Striving After the Wind - Lesson 7

"All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not satisfied” Ecclesiastes 6:7 Memory Verse

You can get the lesson quarterly in pdf form for this weeks lesson here or here for the teacher's version.

What is the purpose of our life? That is the main question of this weeks lesson.

The operative word in Ecclesiastes 6 is the word man. It occurs ten times in this chapter. "What is the duty of man," etc

I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil. Ecc 6:1-2

Two examples of this:

2Kings 5:1 - He had all these things BUT he was a leper. It didn't matter that he had all those things because he had leprosy.

2Kings 15:5 - He was a good King for the most part. He decided not to remove the High Places and for that the Lord smote him with Leprosy. He lived the rest of his life in isolation.

John D Rockefeller - "Mr. Rockefeller your fortune is rolling up, rolling up like an avalanche! You must keep up with it! You must distribute it faster than it grows! If you do not, it will crush you and your children and your children's children" - Frederick T. Gates in 1906, quoted in the PBS documentary: American Experience, The Rockefellers (Part 1).

His money was destroying him until he started giving it away.

Proverbs 10:22 - The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he-- Ecc 6:3

for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, Ecc 6:4-5

Rich fool - I will build bigger barns, . . . this night is your soul is required of thee. Did he get to enjoy his treasures?

Even if he lives a thousand years twice--but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place? Ecc 6:6

All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied. Ecc 6:7

Matt 6:25-26 - Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Can you permanently satiate your appetite? Ecc 1:8 - ". . . The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing."

Until Thomas Edison you only had a couple of choices: You could listen to someone else play or you could produce it yourself. "The ear is never full of hearing" People go around today listening to music all the time, their ear is never full of hearing. It makes you wonder whether the devil is purposely making this noise so that when the Lord speaks in a "still small voice" 1Kings 19:12 they do not hear Him.

For what more has the wise man than the fool? What does the poor man have, Who knows how to walk before the living? Ecc 6:8 All of the basic needs were the same for Solomon and the fool. Was the reward of their life different? Possibly. This verse is not to say that you should be a fool because your needs are the same. What it is saying is that unless your relation to God is different than the fool your end is the same as his.

If you want to know the point of Ecclesiates go the last verse: Ecc 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

We are not saved by intellect. We are saved by Christ. There are some very bright, successful people in the world whose end will be the same as someone who is unsuccessful because they haven't made God their priority. Solomon is seeing these issues at the height of his prosperity when he has made everything else the priority.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. Ecc 6:9

Loose translation: A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush - Benjamin Franklin. So many people are unhappy because they don't really enjoy what they have. The are consumed by a desire for something else. We should have a desire for the better, for improvement. A pig is perfectly contented wallowing in the mud and a dog to it's vomit 2Pe 2:22. So there should be a desire for the better and yet a contentment that if I am in the center of the Lord's will I can be content.

Whatever one is, he has been named already, For it is known that he is man; And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he. Ecc 6:10

Again we see "there is nothing new under the sun" Ecc 1:9. God knows us before we are born. The prophecy concerning Cyrus was made almost 200 years before he was born. Josiah would burn the bones of the false prophets 1Kings 13:2; fulfillment: 2Kings 23:16.

"He is man" that is he is Adam. Adam means earth, ruddy; Adam came from the earth. Adam is similar to Edom. Edom means red earth. Man is made from the earth. We are nothing special in building materials.

"mightier than he" - God knows all about our lives. He is the creator, we are the creation. we should find the good.

Mark 10:18 - And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

That verse unlocks this chapter. We should seek what is truly good. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

If man doesn't have God n his possession and he doesn't have the good it would have been better had been a stillborn child. The good in life is God and without the good your are left with the temporary, the striving after the wind.

Since there are many things that increase vanity, How is man the better? Ecc 6:11

So many things in life that poeople pursue are vain. Most people are chasing after the wind. Seek ye first the kingdom of God Matthew 6:33.

Also I have learned in "Whatever state I am therewith to be content" and to let my requests be made known unto God." "And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:11, 6-7

For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun? Ecc 6:12

In summary: Go after that will last after you have gone!