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THE LORD SATISFIES...

ECCLESIASTES 1:12-15

When you look at this nation in general, you see a nation that is obsessed with greed. It is like the bumper sticker that says, "HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS!" Now we may laugh at that, dismiss it as nonsense, or not agree with it at all. But the reality of the matter is, actions speak louder than words! And our actions, the things we do, the possessions we buy, speak volumes.

Listen to the following information and you will see what I mean. "As of July 24, 1995, the national debt officially reached $4,938,384,897,270.48 - equal to about 70% of the value of all goods and services America produces each year...Your individual share of that debt - a burden shared by every man, woman and child in America- is $19,000 and growing rapidly...Right now, every American is paying an average of over $1,100 a year just to cover the interest on the debt that we already have. Already we are paying more for interest on the debt than we pay for America's entire defense budget."

Greed has not only placed our government in trouble, but the common people as well. The debt of Americans is reaching dangerous levels. It is so bad that some file for bankruptcy just to get out of debt and get a new start. But what caused us to move in this direction and how can we get out? Solomon, in the book of Ecclesiastes is going to give us some insight into this condition of man, not from stories of others, but from his own personal experience. So lets look at Ecclesiastes chapter 1, beginning in verse 12.

ECCLESIASTES 1:12-15

"I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised [or afflicted]. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered."

Now this preacher, who was king over Israel, ruling from Jerusalem, can be none other than Solomon. For after the reign of Solomon the nation was divided into a Northern and Southern Kingdom, and Israel was considered the Northern Kingdom and was ruled from Shechem and not Jerusalem. Notice the quest he was on - the reason for man's existence! And his conclusion is that life is empty, meaningless, without hope. In other words, LIFE STINKS!

For me, it is hard to believe that Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes. They seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. The book of Proverbs is called the book of wisdom for in it we are not only given the truths of God, of what God desires us to do, knowledge, but we are also admonished to apply those truths to our lives, for that is wisdom.

Solomon said in Proverbs 3:5-8, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones." Notice his perspective here. Trust in the Lord, set your eyes upon Him, place your confidence in Him no matter what you are going through. That is a healthy relationship with God, trusting in Him and not in our own strength. That is wisdom. Proverbs was written early on in Solomon's life, but something changed in his lifestyle, and the book of Ecclesiastes was born out of that.

You see, as we move into the book of Ecclesiastes we see Solomon's perspective change. Proverbs was God-centered, Ecclesiastes is self-centered or man-centered. Some 29 times in the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon uses the phrase "under the sun." You see, his perspective was not heavenly, but earthly. Thus, from this vantage point, Solomon can say of his life's situations "'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher; 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'" Ecclesiastes 1:2.

In other words, Solomon sees the futility of life, the monotonous lifestyle in whatever you do. There is no satisfaction, no completeness, no contentment, no real joy in all he did in life. It is just empty! How in the world did Solomon go from point A in the book of Proverbs to point B in the book of Ecclesiastes so quickly? What happened to him? Understand that this book was written at the end of Solomon's life, and thus, it is born out of his life's experiences, what he did and how fulfilled he was in doing them.

Now the answer I have regarding what happened to Solomon you may not like, you may think it is to simplistic. The only problem is, its the truth, it is what brought Solomon down and it is what will bring us down. Solomon negated the Words of God which caused him to take his eyes off of God. David's charge to his son Solomon before he ascended to the throne in Israel was as follows: "I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that the LORD may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,' He said, 'you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.'" I Kings 2:2-4.

His charge to his son before he died was to know and apply the Words of God to his life. Don't depart from them. Now, before Israel ever entered the land of Canaan, before there was ever and earthly king over Israel, God, through the prophet Moses said to the future kings of Israel that "...he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, 'You shall not return that way again.' Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel." Deuteronomy 17:16-20.

I see three points that God is making here. First, the king was not to multiply horses for himself. Why? Because the more military strength you had, the less you were going to place your trust in God and the more you will place it in the strength of man. God did not want them to lose the focus of who is going to give them the victory. How did Solomon do? In I Kings 4:26 we are told that he had 40,000 stalls for his horses and chariots. Also, in I Kings 10:26-29 we are told that Solomon was involved in the horse-trading business, and was buying and selling to his enemies. He is also trading and exporting horses from Egypt, which God told them not to do. STRIKE 1!

Secondly, the king was not to multiply wives unto himself. In fact the book of Genesis lays down the principle for marriage, one man and one woman joined together, not multiple wives. Solomon just missed the mark in this one. Solomon married foreign women, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines and they helped to bring Solomon down because of their idolatry. We read in I Kings 11:4 "For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David." Just as God said would happen, did! STRIKE 2!

The third thing was that the king was not to multiply wealth unto himself. Now Solomon once again had a big problem with this. He taxed the people very heavily, so much so that when his son Rehoboam became king the people were begging him for some tax relief. Now God said he would prosper Solomon, but Solomon was helping God out here, forcing the people to pay. Now what did Solomon do with all that money? He built a temple to worship God. Now that was good, wasn't it? Yes and no. You see, David, his father, provided most of the materials that were needed for this building project. Then what did Solomon do with the rest of the money?

He went and built himself a home, which took 6 more years to build than the temple he built for God. He had massive administrative buildings. His throne was made of beautiful ivory, but he had so much money and didn't know what to do with it, he covered the ivory throne with pure gold! He had merchant ships coming in with exotic animals and possessions every 3 years. In II Chronicles 9:22 we read "So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom." Do you think he lost perspective? I do! And that makes STRIKE 3, YOUR OUT!

What we see here is a picture of a man who has taken his eyes off of God, and the result of that action is he is very restless. He is trying to fill that God-shapped void in his heart with wine, women, song, and possessions, and it is not working. All that wealth did nothing for him. In Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 we see his summation of things. He said "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun."

And this was all born out of not following the primary thrust of what God said back in Deuteronomy chapter 17. The king was to copy, write out the law for himself, keep it with him, read it, apply it to his life so that his heart will not be lifted up and he won't become restless, dissatisfied with life. Solomon negated this principle, this direction that was given to him, and the result is he lived most of his life in a backslidden condition.

I think at times these words of Solomon are hard to swallow. I think we at times feel and do as Solomon did, thinking we know better than God does, and thus, we do whatever we desire, instead of what God desires. And when we move away from God's Word, distance ourselves from Him, we become restless with life and we try to fill that void in our hearts with other things that just won't satisfy. Augustine hits the nail on the head when he says "You have made us, O LORD, for yourself, and our heart will find no rest until it rests in you."

People today are in debt up to their eyeballs trying to find satisfaction with life. They are restless, just as Solomon was. He tried the philosophical approach to life and found that was empty. Then he looked to education to find fulfillment in life. He studied trees, animals, birds, insects, fish, wrote 3,000 Proverbs, 1,005 songs, 2 or 3 Psalms. And yet he found that is was also empty, it didn't fill that void that was in his heart.

When all else fails, what do you do? It is time to party! And that is exactly what Solomon did. And yet he found that was an empty way to live also, it did not satisfy his hearts desire. He had gardens and vineyards, servants, his own Walkman- a traveling musical group that was there to serenade him wherever he went. Whatever he desired in life, he did. And this restlessness did not only affect him, but was a burden upon those around him. The people were oppressed because he wanted to find the meaning of life outside of God. When we become restless with life, our actions also affect those around us, and not necessarily in a positive way.

What Solomon did back then, people are still doing today. They are running to and fro looking for happiness, contentment, fulfillment, what life is all about. And you know what happens when you go looking in all the wrong places? You come up with all the wrong answers and you are not satisfied. You are always looking for something bigger, better, faster, prettier, tastier, and-so-on.

One person put it this way. He said "Watch the trend. Wealth itself is not wrong. It's just dangerous. Likewise, liking nice things is not sinful, but it can quickly lead to sin. Nice things are seductive. They tend to draw us away from God in tiny 'baby steps.' It is materialism - a constant treadmill of acquisition. We get more only to want still more!" Does that not sum up the lifestyle of today in a nutshell?

When my son Joe came home from Mexico a few weeks ago with the youth group, they were working in an orphanage out there, he shared with me some of the things he saw. He said the thing that struck him the most was as he entered Mexico the abject poverty he saw. How the people were living, they had practically nothing and their homes were falling apart. And when they reached the orphanage they were shocked even more. These children, these orphaned children had very little clothes, 3 similar meals a day to eat, and yet they were some of the happiest people around. And I truly don't believe you can say it is because they don't know what they are missing. They are satisfied in what they do have, not what they don't have!

And yet, when you look at people in this country, all the material possessions that they have, they are some of the saddest people around, some of the most dissatisfied people around. There is that desire to lust after more and more possessions. It is a keep up with the Jones' mentality, that never ends, but just keeps on feeding upon itself. They are not satisfied in what they have but dissatisfied in what they don't have.

For those of you here this morning that are dissatisfied, restless, unhappy with life, I have the answer for you. Again, simplistic, but if it is the truth, does it need to be complicated? Of course not! David, in Psalm 16 gives us the answer to our restless heart. He says in verse 11, "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Now you can either chose to accept that truth or reject that truth. If you choose to accept it and apply it to your life, you will find that abundant, fulfilling life that is only found in Christ. He will set a course for you to follow and as you do, spending time with Him, you will find fullness of joy. You see, that kind of joy is not found in outward circumstances or material objects, but is found inwardly, in Christ. Paul said in Romans 15:13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

You see, our focus, our eyes must be focused upward, being guided by our Lord and Savior. It is when we take our eyes off of God and place them upon all our problems, all our difficulties, all our lusts, that we see the futility of life, the emptiness of life. I shared with you on Thursday of the Taxi drive named Jose Martinez and his fatalistic outlook on life. He said: "We're here to die, just live and die. I drive a cab. I do some fishing, take my girl out, pay taxes, do a little reading, then get ready to drop dead. You've got to be strong about it. Life is a big fake. Nobody gives a - -. You're rich or you're poor. You're here you're gone. You're like the wind. After your gone, other people will come. We're gonna destroy ourselves, nothing we can do about it. The only cure for the world's illness is nuclear war - wipe everything out and start over."

Jackie Mason, an entertainer, said this: "Life has no meaning beyond this reality. But people keep searching for excuses. First there was reincarnation. Then refabrication. Now there's theories of life after amoebas, after death, between death, around death. Now you come back as a shirt, as a pair of pants...People call it truth, religion; I call it insanity, the denial of death as the basic truth of life. 'What is the meaning of life?' is a stupid question. Life just exists. You say to yourself, 'I can't accept that I mean nothing so I have to find the meaning of life so that I shouldn't mean as little as I know I do."

Sounds like the state of mind that Solomon was in, but we don't have to have that fatalistic, hopeless attitude about life. God gives us hope. He gives us joy. Paul said in Colossians 3:2, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."

Now some would like to say that "Your so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good!" I disagree. I don't think you can be any earthly good unless you are heavenly minded in the first place! Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-34, "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

God wants us to be heavenly minded so that no matter what we are going through, His peace will fill our hearts and lives. God will provide your needs, not necessarily your wants, even though He does bless us abundantly above all we ask or think.

I think a good perspective of this is given by Hannah Whitall Smith in her book "Unselfishness of God." She said: "After more than seventy years of life I have come to the profound conviction that every need of the soul is to be met by the discovery I have made. In that wonderful prayer of our Lord's in John 17, He says, 'And this is eternal life, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent.' This used to seem to me a mystical saying, that might perhaps have a pious application. But every year of my religious life I have discovered in it a deeper and more vital meaning; until now at last I see, that, rightly understood, it contains the gist of the whole matter. To know God, as He really is, in His essential nature and character, is to have reached the absolute, and unchangeable, and utterly satisfying foundation, upon which, and upon which only, can be reared the whole superstructure of our religious life."

How do we know God? Through His Word! The Word of God is a revelation of God Himself. In Psalm 40:7 we read "Then I said, 'Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.'" Who is the scroll of the book written of? Jesus! Now you may not agree with that, but don't take my word for it, listen to what Jesus had to say in John 5:39. We read "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." The Scriptures point to, testify of Jesus. Thus, if we want to get to know God more, get into His Word.

Solomon was a man who had it all. The Nelson Rockefeller's and the Donald Trump's of the world do not have anything on Solomon. And yet Solomon, after experiencing it all said it was empty. Tragically many are on a pursuit of obtaining riches, grabbing for all the gusto in life and if they would only learn from Solomon, it is not found in those things.

Solomon said in verse 15 of Ecclesiastes chapter 1, "What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered." People who have rejected God, or have turned from Him, find their lives crooked, a mess. And Solomon is saying, from a human perspective, a person who is in a condition like this is beyond hope. Their lives can never be straightened out. I disagree! Yes, humanly speaking that is true. But get your eyes off of self and onto God. As you do He can take a life that is a mess, in chaos, that is so crooked that everyone has given up hope, and He can straighten it out. Paul put it this way in II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

For those that are running on empty, feel unfulfilled, unsatisfied with life, come to Christ. No one or nothing else will fill that void that is in your heart except Christ. People will do all kinds of things to fulfill that hunger in their hearts, but they will never be satisfied outside of Christ. I like the way Paul puts it in I Timothy 6:6-8. He says "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content." Be content in whatever God has given you, keeping the kingdom of God in proper view at all times. Don't build up your kingdom here on earth but store up for yourself treasures in heaven, things that will last forever, and will not be eaten by moth, or rust won't destroy, or thieves won't steal!

Let me share with you this story regarding Greener Pastures: "Sometime ago there appeared in a newspaper a cartoon showing two fields divided by a fence. Both fields were about the same size and each had plenty of the same kind of grass, green and lush."

In each field there was a mule, and each mule had his head through the fence eating grass from the other mule's pasture. All around each mule in his own field was plenty of grass, yet the grass in the other field seemed greener or fresher, although it was harder to get."

"And in the process the mules were caught in the wires and were unable to extricate themselves. The cartoonist put just one word at the bottom of the picture - 'DISCONTENT'!"

When we take our eyes off the Lord and place them upon ourselves, what we don't have, what we lust for, we will become very discontent, restless, and we, like Solomon was, will be on a quest to find satisfaction with life. But that will never be found outside of Christ. Let me leave you this morning with these words from Psalm 145:14-21. We read "The LORD upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever."