What Is A Wise Man?
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles
In Ecclesiastes 1:8, Solomon expresses the following idea, “All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.”
So our friend, Solomon, is still searching for the “meaning” of life! What more is he looking for? This Preacher is still complaining that even those with good eyes and wonderful ears…..that even these two senses cannot fill the emptiness within him. Why? Because the eye is never satisfied, no matter how much it sees or how much we possess. And the ear can never hear all it wants, especially of those things that please it.
In other words the cravings of sight and sound will never satisfy the craving of the soul! Only God can satisfy these cravings. Just how does He do that?
I believe that it is within the soul of all men to search for meaning of life outside of man himself. Most civilizations, if not all, have a form of deity to whom they pray and attribute the workings of nature and the world.
We, who are believers in Christ, know that all things are held together by his power (Hebrews 1:1-3; cf. Nehemiah 9:6). I also believe that Solomon knew this all along but somehow, his life grew wearisome and tedious. Was it too much money? Too many wives? Too much of this world?
He says ……”Nothing is new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10). Of course, He is not saying that people never invent anything new or that every object on the face of the earth is exactly as it always has been. That would be a ridiculous belief. Instead, Solomon is offering a sweeping comment on life. It is as if he is saying, “no matter how much we think we’ve changed things, the old ways still go on.”
How many of us learn from the past? Indeed, mankind makes the same mistakes. We have benefited very little from the past. How pointless the lessons of history seem to this present generation. Am I wrong?
When Solomon uses the phrase, “under the sun”, he is talking about the observable world — not the spiritual or eternal things. He is telling us that most people live their lives only for the here and now. What they are experiencing now. They care nothing for the past and only the present is worth knowing.
The truth is, there are new things to be learned. We are learning every day, but we know our gifts come from the hand of an ever faithful God, who loves us (James 1:17). He is the great teacher and is always giving us “something new” (Acts 17:16-21).
Solomon sees life in an endless cycle of repeats (Ecclesiastes 1:1-10). Work itself is only temporary and must be repeated, day after day; the forces of nature will continue in their timeless cycles; and that even the senses of sight and sound will not bring us joy. To, him, nothing is new “under the sun.” Even history will repeat itself.
However, this isn’t the end of his story. He is setting us up. He has more to say on his declarations about life. He isn’t finished with us yet.
Have you learned from the “history” of your mistakes? Do you find satisfaction only in the ”lust of the eyes” (1 John 2:16) and only want to hear pleasing words? (Isaiah 30:10).
Are you looking for something new under the sun?
—Barbara Hyland, guest writer