The Things of This World

A lot of you are familiar with King Solomon of the Bible. Solomon was the son of King David, and is regarded as the wisest man that ever lived. He authored the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. I believe you could literally read a different Proverb everyday and get some use out of it. For a man that lived so long ago his advice always seems to feel current to me. I have to admit that sometimes when I'm reading Solomon's writings that I think "man, this dude was battling some major depression. But, then I realize King Solomon had everything... and i mean everything, yet none of his material things fulfilled him. It was only God that could do that. So, I guess that would stink to have all that glue and it doesn't even matter. Earlier in his story Solomon asked God for wisdom and he was granted in a major way. People used to pay him ridiculous amounts of money just for his opinions and counsel on matters. I forget the estimate now but I once heard he was the richest man to ever live also. Like 100 times richer than Bill Gates or something crazy like that. He is very open with the fact that he tried everything you could try (women, alcohol, building palaces, etc), and yet still unhappy. When I read his writings there seems to be a constant theme floating around all the time. It's this idea that the things of this world that we put our stock into, and the time we spend chasing goals is all just like chasing the wind. In fact, it seems, Solomon repeats that phrase "chasing the wind" numerous times. I guess that's the perfect analogy. The world tells us that money, promotions, and social status are what matters. But to quote a high ranking CEO of the 1990's "I wish i'd known that when you get to the top nothing is there." And I seem to remember a certain Patriots quarterback on 60 Minutes. The same qb who'd won three super bowls and had his pick of any super model in the world. Remember what he said? Something like "this can't be it...there's gotta be more than this, ...right?" You see, King Solomon had it all figured out. He realized after years of thought, and trial by error, that no matter what we do in this world, how ever high we move up in our individual jobs.... NOTHING matters without God. Wisdom Is Meaningless

¹² I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! ¹⁴ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecc 1:12-14

So, here's what i'm getting at. You may have a lotta stuff like your ipod and your fancy rims and blinged out watch, buy you cant touch what King Solomon had. He's the perfect testimony to that 'ole saying "you can't buy happiness." Let's keep our eyes and ears fixed on the only One that really matters in our lifetime on this earth...God. Thanks for the teach Solomon.

-waino