He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has
also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has
done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
We, like all of creation,
are full participants in life under the sun. We experience the seasons of life
that come with the passage of time, from the vigor of youth to the limitations
of old age. But only humans wonder if there is something outside themselves;
only people have a need for meaning and purpose in their lives.
As creatures of two
dimensions, we have a dilemma unique to mankind alone: we are tempted to look
to temporal things to fill our eternal need. That was Solomon’s problem: he
believed if he applied his amazing gifts to life under the sun, his outcome
would be amazing (simply because he was amazing). What he didn’t understand
until it was too late was that he could not buy eternal meaning with a life
spent on worldly pursuits.
In the end, I think Solomon
was a bitter man. Like many golden boys, he couldn’t believe that the rules of
life applied to him. Saddest of all was that he ended so far from where he
started spiritually. He began his reign as his father David had, loving and seeking
God with all his heart. After a lifetime of pursuing the gifts and not the
Giver, he ended his life seeing God as a judge, both distant and severe.
Around us, in all shapes and
sizes both within and without, there are idols, promising what they were never
designed to deliver. The greatest blessings this world can offer come with an
expiration date. But the God behind them does not. He is the eternal Source of
Joy of which the best moments in life are only a shadow. He is the eternal
Security that will never leave us nor forsake us. He is the eternal Fulfillment
to all our hopes, dreams and heart’s desires.
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the days come
when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them" (Ec.12:1).
Nancy Shirah
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