Chasing After Bubbles & Chickens - Ecclesiastes 1:12-15

Life is about living down here under the sun, surrounded by a broken world where you can't solve every dilemma, but you're obeying and trusting following and acknowledging your more on assignment at a time and you discover in your exploration by means of salvation in Jesus part for sin and he doesn't door straight for the day and write for that tomorrow.

Solomon had literally everything. What he discovered through his life that even that wasn't enough to give life meaning and now thousands of years later.

People keep rediscovering the same truth, the good news for us is that as Christians we know the source of true meaning and satisfaction and were able to live a life of purpose because of Jesus. Welcome to wisdom for the heart. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Stephen Davey today Stephen continues through his study from Ecclesiastes entitled finding meaning under the sun.

Let's get started her the retelling of a fictional story, like a frog to the fortuneteller if I had a futurity wanted to know that for anyone that is life. The way things were going and wanted to know things were gonna get better fortuneteller little thing in excess of the frog well good news is a beautiful young lady near future.

She can't wait to meet you frosted relay teller said absolutely fascinated by when you meet her. She didn't want to know everything about rock hard to believe that good fortune is not all fortuneteller promises beautiful young lady is paying credible attention every aspect of you probably so excited regarding breathe and believe is the is when will I meet this young lady working teller said next semester in biology.

I really like it. We want to know if I can get better. Maybe if I meet the right person. If I get a little more attention.

Maybe if I purchased something maybe five a little more education to be five a little better connection may be that will make my life more meaningful if you're under the impression that it takes something more.

Take it from someone who had it all became discovery. Everything was. Not enough studying his journal at your new with us this morning, I invite you if you have a copy to turn to his journal title, Ecclesiastes, and his name is Solomon introduces himself as the convene or the assembler of the preacher of the lecture.

Solomon is been taking us through a world of observation we've been observing the world of nature we been observing human nature and now EE in a summary statement as he begins to wrap it.

He moves us from the world of observation to the world of experimentation track with that for chapter upon chapter. This is just sort of a summary statement, he introduces himself to us as diligent Explorer and then a little later on. In chapter 1 is a dedicated student.

I really only want to take time for the first of these two sections as he wraps this he is. He's going to introduce himself as an explorer. I want to notice the opening lines of verse 12. I the preacher is writing on a biographical have been king over Israel and Jerusalem get translated.

I've been king. I still am and I applied my heart to see and to search out by wisdom. All that is done under heaven. I applied my heart is another way of saying I don't voted in my life. I devoted my entire life to what Sullivan to see the Hebrew verb for questioning inquiry to search out the idea of excavation exploration same verb is used by the way, the 12 Hebrew spies sent out to search out the land to seek out the look to explore the land. The topography of the people the strength of the armies of the land of Canaan spies are not just casually walking around whistling in on the car. There, watching carefully there observing their there were chlordane there taking notes. Solomon is essentially saying, I devoted my life to staying in the Ivory Palace. I was out on the streets flooring. The human experience. I know throughout the residence. Generally, to give us the sort of detail you notice in verse 13.

Solomon says he is searching everything out by wisdom don't be misled here that Hebrew word for wisdom by his raw term that demand is context in order for us to get the meaning and it is context here Solomon is telling us he is using his own wisdom. He's trying to figure out life without the wisdom of God. He's basically using his own observational skill set, and his own intuition as he explores the human experience. Remember in this journal at this point. His perspective is stop under the sun. Remember his insights are bound that the phrase here under heaven. In verse 13 is a parallel phrase in verse 14 where Solomon writes, I have seen everything that is done under the sun under heaven under the sun are parallel poetic phrases. Solomon is exploring life from the perspective of fallen humanity living their lives under the sun all the while ignoring the creator of the sun know what Sullivan observes about life in this exploration is true. It's brutally true. He doesn't hold anything back. He's not intending to make you feel good or neither. What Solomon is observing, however, does not go far enough because for chapter upon chapter he stops under the sun and never looks about it until later on.

So what Solomon observed, according to his own observational skills about humanity and the human experience was going to make two discoveries first is going to make this discovery only put it in these words that your occupation is an unfulfilling assignment from God. Verse 13 again, and I applied my heart to see and to search out by wisdom. All that is done under heaven. It is happy business. God is given to the children of man. Literally the children of Adam to be busy with what's life like to you Solomon what if you observe a wife half his good rendering in the evil burden myself burger even my own job hi list of duties. In short, that is, it's an unhappy bird. Solomon might be. I don't know. I'm not for sure but there are many Hebrew scholars believe this but and I throw my head at her with them that he's hinting at the fall of that. His expression God Elohim that the personal title for God Yahweh relationship, but there's this there's this subtle hint about the fall of Adam and Eve where they were bell and they sinned against God, and loss paradigm.

Stay lost the garden to be because sin entered the world. The world became burdensome brocaded place, including the emergence of the lease were told Genesis 3 that the reemergence of foreigners and pain and anguish and sweat and toil and ultimately death. Because of the fall of Adam and that nature which we receive that we pruned were just like you because we send also.

Life is a burden it's hard you die think her sin has made life and on business. That's why your burden. When I am through with the treadmill of life is already described right you're working from nine forever and you don't seem to be getting anywhere you get to the end of your chore list and it somehow re-creates itself the empty your inbox and and and it fills up again you you week that guard and it just grows weeds] and then you use Roundup and get cancer.

There's a reason that we call life.

The rat race.

All that is not very telling that were rats, but there's brutal strip everyone if you come in here today. Got up her Solomon is telling us that I've observed see people walking away. So tell you there's no occupation out there is no assignment from God that is rewarding. Ultimately it just seems to lead you to the same said the satisfaction your job, your employment, your vocation, your chore list matter how significant it might seem the end of the day that I really get anywhere. This is the conclusion by the way of a man that I came across the little research on's name was Leonard Wolf, a British publisher political thinker Europe more than 20 books on economics, politics and literature is born 1980. Educated in Cambridge. Absolutely brilliant is writing were were deeply significant in the creation of the league of Nations and then ultimately the United Nations he spent his life awarded a claim applauded, quoted his wife and novelist Virginia you're probably familiar with her peers. What he said at the end of an illustrious career.

I see clearly that I have achieved practically nothing the world today.

In the history of the human anthill by the way that's telling is not a believer creator so were just humans created and the history of the human anthill would be exactly the same as it is applied play ping-pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books. I have therefore to make a confession that I must have in a long life ground through between 150,000 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.

Solomon would say exactly what I'm talking about your reading my mail you been in the my journal. Your occupation is an unrewarding assignment really doesn't seem to make any difference in the end. Solomon adds another thought in this very encouraging. Chapter 1, number two.

Satisfaction is an unreachable achievement for mankind. We don't use the word enough. I have experienced. He says this in verse 14. I've seen everything under the sun. I spent my life devoted my life in this exploration, and behold, everything is vanity and striving after wind that we've Artie talked, but the word vanity can appear over and over again within the context it can in futility. Brevity, frustration, emptiness, but now you get this new friends and this is to appear over and over, striving after wind you think you caught something that's lasting.

It's just a handful of air like a little child chasing bubbles to blow out of the little soapbox bubble and they reach God. Solomon was rich, powerful, creative, famous.

I mean, he never drank anything or eight off anything except solids go. He told the first Kings. He he makes silver as common raffle. He had heads of state traveling to sit under his lectures on everything from geology to anthropology. Surely he has he's override this lasting sense of satisfaction. He says chasing after the magic bullet.

Imagine going out after church is a busload of people get off the bus at their department and run around next to their heavy stuff. One of the guys doing catchy. What would you do, you would not call me or invite them to church, you would not fill got another net join you know you'd run away. Imagine joining the human race has the chasing after the middle who would ever want to join the human race doing what Solomon concludes simply chasing after wind know what Solomon does next is provide a proper and it will summarize what he's been observing the diverse 15 what is corrected cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted only break this proverb down in the two principles number one no matter how hard you try. There are dilemmas you can't sleep now. The Hebrew word for cricket is a metaphor for sin, depravity, Solomon is observing a broken world broken human race. With this toward sin, selfishness, immorality, pride, murder, why, and on and on and on and on. Solomon says I've been observing this human race. This world the children of Adam who create, by means of their sinful behavior. One dilemma after another, that you legally resolve. It's a fixable something about the human race. This in the wrong direction. If your parent not true because very early on in the lives of your children you taught them how to lie they just pick that up. You never had to teach them to be selfish, it was just immediately my mind.

You notice the wisdom of man under the sun even without God can identify something is broken and cricket use that word today is corrected that it is crooked right out of Solomon's Journal even the wisdom of man can put their finger on the problem of sin they might not want to call it sin, they might call it crooked, they might call it wrong. They might even tell you there's no such thing as right and wrong you just the left over from the Victorian era went well go steal their car just using an illustration here and there is a will you get to the raw oh our courtrooms are are are created because even apart from God.

We know there are people's so still it is true because of our bed toward sin. We break say we happen to live in a world that were unable to completely fix the problem is the reflection in the mirror principle number two no matter how much you have, there are deficiencies you can provide notice and what is lacking cannot be counted. Those words lacking in counted our financial terms. Egyptian texts centuries old infective use the same word in economic context so at the outset, no matter how much you have, you never come to the point where you say I got enough I don't need a race everything I now make a money giveaway but you never have enough in there for that rainy day that unexpected moment that that challenge difficulty.

You never come to the point where you can count on having enough that brought this context I think that Solomon is because he is observing human nature as well. You will also find your self deficiencies you let yourself down or you're unable to to meet Anita of that hour you are not the answer or the courage or whatever it is that there is within the heart of every honest human being sense of inadequacy, sense of insecurity sense of insufficiency, the sense of braille sense of inability and anybody would tell you that's not that's not me that this is provide auto just hot air were always something so this is what I've observed in my exploration when now we can close the book yet.

We remind you that chapter 1 and Ecclesiastes is the rest of the story is God didn't leave us alone here under the sun. We know from history what Solomon knew from prophecy he was doing and and we now have seen the Redeemer who came on schedule to was born under the sun. Jesus will toil as he joins the human race, and he will sweat