July 11; Day 48

Ecclesiastes

Carpe Diem... I remember this phrase from the movie "Dead Poet's Society" but it is also the phrase that rings in my head as I read in Ecclesiastes. King Solomon is writing this. He's accumulated more wealth and possessions that any other king at the time. Presumably he is the Warren Buffet or Bill Gates of the day. (Except for the fact that God has given him immeasurable wisdom as well....) Yet, here we read about how pursuit of pleasure is meaningless and how working is meaningless and how even wisdom is meaningless. It seems that all is meaningless and in desperation. So you could leave this book thinking... then what is the purpose of life, why go on living?

I've struggled like this in the past. Even some in the present. Whether it be world events escalating and rumors of wars and nuclear threats in the middle east increasing or trying to figure out if I ever want to return to my family's farm or continue working in a job I know I love, I wonder "what is it all mean anyway... why go on living?" I found myself even the other day thinking, "Lord come quickly because that is the only thing that matters!"

Isn't that what Solomon is trying to get us to realize here... that the only thing that matters is the pursuit of God and obedience to His commands. Everything is meaningless if we do it following our own desires. Yet the same thing can be truly meaningful if it is done out of obedience to God's commands. Is pleasure meaningless? Not unless it is the continual pursuit of pleasure we're after. Is wisdom meaningless? Solomon says that with much wisdom comes much sorrow, the more knowledge the more grief. (Eccl 1:18) so the more we know the more we recognize we don't know but it is meaningless only if we pursue it on our own and not use the wisdom to serve God. Solomon tells us there is a time for everything... and the most important thing he tells us is in Eccl 2:14: "I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing will be added to it and nothing taken from it." Even more pointedly he tells us in Eccl 12:13: "Now all has been heard, here is the conclusion of the matter; Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

This book is rich... it helps me in so many ways. Yet it really helps me realize that I need to "seize the day"... not on my own - but with the Lord's direction. Obedience to his commands is the only thing that is not meaningless. So why is it so hard to obey his commands. For me it is because I'm not taking time to hear them. I'm too busy striving on my own for everything that is meaningless because I am doing it on my own. I need to reorder my day to hear from him daily and take his commands into my day. Thus helping my day not be meaningless.

Carpe diem my friend... seize the day with meaning!