Date: Monday,
July 20, 2015
Chapters: Ecclesiastes
1-4
Message Title: More Is Less Without God

Hello
My Friend,

The Book of Ecclesiastes is the twenty-first
book of the Old Testament/Bible and contains twelve chapters. The
timeline is approximately 977 BC. The author of the book is King
Solomon and it was first written to the Jews, but it is addressed to
all believers. The purpose of the book provides a description of the
quest for life apart from God, to prove that no matter how much one
has, is vanity (worthless) and vexation (distressing) of the spirit
if God is not apart of life. “For God giveth
to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy:
but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that
he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and
vexation of spirit.” - Ecclesiastes 2:26.

King
Solomon was brought up by King David, a man known as the apple of
God's eye. He was taught to love the Lord His God, with all his
heart, mind, and soul. Solomon did very well in the beginning,
because he loved God he prospered, and not only became the wisest,
but the richest man in the world. The word Ecclesiastes means, the
preacher, he wrote this book in his old age after realizing all the
mistakes he made, the most valuable lesson he learned was that too
much of anything is a vexation of the spirit.

“What
profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the
earth abideth for ever. All things are full of labour; man cannot
utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled
with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;
and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no
new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said,
See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before
us. I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great
estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been
before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom
and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know
madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge
increaseth sorrow.” - Ecclesiastes 1:3,4,8-10,16-18.

While
we may think that the things of today are the newest and best or
worse, it is nothing that God has not already seen. I always say the
difference between now and then is technology, we get a little more
smarter over the years, but less gets done because the flesh is never
satisfied. Solely working for the pleasures of this world will never
satisfy us, the more we get, the more we want, and this is what
Solomon is talking about.

“I
said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth,
therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It
is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give
myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay
hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven
all the days of their life. Then
I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth
darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived
also that one event happeneth to them all. Then said I in my heart,
As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was
I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. For there
is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing
that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.”
- Ecclesiastes 2:1-3,13-16.

You know the saying, “The
less you know the better.” When we start to learn things it causes
stress because we have to work harder to get the same result. I know
there are some things I learned that I would be better off not
knowing, they haven't made my life any easier nor increased my
riches, all I got was vanity and vexation of the spirit myself. We
are all going to die one day and none of the wisdom or possessions we
own are coming with us, so we must learn to be content with what God
has given us. “Let your conversation be
without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for
he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we
may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man
shall do unto me.” - Hebrews 13:5,6.

The truth
is, the more we do without God, the more we seek the things of the
world, the more we seek the things of the world, the less grateful we
are of what we already have. True happiness is not found in as much
as we can possess while we are here, the richest person on earth
knows this, but they will never admit it because they fear losing the
things that they have. True happiness comes from realizing that God
is the source of everything that we possess, and thanking Him for it.
“What profit hath he that worketh in that
wherein he laboureth? I have seen the travail, which God hath given
to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing
beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so
that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning
to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to
rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should
eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift
of God.” - Ecclesiastes 3:9-13.

Yes, the more we
work, the more we are going to reap the benefits of our labor, but we
must not forget that God is our source for everything. Just as He
increases our wealth and earthly possessions by walking with Him, He
can decrease them if we lag behind, forget about Him, and we may lose
everything. It's not about what we get here on earth that we need to
be concerned with, it's what we are doing to get it, we must build
everything on His foundation or it will crumble eventually.
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which
built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:
for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish
man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it
fell: and great was the fall of it.” - Matthew
7:24-27.

There is a say, “Many hands make light work”.
While we do need knowledge, and to make an effort to work, we must
not lose our dependence on God. We need Him to get us through
everything, even when things are going well. We also need to learn to
depend on others once in a while, Solomon realized that we cannot do
everything ourselves, and many hands do make light work. “Again,
I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man
is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of
spirit. There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath
neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour;
neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom
do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea,
it is a sore travail. Two are better than one; because they have a
good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up
his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath
not another to help him up.” - Ecclesiastes 4:4,8-10.

If
we are not building that career upon the foundation of Christ, it
will fail, if we do not a build marriage or any other relationship
upon the foundation of Christ, it will fail. It's not an insult, it's
just that we were not made to carry so much weight all on our own,
and if we fall we have no one to help us. Christ is the strength of
every Christian, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, if we do anything
in our own strength we will always fail. “For
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made
manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed
by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward.” - 1 Corinthians 3:11-14.

Today's
Prayer: God, As much as I try to do everything with Your
Son guiding me I know I fail miserably at it. Sometimes I think I can
handle it on my own and that You do not want to deal with such petty
things, but I know You want to be in every part of my life, even when
I am doing simple chores. Lord, give me Your power, strength, and
guidance, help me to build everything upon Your foundation so I
cannot fall. If I do fall keep me looking to You and for the
blessings that come from my experience. Let me use my knowledge to
glorify You so I will not grow to hate the things I love to do and
they are not a vexation on my spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God
Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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