon’s refutes that point; he lived many, many years ago and yet we still speak of him and his works today. This verse actually reveals a flaw in Solomon, namely, that he sought praise and remembrance (something he condemns throughout Proverbs). This is not a careless remark on Solomon; it is evident when we realize that Solomon spent seven years building a house for God yet thirteen building his own palace that he was far more engaged in building his own name. Unlike David his father whose whole heart was dedicated to building God a house Solomon was much more about displaying his own magnificence. Now, consider this question, do we want to be known? The answer is found Hebrews 11, this chapter speaks of the great hero’s of faith, men and women who made their impact in this world and obtained a reward in the world to come. By Hebrews 11 we will conclude it is a good thing to be known and it is a good thing to be remembered. The question remains, what are we going to be remembered for? Our own magnificence or a life lived for Christ, being dedicated and sold out to Him?

12    I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

Solomon breaks into a personal dissertation, which gives us tremendous insight into this man who came from the godly man David and yet fell prey to backsliding. Dear reader pay very close attention to the few following verses because Solomon is going to dissect for us the real heart issues; he will spell out for us the path of his decline. First of all from this verse we see the time frame of this writing of this book as Solomon is looking back on his years as king; he is at the end of his life and referring to himself as one who "was king of Israel". So he is clearly at the end of his reign. From this verse we know two things: 1) he reigned over all Israel - O' the impact this man could have made, with the influence and power he had he could have turned the whole kingdom into a kingdom of righteousness and made a more positive impact on the world but instead the enemy got in cut his life short and marred his legacy. If we concentrate on righteousness, uprightness and breaking every yoke God will cause us to influence people for good 2) king Solomon himself dwelt in the capitol city of Jerusalem - this was the city David took from the last enemy mentioned in Deut 7:1; the Jebusites. An enemy that could not be removed prior to David. He dwelt in a city that spoke of triumph and arriving at the destination God promised way back in Egypt. O' if only Solomon had continued in the victory how much differently the third book of Solomon (Ecclesiastes) could have been.

Thoughts on the Grace of God and surviving crisis.

I want to take a moment to speak on the word grace; there are many people who suffer in this world, some bear suffering well and some are crushed by it. I have found that generally one passes or fail the trials of life based on the appropriation of one word…Grace! By way of definition grace is “the divine influence upon the heart and it’s reflection in the life” (Strong’s #5485). I really like this definition of grace; grace is the Holy Spirits influence upon the human heart tugging us and lifting us up over and above our circumstances and for those who respond to that influence it is reflected in their life.

Like everyone else in this world I have had my share of disasters thrown at me; I have had to cope with some physical pain, some emotional pain and some spiritual pain (just like everyone else in this world). In light of it all I have come to this conclusion, we are generally ill prepared to handle most things when they first come, they always seem to come at the worst moment, are inconvenient and given our choice we would rather not have to deal with them.

In light of this reality one asks the question, “What provision is there for me to arise victorious in the midst of the tribulations of life”? How do we handle these sometimes small and sometimes colossal setbacks? The answer is His grace! Grace, which is like faith is an actual substance and has the power to uphold us and keep us above the waves in tribulations (if we are yielding to His influence).

What are you facing today? Does it feel like you are being crushed under foot, does it feel like your life is spiraling out of control and you are powerless to do anything about it? Why not use this crisis as an opportunity to ask Him to reveal His grace and power to uphold you. Why not say “Lord, let your divine influence tug me and pull me in the right direction let your influence be reflected in my life so I can glorify your name”

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... Make every choice count for eternity!

9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Man thinks himself very clever as though he has found something new but in reality we follow the exact same pattern that has been followed all generations. In the Last days knowledge has increased, things are smaller, faster, and cheaper and yet mans life follows the exact same pattern, as always it has never changed. 2 Peter 3:10-11 We are born, we learn to do good or evil, we raise families, we grow old and we die and are measured by our works. Knowing this is true our lifes focus should not be selfish but selfless making holiness and "the common good and welfare of mankind our business" because although we cannot affect the cycle of this world we can greatly affect our eternity.

10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

Life’s cycle repeats over and over again with every generation. For example in V:7 he talks about the cycle of the waters all of the rivers empty into the sea, yet, the sea is not full because it returns the water back to the rivers (evaporation to clouds to rain or snow). Since the flood it has always been so. This does not make it mundane but rather an incredible miracle to have such precise repeatability over multiple millennia’s. What manufacturing supervisor would not be thrilled beyond description to have such precision in his plant? Yet as we have been saying during this very repeatable cycle mankind lives out his life making choices; although the earth will repeat the cycle over and over again we ourselves only have one opportunity to make everything we do count. Instead of seeing the futility of everything (because of the continual repetition of the earths cycle and our inability to do anything to affect it) we need to make our own personal choices count on this terrestrial ball!

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... Our labor is not vain, when it is to fulfill His purposes!

6    The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

The weather is somewhat predictable, it flows in a certain direction and his point is that the earth is one big cycle and year after year everything is the same. Solomon tries to point out the vanity of everything, everything just keeps repeating over and over with no change. Solomon was wise enough to, through observation and discernment, discover the weather patterns but instead of seeing the wonder of it all, instead of finding peace and security in a God who so thoroughly takes care of the whole world he found it to be labor without purpose. This again illustrates how his mind worked; because he was backslidden he saw everything as labor without purpose.

7    All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

Solomon saw all of this as pointless, much labor and nothing seems to be accomplished. And yet in this activity all living things (plant, animal and man) are sustained. One who is backslidden draws the wrong conclusions about what they are seeing. Again we need to seriously weigh the conclusions we draw. One who is backslidden says, "What's the point? Everything is vain!" But the redeemed are able to see Gods hand in everything and they are able to rejoice in it.

8    All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

All of life is full of labor Gen 3:19; it is actually a part of the curse put upon Adam but labor is also fulfilling when one has the grace and faith of God to do a thing. God gives wisdom and anoints us for labors for His purposes and this grace and faith causes us to enter into rest (Heb 4:11)

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... Does man make any impact?

4    One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

First of all, let us ask this question, is this true? The thought here is that the earth remains the same, unchanged throughout all generations. This verse is stating that men come and go and they have very little overall effect. And yet there are those whose impact can be felt for many generations. Abraham, Moses, Joshua etc… and so this, therefore, is not really true. Men can have a great impact in this world. The point to be made here is to be a man or woman of consequence; make an impact in you generation!

5    The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

This is a reference to our twenty-four hour cycle; everything we do is governed by it. The point Solomon is building to is that this cycle leads one generation into another and is unchanged no matter what we may do this is never altered. As we will see Solomon believed this to be a vanity, however, this is a negative statement from a backslider who is miserable. In reality one should greatly rejoice because 1) The earths cycle is as God ordained it and it is good (Gen 1:31), and, 2) Gods mercy on fallen humanity is refreshed at the rising of every morning sun (Lam 3:22-23).

Take My Yoke Upon You and Learn of Me - August 2010 PART II

Take My Yoke Upon You and Learn of Me - August 2010 PART I

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... Solomon gets it wrong, all is not vanity!

2    Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Solomon after observing all things concludes that all labor is in vain; nothing makes any sense! All is on a vicious cycle and no matter what man does the cycle repeats (V:4). It is certainly true that God has set a stage and man is judged upon his part in that arena, however it is far from vanity! Man can do much good or he can do evil, he can save many lives or he can in selfish absorption watch as they go ignorantly cascading into a godless eternity. So, the labors of man are virtually the same in every generation but they are certainly not in vain!

3    What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

What will become apparent as we progress in this chapter is that every generation repeats the same cycle as the generation before it. No matter how hard man tries this cycle cannot be altered. Even the earth itself repeats the same cycle year after year. However, this is just as God in his infinite wisdom has ordained it in Genesis (and God saw all he created (even repetitive cycles) and behold it was very good). In those repetitive cycles God performs His mysterious work in the heart of man. Dealing with him, perfecting him and unfolding His mysteries to him.

Ecclesiasties Chapter One... The Man Solomon

1    The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

There are many single verses in Ecclesiastes that God has quickened to believers throughout the years; this commentary may conclude that these verses have negative meanings but that should in no way be interpreted as other meanings were wrong it’s simply that every effort was made to comment on single verses within the context of the surrounding verses or more to the point within the context of the entire body of work.

 When we look at Ecclesiastes we are looking into the heart of a man who has made many wrong choices, he has backslidden and formulated many wrong and harmful opinions. That is not to say this book is total error, no, this book is packed with many gems and nuggets, even eternal mysteries like no other book. Solomon has retained his keen anointing for observation, he observes tremendous things, however, the tragedy is that he fails to draw right conclusions about his observations; he has failed to apply them in a way that would help his walk with his creator.

 One of the great failures or weakness in Solomon's character is formulating wrong opinions about what he has observed. This is evidenced very quickly in the book, in fact by V:2 he has already erred. This is the route of the backslidden, as the scripture says; their mind has been alienated by wicked works (sinful activities) and Satan perverts and distorts their vision. The pure in heart see as God sees but the vileness of the backslidden perverts what he sees! We are told in the beatitudes by Jesus that the pure see as God sees (Matt 5) and for those who seek to do Gods will they know good doctrine (John 7:17).

 We can see through this book the dark and sad depression Solomon lived in and because of the rest of the Word of God we know why he came to this place; it was by unrighteous living. Solomon lived an intemperate life, whatever his heart desired he gave it, wine, women, mirth and excess.  Solomon in his debauchery puts the prodigal son to shame. Solomon failed to guard his own heart with all diligence, he played with vice and idolatry and it slew him in the end; Solomon never recovered from his choices.

 Solomon had a tremendous anointing on his life, that anointing of wisdom, one of the Seven Spirits of the Lord mentioned in Isaiah 11. There is a distinction that needs to be made between the anointing and character. Two specific men in the word had a tremendous anointing and yet not the character to sustain it and it led them both to depression and bondage; they are Solomon and Samson. They each had one of the golden candlestick anointing from Isaiah 11:1-2 Solomon had wisdom and Samson had might but their lives were so wretchedly out of order that they had no peace and ended up in terrible bondage which is what happens to believers when they backslide.

 Another great tragedy in the life of Solomon is that he gives cause for the surrounding nations and leaders to blaspheme God. In other words he is a man of worldwide influence; he could have literally impacted the world for good, he had world leaders at his feet coming to see the splendor of his kingdom. He could have promoted his God Jehovah and brought glory to His name; instead he brought reproach on the whole kingdom and gave cause to many nations to despise the Lord. Now, the question remains for us, what will be our influence? Will we glorify his name? Solomon was the one who penned, "righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people". In the end of his reign he brought reproach and not righteousness.