The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/ecclesiastes/1.htm

The book of Ecclesiastes is another book attributed to Solomon, and the title mean book of wisdom literature. And it is another book that I have trouble comprehending because of my lack of intelligence. You can read the scripture, and I at least, see different meanings to it, can’t decide which one is correct, and maybe overthink it. But then again, it is written very eloquently in a style that is simply just over my simple mind.

A lot of the book talks about “vanity”. I have no idea why Solomon wrote a book about bathroom furniture, but here we are. Sorry, that was a joke, I’m dumb, but not quite that dumb.

Merriam-Webster defines “vanity” (aside from the bathroom cabinet) as 1: inflated pride in oneself or one’s appearance : conceit or 2 : something that is vain, empty, or valueless. And I suspect as we go through Ecclesiastes, we might encounter both definitions.

The only grandmother I knew (the rest had passed before I was born) was a wonderful woman who lived to be in her 90’s. People find it ama???????????????? zing when I tell them she had no indoor plumbing until she was over 70. They had a sink in the kitchen, which I assume drained to the crawlspace under the house, but they had to draw water from the well and heat it on the stove to wash dishes. And when I say “draw water”, I mean it. They had no well pump, not even a hand pump. They still drew water from a well by rope, bucket, and pulley.

There were two enamel basins on the back porch filled with water. The one with the ladle was for getting a drink of water, the other for washing your hands. I liked to joke that my grandmother was rich because she had a double-holed outhouse!

She was told a story about riding her horse to her “beau’s” house to visit, and on her way home, she encountered an automobile. She had to take the horse deep into the pasture so it wouldn’t get spooked as the primitive car putt-putt-putted its way past. I can’t begin to imagine what their lives were like, what we take for granted today would have been luxuries to them.

My father was born and raised in this town as was I, and I’ve often put myself in his place and thought about what his life was like. I’m a nostalgic anyway, interest in our local history, so I try to imagine my father, as a young boy, walking up and down the same streets I drive on today. But since we were more in different times, and I have so many modern things that I am spoiled, I can’t truly fathom.

Yet, I’m going through the same things my father did. He was once young, nursing on his mother, then learned to talk and walk, eventually a young boy playing outside with his brothers. Then he aged, went through school, and becoming a young man, went to work. He married, had children, worked until retirement, lost his wife, then passed himself.

And now, I’m going through the same things.

So I guess what Solomon is saying, stay humble. You are nothing special. Generation, upon generation, upon generation of people before you have went through the same thing, and barring the Second Coming of Christ, generations will go through the same thing after you’re sleeping in your grave.

The same holds true for all of nature. The same waters running in the Jordan River are the same waters in which John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ, thousands of years ago. Trees grow, scatter their seeds, then die, while their seeds sprout and grow new trees. Grass grows, replentishing itself.

So, is it all in vain? Certainly not. Because God put my grandfather on this earth to produce my father, who was a hard working God loving man who raised a family, each of those who went and did wonderful things.

My sister was a physical therapist working with our nations veterans who had given of themselves for our freedom, security, and safety. I know her life was not in vain…how many veterans would have suffered if it had not been for the care she gave, her skills indirectly the result of my father, and the result of his father, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather.

God puts us all here for a reason, a purpose. If we listen to the voice of God and fulfill His Will, we have served our purpose. Our life was not in vain.

Perhaps that purpose is to perform neurosurgery on the brain, like Dr. Ben Carson.

Perhaps that purpose was to be a police officer and save lives by keeping the peace.

Maybe you were placed here to dig ditches, so rain water drains away from peoples homes avoiding flooding.

You may have been placed here to fight for our country, and you may have been placed here to render aid to them.

Be joyful for creation, be joyful for the life God has given you, and be productive. He didn’t put you on earth just to take up space and oxygen. As an example, Jesus once healed a blind man. The Pharisees, who were hypocritical legalists, question why the man was born blind. What sin did he commit to be born without eyesight? What sin did his parents commit that resulted in the birth of a blind child? And today, I can hear many people asking those same questions (Why did God allow this fatal tornado to happen?, or If there is a God, why is there so much suffering in the world?).

Do you know what the answer was to the man’s blindness. He was born blind so Jesus could heal him and people would believe in God, and Jesus, and Creation, and the Messiah. Imagine if Jesus were here today, and all the athiests watched Him heal a blind mind. I’m sure many would be “stiff-necked” and attribute it to magic, or A.I., or like the Pharisees, the sorcery of the devil. But I would argue that some would become believers. and perhaps, despite all of our occupations we can attribute to “God’s Will”, perhaps the real reason we are here is to show Jesus Christ to those who don’t know Him or don’t believe in Him.

Only God knows, and if we love Him and are obedient to Him and repent of our sins, I’m sure we’ll meet Him in Heaven and be able to ask, “Did I fulfill the purpose in live you gave me?’

Our lives are not in vain; but what is in vain, as Solomon tells us, is pride, wealth, status, everything most people strive for. Because as they say, you can’t take it with you, and the wealthy end up in the ground like the poor, the famous end up in the ground like the unknown.

Listen to the voice of God, and fulfill His Will.

Amen.