Ecclesiastes 5:1-20
Stand in Awe of God
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
2 Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.
3 A dream comes when there are many cares,
and many words mark the speech of a fool.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.
8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. 9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
10 Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
11 As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?
12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
permits them no sleep.
13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
14 or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
there is nothing left for them to inherit.
15 Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toil
that they can carry in their hands.
16 This too is a grievous evil:
As everyone comes, so they depart,
and what do they gain,
since they toil for the wind?
17 All their days they eat in darkness,
with great frustration, affliction and anger.
18 This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. 20 They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.
God Has Set Eternity in the Human Heart
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
John 14:6
The Way, The Truth, and The Life
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Now This Is Eternal Life -to Know God and His Son
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
We dream, I think, a little more when we are young than when we get older... We often have dreams of what we think we will do in life, and want to do and think life will turn out this way, and it happens to turn out much different -as we look back on our lives forty, fifty, and sixty or more years later...New families and new family members, jobs, responsibilities, daily repetitions, death of family and friends can force us to see the realities of life...
Solomon tells us that dreaming and our many words are meaningless...Therefore fear God...When we reflect on our lives periodically, we are sometimes searching for something...Man at different times in his life looks for this purpose and a meaning to it...In Ecclesiastes, the author is certainly searching for meaning and purpose of his life...As we age, we weaken and become more fragile than we were than when we were young...And as this happens, I think we reflect on our decisions, our families, our loves, our jobs, and our LORD...
Solomon throughout his Book of Ecclesiastes looks at life...He finds little value in our routines we do everyday, and the vanities of life...Solomon tells us while we are on earth, it may just be best to be happy when we eat, drink, and find satisfaction in what we do each day during the few years and days of life that God has given us...
As we read through the Book of Ecclesiastes and read where we should respect God, and do our best to keep our promises to Him, and thank Him for the days He has given us -one must think what is life without God...We need God in our lives to give it purpose and meaning...Solomon makes that clear, in his tough, hard, and reality (way of) thinking in his Book of Ecclesiastes...
God has set eternity in our hearts; yet we cannot quite grasp what it means...Without Jesus, I see little meaning in life...He is the Way of Life, the Truth in Life, and Only One who can give us the full and abundant Life...He gives life its meaning and purpose...Jesus teaches us the eternities, and in an eternal life (and not like the few days we are given on earth) -we have time to find its meaning and to find Him...But that meaning is only there when you have faith and believe in Him and His Father and get to know Them...