Bible League: Living His Word “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”— Ecclesiastes 1:2 NLT Ecclesiastes is a book from King Solomon in his wiser old age telling the account of wrestling and struggling with the problems of life. H.G. Wells describes the book as a reflection of “man’s mind at the end of its tether.” The book is like a guide to deal with the storms of life while barely clinging to one’s faith. Solomon rightly concludes in his struggles that faith is the only thing, and all would be hopeless without God. The book begins with a despairing cry over life, “everything is meaningless”. All effort, all existence, all accomplishments are one long monotony of work, eating, and sleeping, day after day after day after day. For Solomon, his monotony of life consisted of tasting and experiencing all the sinful pleasures the world can offer, and partaking of them all in abundance. There was no satisfaction, all was futile. Hopelessness even with all the luxuries and pleasures of life, a hopelessness without God. Think of your things in life. A new house, or a new car. For our family, a new car is a new “used” car and it is so amazing when first purchased. But after time, it is a car, and it just becomes part of our daily life. For a Godly person, there is thankfulness for cars, and houses, and things; but as Solomon is declaring, there is no hope in the materialism of life. There is no hope in sensual treasures of the world. There is no hope in money, power, or possessions of this world and no joy of gratefulness in such things if there is not God in your life. King Solomon experienced all the world had to offer and none of it provided lasting happiness. In the end, his assessment was that it only made one miserable. However, the wise King discovered with life experience that there is hope when there is a true and living relationship with God. Such is eternal happiness that one can live in. Such hope takes the monotony and mundane of everyday life, and turns it into joy unspeakable in our love and service to God. So remember and reflect, beloved in Christ. When feeling down and despaired, take a look at your life and assess where God is involved in your daily activities of life. If you have fallen, it is time to pick yourself up. Time to remember where you came from and who you are in Christ. Time to lay your life down upon the foundation of your faith. It is time to live your faith again. Living faith needs to be reconstructed in our hearts from time to time, so one can see clearly and engage their daily lives in a living hope. Not in a false hope found in the things of the world. “There is hope only for the living. As they say, ‘It’s better to be a live dog than a dead lion!’” (Ecclesiastes 9:4). As long as there is life, there is hope. Hope in God. By Pastor David Massie, Bible League International staff, California U.S. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingLeviticus 10, 11, 12 Leviticus 10 -- The Sin and Death of Nadab and Abihu NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Leviticus 11 -- Laws of Clean and Unclean Food NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Leviticus 12 -- Purification after Childbirth NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Matthew 26:1-19 Matthew 26 -- Plot to Kill Jesus; Jesus Anointed at Bethany; Last Supper; Judas' Betrayal; Jesus before Caiaphas; Peter Disowns Jesus NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion I will bless the LORD who guides me;even at night my heart instructs me. I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. Insight It is human nature to make our own plans and then ask God to bless them. Instead, we should seek God's will first. Challenge By constantly thinking about the Lord and his way of living, we will gain insights that will help us make right decisions and live the way God desires. Communicating with God allows him to counsel us and give us wisdom. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Philippians 4:12 I know how to abound.There are many who know "how to be abased" who have not learned "how to abound." When they are set upon the top of a pinnacle their heads grow dizzy, and they are ready to fall. The Christian far oftener disgraces his profession in prosperity than in adversity. It is a dangerous thing to be prosperous. The crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to the Christian than the refining pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of soul and neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the very mercies and bounties of God! Yet this is not a matter of necessity, for the apostle tells us that he knew how to abound. When he had much he knew how to use it. Abundant grace enabled him to bear abundant prosperity. When he had a full sail he was loaded with much ballast, and so floated safely. It needs more than human skill to carry the brimming cup of mortal joy with a steady hand, yet Paul had learned that skill, for he declares, "In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry." It is a divine lesson to know how to be full, for the Israelites were full once, but while the flesh was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God came upon them. Many have asked for mercies that they might satisfy their own hearts' lust. Fulness of bread has often made fulness of blood, and that has brought on wantonness of spirit. When we have much of God's providential mercies, it often happens that we have but little of God's grace, and little gratitude for the bounties we have received. We are full and we forget God: satisfied with earth, we are content to do without heaven. Rest assured it is harder to know how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry--so desperate is the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of God. Take care that you ask in your prayers that God would teach you "how to be full." "Let not the gifts thy love bestows Estrange our hearts from thee." Daily Light on the Daily Path Luke 11:34 "The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.1 Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Ephesians 1:17,18 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. • I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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