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With Age Comes Wisdom? Not Necessarily: Day 5


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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