Ecclesiastes Series – #meaning Part 10: “Joyous Living in the face of Dying”
As we have studied through this great and frustrating book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon had discovered certain truths that are critical for you and I to grasp so that we don’t follow in his steps.
God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, inspired the writing of this book and used Solomon’s sin and subsequent repentance as the launching point for his painful and personal testimony of what life looks like without God giving ultimate meaning, ultimate joy, and ultimate truth.
So, death and meaninglessness pervade this work because that is all he was able to see without the life giving grace of God. Since we are prone to forget these truths, Solomon does us a favour by cutting through the nonsense and speaking right to our hearts. This is one man of God that could confidently say “do as I say, not as I do.” We would do well to listen.
Solomon is going to essentially tell us that if we knew the day of our death, it would change the rest of our days of life. If the book of Ecclesiastes is about one thing, it is about the search for a life lived the right way. If we knew when our life would be over we would carefully spend every moment until that point. We would spend our money differently, we would love our spouses more intensely, we would hold our kids more tightly, we would work and labour in what matters more vigorously, and we would worship our God more fervently.
We know that Solomon is a skeptic, but he is not cynical, and his challenge to us throughout Ecclesiastes is clear: base our hopes on that which is truly real. Solomon’s challenge for you and I this Sunday evening is to take inventory and account of where we are and to invest our days given to us by God for our joy and His glory.
Join us Sunday the 25th of June from 6.00 p.m. for a study in Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 titled ‘Joyous Living in the face of Dying’.