Ecclesiastes - If it's all vanity, what's the point? | Ep. 185

When a king who had everything calls life “vapor,” you lean in. We open Ecclesiastes with Solomon not as a distant figure, but as a guide who ran every experiment we dream about—pleasure, projects, power, legacy—and then tells the truth about why none of it can quiet the soul on its own. From the sun’s relentless loop to rivers that never fill the sea, he names the cycles we live inside and asks the question that haunts modern life: What is the gain?

We walk through his bold detour into laughter and wine, his unmatched building and collecting, and the sobering discovery that the same fate meets the wise and the fool. Along the way, we meet the oppressed without comfort, leaders who feast for themselves, and workers who never ask why they toil. The remedies come sharp and simple: enjoy your portion as a gift from God, keep your words few in prayer, guard your vows, choose wisdom over wealth, and value companionship over isolation. We tell the story of a poor, wise man who saved a city and was forgotten, and we hold that paradox alongside a warning that a single foolish act can stain a lifetime’s good name.

This conversation is practical and grounded. We talk about joyful marriage, doing your work with all your might, giving generously even when forecasts look grim, and dressing your life in white—living with clean hands and a glad heart. We sit with hard lines like “time and chance happen to them all,” then lift the anchor that steadies every storm: fear God and keep His commandments. That reverence doesn’t shrink your joy; it protects it. It places enjoyment inside accountability, turns meals and paychecks into worship, and frees us from chasing wind. If you’re weary of the grind or wary of easy answers, this is a map back to meaning under the sun. Listen, share it with a friend who’s questioning the point of it all, and if it resonates, subscribe and leave a review so others can find their footing too.

Transcript

Blood Cells And Purpose Metaphor

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 0:03

The vision received a set of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much-needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are debated, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. Today I'd like to start out with a question to you. There's a man named Solomon. Does anybody know anything about Solomon? If you do, raise your hand and let me know. What do you know? Yes. Let me share.

Sherry 0:42

Solomon David.

Ecclesiastes: The Weight Of Wisdom

Pleasure, Wine, And Keeping Wisdom

Building, Wealth, And Hollow Rewards

Enjoy Your Labor Yet Face Judgment

Oppression, Loneliness, And Companionship

Prayer, Vows, And Riches Without Rest

Wisdom Versus Wealth And Temptation

Justice Delayed And Human Evil

Joyful Living With Righteous Limits

Time And Chance, Power Of Wisdom

Reputation, Leadership, And Giving

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 1:02

Oh, you started out good and then you got this little dig in there. Wow, yeah, that that was Solomon. Does anybody know anything else that she hasn't mentioned about Solomon? Son of David, king of Israel, built the temple of the Lord called Solomon's Temple. And yeah, he asked for wisdom. Was that a good thing? Yeah? It was a good thing? Alright. I don't know. And then she ended with, well, he had a lot of wives. Yeah, he did. He had 700 wives. He had 300 concubines. Add that up, you got a thousand women in a lifetime. That's a lot of women. I'd like to delve into the life of Solomon a little bit today. And we know that part about him. We know those highlights, those tidbits. A lot of them good, and you know, somewhere that were pretty bad. But I'm going to focus on Ecclesiastes and what picture Ecclesiastes gives us of this man Solomon. And in Ecclesiastes, if you read it for yourself, and whether you've read it or not, it might be good for you to go back to it. Now that you're gonna have a little uh, I guess, overview of what was said in Solomon and what it showed us regarding the man and what he had learned. But in Ecclesiastes, there's a struggle. There's a struggle of a man named Solomon who had all this wisdom, all of this knowledge, all of this understanding that no one else in the world had regarding the affairs of this life and things that happened to the sons of men under this sun, and it grieved him. Almost to the point where you might say lightly, it oppressed him. Because he almost could not handle what he was understanding was going on underneath this sun. It says in chapter one, these are the words of Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel, that vanity of vanities, everything is vanity. He says, he asked the question: what does it profit a man to work all of his days under the sun? The sun comes out, it goes down in the west, it comes back up again, and it does that continually, yet man works day after day after day. It's like the wind blowing to the north and to the south and to the east and to the west, and then once again it returns to blow from the same place it came from. And yet man works and works and works. And what is the point? He says, All he noticed that all the rivers run into the sea, run into the great oceans, yet the ocean is never full. How is that? Everything man does in this life, in his working, in his labor, causes him to be tired. His eyes are never satisfied, his ears are never satisfied. He noticed that whatever happened before is gonna happen again. He noticed that what's happening today is gonna happen in the future. He said that can there anything be done in the earth that is new? That hasn't been already done? See, man fools himself into believing that there's something new, but man doesn't realize it has already been done because he had forgotten what has already happened in the past. They won't remember what happened yesterday, and the things that he does today, he will not remember in the future. And so he said, I Solomon give my heart to seek out and search for wisdom in all things that are done under the sun. When Solomon asked God for wisdom, when he got that wisdom, he wanted to understand everything that was happening underneath the sun that he saw from other men, that he saw in himself. And he said, This miserable life is given to the sons of men to humble them. This miserable life is given to the sons of men to humble them. I have seen everything under the sun, he says, and it is all vanity. He says something, and I'm paraphrasing. He said, It's nothing but the longing and the hungering of the spirit of man. In everything that he saw man do under the sun, he noticed, because he noticed it in himself, that everything we do is because there's something within us that is longing and that is hungering for something. And yet he says, with our eyes we're never satiated. With our ears, we hear all of these great stories and great things, yet we're never satisfied. And so he said, I spoke with myself, I spoke in my own heart, and recognized that I have been elevated to an exalted position. I am the king of Israel. I have gotten more wisdom than any man ever before me. I have experienced great wisdom and knowledge, and I sought to know only wisdom, but I also sought to understand madness. I also sought to understand foolishness. This is also a longing and a hungering of spirit. And he says, With much wisdom comes grief. Solomon said this and he admitted this, I am going to enjoy everything that pleasures me. I'm going to go full tilt. I'm gonna dive in. I'm not gonna stink, stick my pinky toe in the water. I am going to literally jump in and immerse myself in everything that I find pleasurable. And I've come to realize that this is vain. When I laughed, I wonder why am I laughing? This is foolishness. What am I getting out of this? I also decided that I would give myself over to wine. And all the while that I gave myself to pleasure, all the while that I gave myself to wine, I kept my wisdom. And in the midst of my fullness of pleasure, in the midst of my satiating myself with wine, obviously he did get drunk, he kept his wisdom. And all the while he was gaining understanding of the plight of man under the sun. And he shares what he has learned in Ecclesiastes regarding all of this. I maintain my heart to no wisdom, to understand the foolishness, till I figured out what is good for the Son of Man. What should man do with his life all the rest of his days? He asked in chapter 2. He said, I have made great buildings, I have made vineyards, I have made orchards, I have made gardens, I have made these beautiful, wondrous pools. I have maids, I have servants all over the place. I have possessions far and wide, small and great. I have gold, I have silver from the farthest of places, I have the most precious of precious jewels, I have men and women singers, I have all kinds of instruments. I was great and better in all the riches than any other man ever in Jerusalem and before me. And all the while that I had all of these things, I maintained my wisdom, he says. Well, if this man had everything that life had to offer, and he maintained the wisdom of God through it all, do you think he might have some words of wisdom for you, who doesn't have everything, and is struggling? Let us listen to the words of the Lord through Solomon and what he learned. He said, Whatever my heart decided is desired, I decided I would have it. I did not hold anything back from myself. I rejoiced in everything I did because I believed this was my reward. This was my reward for all of my labor. And we've already said he had 700 women, 300 concubines. He loved strange women. It says in 1 Kings 11, he had the daughter of Pharaoh, he had daughters of Moab, of Eden, of Ammon, of Zidon, and the Hittites. And does anybody know what happened when he took in all of these women? What did they do to him? Does anybody remember? They brought in their own idols. So what did they do to his heart? They turned his heart from the Lord. And he left the Lord and he stopped walking his ways. And this was even remembered many, many years later by Nehemiah. Nehemiah, when he rebuilt the wall, he got angry at all of the young men because they were falling in the same sin as Solomon and taking themselves wives of all of these different nations. And Nehemiah was so angry with them, and he so rebuked them. He says, Don't you remember what your father Solomon did and how that drove his heart away from the people? Because people don't remember the mistakes of what happened in the past. Solomon was right. They don't remember what happened in the past, and the things that you do today, they won't remember in the future. And you know in life everything is cyclical. We keep making the same mistakes. History repeats itself over and over and over again. And there are many that study history, yet man continues to make the same repeated mistakes as before. And as Solomon thought about all of this and he he he took in all of life's pleasures, he said, Wisdom hit me. And I realized that every work that I have done was vain, pointless. And it was nothing but a hungering and longing of my spirit. So again, when he realized this, he turned again to wisdom and madness and foolishness to understand it. Because he figured, what men after me can do what I have already done? He realized that wisdom far excels foolishness. As far as light surpasses darkness, so does wisdom surpass foolishness. He realized something that maybe we haven't all really considered. Everything happens to all people. What happens to the good man happens to the bad man. What happens to the guy that's clean happens to the guy that's unclean. What happens to the guy that sacrifices happens to the guy that doesn't sacrifice. One event happens to them all. How many of you lost a family member? Everybody in the world's lost a family member. It doesn't matter whether you're a child of God or you're a child of the devil. How many of you have been robbed? Wow, hardly many people were robbed. But it happens to the good guy and it happens to the bad guy. All of these things happen to all people, he noticed. If the same thing that happens to the fool also happens to me, what does that make me more wiser than they? I'm not as wise as I think I am. This is also vanity. Both the wise man and the fool, when they die, hundreds of years behind, does anybody remember them? Remember the fool or the wise man? You may think you're all that in this life, but when you die, you will be forgotten. None will remember you. So just like the wise man dies, so does the fool. There is no difference. And then he got to this point in chapter 2. He says, I began to hate life. I began to understand the pointlessness that I see in this life. It became grievous unto me. Life was nothing but the longing and the hungering and the striving of man to satisfy himself, and yet men never got satisfied. He said, What's the point of making all of these great big buildings if I'm gonna die and leave it to somebody else? He didn't stop there. He says, Not only is it gonna go to another man, how do I know whether that man is gonna be a wise man or a fool? And he doesn't stop there either. He says, no matter what type of man he is, let me consider the fact that I'm gonna work for everything that I do here. I'm gonna erect all of these great buildings and temples and gold and silver, and then I'm gonna die, and then someone else, I don't know whether he's a wise man or a fool, he's gonna take over everything that I have, and then on top of that, he didn't work for any of that. He didn't work for none of that. Why should he earn that? This is vanity, he says. This is pointless. I'm the man that labored in wisdom and knowledge and justice. So, what is the point of me working so hard just to leave it to somebody else that did not work for it? That's vanity. What does a man get for all of his labors under the sun? All the days of man are sorrow, their travail, their grief. He's working and suffering and getting tired. He doesn't get rest at night. It's pointless, he says. So he comes to this conclusion. And this is a little tidbit as I go through Solomon, I'll hopefully give you some nuggets to think about, because I don't think we hear this very often. I said it a few weeks ago, and I remember Bishop Harris remembered it. But I said this there is nothing better for man than to be able to eat and drink the good of his labor. In other words, if you work hard and you are blessed with money, you should enjoy it. I don't think we hear that that often. Maybe the prosperity doctrine, and they you should get all this money. But Sodom is just basically saying if you work hard, you should enjoy the fruit of your labor. There's nothing wrong with that. This is from the hand of God, Solomon says. God gives the good man in his sight, he gives him wisdom, he gives him knowledge, he gives him joy. But to the sinner, he gives travail and gathers up whatever the sinner does so that he can give it to the good man. But this is vanity. Because if you work for something, you should enjoy the fruit of that work. So I come into chapter three. In chapter three, they already sung a song about it many years ago. To everything, there is a season. I'm not gonna go into that. And we know the song, God has made all things beautiful in his time. He says that there. And he realizes that no man is able to find out what God is doing in this earth, what is he working, and then truly understand it. So he says, There is nothing better than for man to rejoice and to do good in his life. Every man should eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of this work. It is the gift of God for the life that we live under heaven. Now, here's the balance. Because you can listen to all that and say, Well, God is telling me that I can live my life to the fullest, I can drink, be merry, get happy, get drunk, get whatever, and everything's gonna be fine. Here's the balance. There's like that's the point, I'm gonna give you the counterpoint. But this I know, Solomon says God will judge both the righteous and the wicked, because there is a time and a purpose for every work. So you can do everything you want to do, and you can try to satisfy yourself as much as you want, but know this that in the end you will be held accountable for everything that you have done. That's the balance. And Solomon said, I prayed in my heart that God would manifest them, meaning man. He wanted them to be revealed as to what they were. He wanted them to be real as nothing but beast and not anything, not anything better than a beast, because whatever happens to a beast happens to man. They both die in the same way, they both breathe. See, he says again, I perceive there is nothing better than that man should enjoy the fruit of his own works, remembering that he will be held accountable for what he does. That is his portion in this life. After all, who's gonna bring back the dead man to enjoy everything that he had done during the days of his life? No one. No one. In chapter 4, it says he began to look at all of the people that were oppressed under the sun. And you may not know this because it always says in Solomon's reign there was peace amongst all the nations, because he was marrying every queen of all the nations. But he oppressed his own people, he made them work so grievingly hard. When he died, his son Rehoboam took his place, and all the sons of Israel came to Rehoboam and said, Your father oppressed us sorely. Take off the yoke that he had placed upon us, and we will serve you all the rest of your days. That was God's own people saying that about what Solomon did to them. So Solomon had a bird's eye view of what he was doing to his own people, and as he did that and made them work so that they can build the temple and do all the things that he wanted them to build, he considered their plight of the people that he himself oppressed. He said, As the oppressed cried out, I saw that they had no one to comfort them. But he also looked at those who were oppressing, meaning he was looking at himself. He was looking at the people that he had put over the people that were oppressing, and to see what's the purpose of that? They, the ones that had the power, but he noticed that they had no comforter either. And so he begins to say, the dead have it good. I praise the dead because they don't have to deal with any of this stuff. They don't have to travail, they don't have to have grief, they don't have to be sick and tired. Of this pointless life. And he said, Better is the dead than those who haven't lived yet to see the evil that I see under the sun. He considered the people that were lone, that were lonely, had no child, had no brother, and yet they never stopped working. Their eye was never satisfied with the riches that they had accumulated. And what bugged him, what bugs Solomon so much as he looked at man and his plight and how he constantly worked, constantly worked, and never got satisfied, he noticed the man never stopped to ask, Why am I doing this? What am I doing this for? It's like they were stuck like a rat running in this little circle and they couldn't get out. And then they never even bothered to ask, can I get out? They just kept running like mindless zombies. And what's the point? He realized that two are better than one. Better to be with someone so that if you fall, they can pick you up, they can help you get through whatever the struggle is. If one man could be defeated by an adversary, two would be able to withstand him. And that threefold cord is not so easily broken. Then he begins to give wisdom on prayer and reverence. Have you thought about this? Because a lot of us get into prayer and we don't stop talking. And we don't give a chance to hear him. We just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk about all the things that are going on in our lives. And Solomon says, When you go into the house of God, I'm in chapter 5, by the way, be ready to listen than to give the sacrifice of fools. The sacrifice of fools is vain repetitions and idle talk and chatter. Don't be so quick to speak. Remember who God is. He's in heaven. Remember who you are, you're on earth. Let thy words be few, he says. He warns us beware not to promise a thing before God. Because he will hold you to it. Beware that you don't make a promise to him and then not keep your word. Better for you if you don't promise anything than to promise and then not keep your word to God. In the New Testament, it said, let your yes be yes, then your no be no. Don't vow, don't oath anything. He says the sleep of one who works hard in his days is sweet. Whether he eats a little or he eats a lot. But he was contrasting the diligent workers with those who are rich. And many times those who are rich, they might not have really worked real hard for it. So he was contrasting the diligent workers. They work hard, they sleep at peace at night. But the rich, just because they're rich, doesn't guarantee them a peaceful night's sleep. And then he said, I see a great evil on the land. And I think he was looking at himself. Because he was the richest man, probably, excuse me, in all the world at that time. He says, This is the great evil when the owner of riches is hurt by his own abundance. That is a great evil upon the land. It is no wonder that many of the apostles warn the rich because they minister to the rich, but they continue to warn the rich about their riches because it might hold them back. There's nothing wrong with being rich, but many times to be rich is too great a temptation, and to have all this abundance is too great a temptation for you to stay faithful to him. You can't serve two ministers, God or Mammon. That's how it says it in the New Testament. Yet it was said before by Solomon, there's nothing new under the sun. He noticed that the rich, they're born without clothes, and when they die, they have no clothes. Obvious stuff, but something that needs to be considered. What is the point of the matter? If all is vanity, what is the point of your life? Why work so desperately hard when none of what you do in this life will take you to will you take in the hereafter? It'll remain for someone else. They return to the earth just as they came in with nothing. He made the analogy. What is the point of working all the days of your life? It's like trying to catch the wind. Any of you ever caught the wind? You ever grabbed it in your hand and held it? It's pointless to try. And so he compares a man's life with that. He saw himself in the things that he was saying. I realize again that it is a good and it is a beautiful thing for one to eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of his labor all the days of his life that God gives him. That is his portion. Even in this fallen state, God has had mercy and said, I will let man have this. Enjoy yourself, man. The balance is, remember, I will hold you an account for what you say and what you do in this life. He did the same thing with the Israelites. They complained, they murmured. Did he withhold from them what they complained and murmured about? He gave them exactly what they wanted. When they needed food, they got food. When they needed water, they got water. When they wanted a king, they got a king. But this is not what the Lord wanted for them. Not that he was going to let them starve in the desert and have water, but the king point. He did not want a king for them. They wanted that, and he gave it to them anyway. Even when God gives man riches and wealth and power to enjoy all that he has, Solomon recognized that is a gift of God. It is. Even for the man that knows not God, it is a gift of God. And so he continues on in chapter 6. He says, I see another evil, and it is common among men. And this is where he really saw himself. When God gives riches and wealth and honor to a man so that he lacks nothing in his life, everything that his soul desires, he has it. And yet God does not allow him to enjoy it. That was the heart of Solomon. For he had everything, and yet he was still longing and hungry for something more. And yet God gave it to him. He said, if a man has a hundred children and lives many, many years, and his soul is not filled with good, and he doesn't even have a proper burial. Better is the untimely birth than he. Better is the one that was born unexpectedly out of time than this man that lived all of these years and had all of these children, and he was never satisfied in his life. He speaks about a good name in chapter 7. A good reputation is better than precious ointment. I'm going to come back to that in chapter 10. But he just makes that statement here and he realizes that wisdom is something that covers. It's like a shadow that covers people. He said money is also a shadow that covers people, but he says wisdom is more advantageous. Can anybody figure out why? Wisdom is better to have than money. Why? Because if I don't have money, and I have wisdom, I can still be covered. If I have money, I may not have the wisdom to figure out how to cover myself. Because there's a lot of people with a lot of money that waste it all, and because they had no wisdom, that money is not a covering for them. Better that I have wisdom than to have money. Solomon says, I have seen all things in the days of my pointless life. I have seen the just perish in his righteousness. I have seen the wicked man live long in his wickedness. So he warns us, beware of being proud and wicked and foolish. And know this that the man that fears God, he is the one that will come forth in the end. Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men who are in a city. Because listening to a lot of the words that are spoken, you might run into someone that is cursing you. And it doesn't sound very good when you find out someone is talking bad about you in your back. But then you realize in your heart, many times you know that you have done the same thing in cursing others. He says again, I sought in my heart to know, to search, to seek out wisdom, the understanding, and reasons of things, to know wickedness of folly and the foolishness of madness. And because he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, he says this I have found this to be most bitter than death. A woman who has snares and traps and who has hands that bind. Because when he got married to all of those women, he was snared. He was trapped, he was bound. And his heart went away from the Lord. He says, only the one that pleases God will escape that woman. And now, none of us here usually, I'd say mostly, marry more than one wife at a time. And so we might not fall into this and we might not have an understanding of what Solomon went through with 700 wives and 300 concubines. But you have to understand that the woman that snares and traps and binds you is the woman of sin. It is the woman of temptation. Temptation is that woman spoken of in the New Testament. Or even in, I believe it's Proverbs. Where she's there enticing you. And he's warning you get away from her. Don't even walk on her side of the street. She will ensnare you, she will trap you, she will cause your death. It is temptation that snares us in this new covenant. Beware of it and walk away from it. Solomon says, God made man upright. But the problem was that man had desires that he wanted to fulfill. Adam and Eve were made upright. They were made perfect. But there was a desire in them to do something independent of God. And that fallen sin nature is what all of us deal with. The desire to satisfy ourselves rather than to satisfy God and obey Him. He says another few tidbits, golden nuggets. A wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment in chapter 8. And he says, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Point blank. The heart of the sons of men is ready and willing to do evil. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. That speaks on many levels. It speaks on the level of government. Why doesn't capital punishment deter crime in this day? Because those that are on death row are waiting eight, ten, twelve years to get executed judgment. Why would it scare anybody? They go rob a store, kill somebody at the same time? They're on death row for 12 years. Now, imagine if the judgment would have been executed speedily. Like it was in the Old Testament. What? You were caught in adultery? Stone them with stones and they die right there. Do you think that happened very often? Uh-uh. Not in that day. It did happen, but not that very often. Not like sin and crimes run rampant in this day and age. It also speaks on the level of just accountability in the workplace. Somebody does something wrong, no one says anything about it, everybody stays quiet. He's gonna do it again. Because no one is holding him to account. Even in your relationships with your friends, they do something to offend you, you say nothing because you want to keep him as a friend. And then they'll do it again and again and again because you did not confront them. You were afraid of confrontation. It also speaks to us parents. If we do not execute the discipline speedily, it is in their heart to do evil. And so we must discipline immediately and not wait. It won't be effective later on. And so as I read Ecclesiastes, I began to see that Solomon, in his desiring to understand what man is going through and why he's going through it, he's developing a compassion for man. I seem to see the heart of God looking at mankind, going through his pointless days, and wanting to give him words of advice. Looking at the life of man, Solomon says, I see gladness and joy are good for him. That will remain with him the days of his life that God gives him under the sun. And he goes back again in chapter 9. He says, Everything happens to all people. If it happens to the righteous, it happens to the wicked. Happens to all people regardless. The sons of men, and their heart is full of evil, madness is in their heart while they live, and soon after they die. And when they die, their love, their hatred, their envy dies with them. So he gives these words of wisdom to the righteous and the wise in chapter 9. Go your way. Eat your bread with joy, drink your wine with a glad heart. Let your garments be always white. It's not a matter of you just enjoying life, but make sure you're joining it in your righteousness, in your good things, not an evil. He's not saying that. He said, Let your head always be anointed, and we receive our anointing from the Spirit of God on our life. So walk in the Spirit. Live joyfully with your wife whom you love. Live joyfully with your wife whom you love all the days of your pointless life. It says it there. You go read it. It's in chapter 9. Whatever you find to do, for you young children that are wondering, what am I gonna do in my life? Listen, whatever you do, do it with all your might. Do it to the best of your ability. Don't hold anything back. I think that epitomizes our bishop. And I think Ms. Althea can testify to that. He doesn't do anything half-heartedly. He goes all the way, holds nothing back. To the grieving of his wife, he holds nothing back in doing whatever his heart desires to do. And he's just walking in the spirit because that's the word. Whatever you find to do, do it with all your might. Because you won't take any of it with you. Enjoy whatever it is that you do and all the fruit that you get out of it in this life. So give it all you got. Give it all you got right now. This is your portion in life. He noticed in races, it's not always the fastest that wins. He noticed in battles, it's not always the strong that wins. He noticed bread does not always go to wise people. Sometimes bread goes to the fool. He noticed riches don't always go to men of understanding. Sometimes they go to the wicked, crazy people. And those that have skill to do something are not always chosen to do it. He noticed all that. Time and chance, he says, happens to them all. Man doesn't know when his time is up. It always comes upon us suddenly. He relayed a story of a poor wise man who was living in a city, and this city was being surrounded by a king who wanted to take it over. It was under siege, and no one knew what to do in this city. And this poor wise man was able to deliver this city from its calamity. And yet later on, no one remembered it. Nevertheless, he says, wisdom is better than strength, better than having money, better than being the fastest, better than being the strongest, better than being the one that has skill. It is better than all the weapons of war. For I could outsmart you. What about the underdogs? Why is it that we love to see college football and the underdog win? Because they shouldn't have won. Yet they outsmarted their opponents. For that one game, they outsmarted them. And sometimes it's that battle that's actually the war, and in that one moment of that war, you could turn the tide and outsmart your opponent and win if you have the wisdom. It is not the weapons of war that always win the battle. If you have wisdom and the weapons of war, you really have a good chance to win. But then he noticed that one sinner can do a lot of damage to good. Just one. He speaks about dead flies making a precious, fragrant ointment steak. And he contrasted that, he used that analogy of dead flies making this ointment that is so fragrant aroma, just smells so great, but it is stunk. He compares that to a man with a great reputation. And he does one thing foolish, and his reputation is marred practically for life. Be careful of the foolish things that you do in this life, because they could mar your name. Could be always for the rest of your days. Woe to the people whose king is but a child. Blessed are the people when the king is the son of nobles and princes, and the princes eat not of greed, but to just remain strong. We elected a new president. I'm glad that he is not a child, for that would be a bad, bad state. But I hope and pray that he is like a son of nobles when he selects those people that are going to speak into his life, the words of wisdom that hopefully will bring about what's best for America. And not princes that eat of greed and just want to satiate their own desires of the flesh. So we should pray for our future president. Because even if we're unhappy about it, the Lord says, never curse the king, not in your thoughts, nor out loud. Someone will hear and tell about it. There is a wisdom in giving. There is a wisdom that says, cast all of your bread, all of your permit provision far and wide to all peoples. Don't withhold any good thing from those that are around you. You will find it again. He says, you never know what bad times you're going to encounter. But if you are constantly giving good provision, uh things that people need, uh food, uh clothing, transportation, there may come a time where you run into trouble. And because you've been so good to so many people, they're gonna feel, gosh, I gotta help you out. I remember when you helped. That's just me logically rationalizing what that is. But the Lord said it's not about that. It's because I promise you that your provision will be there when you need it. If you stay worried about what is going to happen, sort of like watching the winds and watching the far-off clouds, oh, it's gonna be a storm, and then you stop to reap and sow your seed. That's hard for me. I'm saying that right now, and that's so hard for me. You know, my wife is always wanting to help out this person and that person and send money here and there, and I'm like, and as I speak that, I'm like that applies so liberally, that is the truth, regardless of how I feel about it. That that is the truth. No one knows the ways of the spirit. You don't know how God is gonna do that. I don't know how God is gonna do that when I'm in debt and you're wanting me to give. No one knows the ways of the spirit, and and just like you don't know how the bones of a child grow in the womb, so you don't know how God is gonna work it out. He's gonna work it out. He does all things. So I say, Solomon says, sow your provision to others, don't withhold good things from others, worrying about what evil tomorrow may bring. Hear the words of wisdom to the youth. Chapter 11, somewhere at the end. Rejoice in your youth, enjoy it, be glad in it, enjoy it for everything your youth is worth. Walk in the ways of your heart, but be wary and know this that all you do, even in your youth, God is gonna hold you accountable. So make sure it's righteous enjoyment. Remove sorrow from your heart, put away the evil of the flesh. Even your youth is gonna run like a vapor in the wind. It's gonna be pointless. So, this great wise man looking at all of the people that lived in the days under the sun, he looked at the oppressed, he looked at the oppressors, he looked at the rich, he looked at the poor, he looked at the one that labored and labored and labored. He says, This remember your creator even in the days of your youth, while the evil days have not come yet. Remember him while the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are not darkened, because when that evil day comes, when the sun, light, moon, and stars are darkened, he's referring to the day of your death. When the day of your death comes, your body is going to return to the earth, and your spirit will return to God who gave it to you. So, what then is the point? Come on, I'm in Ecclesiastes. What's the point? Does anybody know? Last two verses? Nobody. Ecclesiastes. She does. Drink war wine. Speak up loud. Drink war wine. No, no, no. No. That's good. That's good. What is the whole point of this pointless life? Fear God. Fear God, your creator, and obey him. This is the sole responsibility of mankind because in the end, he's gonna judge every man according to his works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. Fear God and keep his commandments. That's right. Because I did talk about purpose last time I was here. There is purpose. But you have to understand that Ecclesiastes is written through the eyes of a man that was struggling to understand the point of it all. And we would do well to heed what he learned. Because there is more revelation, there is more understanding beyond fear God and keep his commandments. But it starts there. If it doesn't start there, you're off tangent. You're off course. Amen. Hallelujah. If you were blessed and appreciate listening to this podcast and you would like to support us in our efforts, consider lifting us up in prayer first. Then remember these four social media buzzwords. Prayer, like, subscribe or follow.org. Like button or podcast. Subscribe to support. 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