Reverend Michael Mwangi
Senior Pastor, Fedha Church, Kenya Assemblies of God
Ecclesiastes 2
Solomon wrote Songs of Solomon in his younger years, Proverbs in his middle years and Ecclesiastes in the later years of his life when his spiritual life was on decline because of his involvement in idolatry and self-indulgence leaving him totally disappointed with life. He realized pleasure and materialism did not and would not give him happiness. He reveals regrets and negative reflections about the hopelessness and emptiness of life apart from God and his Word. Solomon possessed the highest level of wealth, honour, fame, power and sensual pleasure. He had all this in excess yet in the end, they left him empty and unfulfilled.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
All is vanity of vanities. Meaningless.
Therefore, he wrote this book to express his regrets before he died by giving others his account of some difficult bitter lessons in life that he learned firsthand. These lessons are particularly directed to young people in the hope they would avoid making the same mistake he did by pursuing the same path or course in life. Solomon repeatedly points out the complete uselessness of basing our life value and seeking happiness on earthly possessions and personal ambitions. He realized that the most important thing in life is to live for God.
Ecclesiastes 12:1,
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”— to honour him, to keep his commandments.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
... and fulfil God's purposes for our lives.
This is the only way to find real and true meaning, joy and fulfilment in life.
In our pursuit of happiness, we seek and run after things and pleasure. These worldly toys can only give us temporary happiness. a thrill or excitement or momentarily good feeling and comfort but can never fill the void in our hearts.
True joy is not in finding something but in someone namely Jesus Christ.
Having wealth riches and material possessions apart from God cannot guarantee you happiness.
Ecclesiastes 6
2. God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
3. A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
Without God, you become a gatherer only to leave to scatterers never to enjoy.
You are a slave and a donkey ya kutafuta na kukusanya na you never enjoy uliishi kuhangaika bila kufurahia (of searching and collecting and you never enjoy, you lived to struggle without enjoying).
Unawaachia fools or lazy ones to enjoy wakiharibu (You leave it to fools or lazy ones to enjoy destroying it).
It is meaningless what have you gained na hiyo masumbuko yote (It is meaningless what you have gained with all that trouble).
Wealth and riches only make sense in the context of God and how you can enjoy and find happiness.
1 Timothy 6
17. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
The ability to enjoy wealth and be happy is gift from God. It is only in him you can be happy with what you have toiled for.
Ecclesiastes 5
19. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.
20. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.
Nothing can give you real joy unless God is in it.
Ecclesiastes 2
24. A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
25. for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
Pursuing our dreams and goals will never give us true happiness.
You toil to make a name achieve greatness, establish mega projects and make money never resting or enjoying yourself. We pour all our lives to attain things and certain status and when all is done you realize soon you are exiting this world and leave all this, be forgotten and all you have done will be remembered no more. Just imagine, you all you lived for will be forgotten the day you die and you also will completely be forgotten.
Ecclesiastes 1
11. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
Ecclesiastes 2
16. For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!
17. So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
18. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
21. For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.
22. What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?
23. All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
This is a very depressing thought...
Ecclesiastes 2
20. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
Not only that you will leave everything to another and probably a fool but the sad reality is you will carry nothing.
Ecclesiastes 5
15. Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.
16. This too is a grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind?
17. All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.
But when we live for God we can invest in His kingdom . We can enjoy it in present and enjoy its fruits in the kingdom to come. We will live for eternity and what we invested in the kingdom will be remembered and rewarded
Living for our dreams can never give us true happiness
You crave and die for something, your dream girl, man, car house, career and fame. Graciously you get it and you are over the moon. The happiest person in the world but one week, two months down the line you wake up and inside you are just emptiness. The thrill is gone. Materialism, achievement and pleasure cannot fill the void in your heart. Meaningless, meaningless.
If anything you are left longing for more. You are more empty than ever before.
You see brethren, we have a God-shaped hole that creates this void in us. Only God can feel. God is spirit. Our problem or void is spiritual in nature. It is not material or emotional that's why it cannot be filled by anything material or emotional but God. When we have Jesus in our hearts and we live for him serving him, then there is no void in our hearts. When he occupies our hearts there is no emptiness or void left in our hearts.
The fruit of the Spirit is ... peace joy.
Galatians 5
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
That's satisfaction. Peace and joy can only come from God only the spirit of God or his presence can completely fill this void. No material thing can offer true joy.
When you are really sick and longing to be well hata nikupee (even if I give you) KES 1 million or gari (car) it cannot make you well or make you happy.
In his presence, there is fullness of joy. Our lives make sense when have Christ and live for him. He fills the void in us and we have the joy of the Lord. As we live for him, all that we have and do is for His glory and eternal value ... it is no longer vanity of vanity and it therefore gives us more joy.
Whatever we do in the Lord is not vanity. It will give us joy and will be rewarded.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Our works and deeds will be remembered and follow us for eternity.
Revelation 14:13
I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
It is not vanity as Solomon says:
Ecclesiastes 1
14. I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
The key to true happiness is never living for yourself but living for Christ and for his glory.
1 Corinthians 10
31. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
When we live for ourselves, we only end up in frustration and emptiness. Meaningless. Life is vanity of vanities.
Ecclesiastes 2
10. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.
11. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
When we live for Christ we are fulfilled and happy.
We serve him and others with our lives and resources and we get so much joy now and in the life to come... it makes the most sense and brings meaning in life. It is not meaningless.
Even if what you leave behind is an inheritance for generations your name and work are remembered like Jesus Christ and the great men of God.
Solomon after living out for himself discovered the bitter truth. True happiness is only found in God. We are happy living out our lives for God, not ourselves. Nothing can take away the Emptiness in our hearts but God.
Ecclesiastes 12
13. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
Live.
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