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We’re beginning a new series together on the book of Ecclesiastes. And so to start this off, we’re going to we’re going to start our series here with a bang. We’re going to begin with a game, and it’s called the honesty game. And we’ve got a point. Um, and so here’s the way we’re going to do this game is I’m going to the only way we can do a crowd this big is I’m going to ask a question and and to answer this question, I want you to raise your hand, okay? If you think that you agree with the question that I’m asking. All right. So here’s the questions. Raise your hand. If you strongly dislike audience participation games. That’s me. Like, if I were in the crowd today, that would be the only question I would answer that I am playing. Oh that one. Okay. All right. Here’s the next one. Raise your hand if you are just unsatisfied with your cell phone coverage. All right. Raise your hand if you would like to have more money. Yeah that’s right. The rest of you are crazy. All right, all right. You can opt out if you want on these next ones here. But. Raise your hand if you are dissatisfied with the way that you look. Raise your hand if you’re dissatisfied with the job that you work. If if if your boss is here. Lower, right. Raise your hand if you are unsatisfied with the way that you’re living.
Who? A few years ago. There was, well, quite a few years ago, there was a song you put your hands down. There was a song written. Um, let’s see, some of you guys like to do this, so see if you can guess the song. It came out. This is a rock song for you. Rock lovers comes out and the chorus goes like this I can’t get no. Oh man, we got some rolling Stone fans this morning. Amazing. This is this is my impersonation. Impersonation. Like this. That’s Mick Jagger, right? You know it. Well, not only do you guys know a song by the Rolling Stones, you also know the theme to the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s a book of lack of satisfaction in life. So we play that game this morning just to find out where we are in our personal satisfaction. And and Mick Jagger, we didn’t even know all these years we’ve been singing this song. And he is a preacher and he he is proclaimed the book of Ecclesiastes. The book of Ecclesiastes was written by a man called Solomon. Solomon was the third king of Israel. He was the son of King David. He rose to the highest prominence of any king in the nation of Israel. He really, in essence, was a rock star. Bible describes in several different accounts of what it was like to know King Solomon. This is what it says. So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth.
In riches and in wisdom. All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. The Bible literally describes it. People came from all over the known world to see this man perform. I mean, he was a rock star. And Solomon as he’s going through this journey in his life and the Lord is blessing him. Eventually he gets to the place where he becomes proud, and he really goes on a 40 year journey away from God, seeking to find satisfaction and all other sources of life apart from the Lord. And his response to that journey was the Book of Ecclesiastes. If you’ve ever taken time to read this book, you’ll account as you’ve studied it. That Ecclesiastes is the way that it’s written is as much like a journal entry on life. And Solomon records for us all the pleasures and all the satisfactions that he desires to find in this world apart from God. And like Mick Jagger, he screams, I can’t get no satisfaction. Matter of fact, as you read this book, you’ll discover very early on that it’s somewhat of a glass half empty type book. Solomon describes the type of life in which he’s lived in order to find satisfaction in the things that he’s doing. At one point he just decided to become a drunk. He says. I searched with my heart how to cheer up my body with wines.
He became all about shopping in the credit cards, right? He says, I possess flocks and herds and larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Little different shopping back then than we do today. You know, you you see my popularity by the cows. You don’t necessarily hear that so much now, but. Solomon sought to find pleasure in money and sex, it said. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces and concubines. History tells us that Solomon had somewhere in the estimates of over 900 concubines, a part of his harem. He was Hugh Hefner to the max. When it comes to entertainment. Solomon didn’t just buy a ticket to go watch someone perform, he went ahead and bought the whole band. It says in verse eight, I bought singers, men and women. I’m not sure what he apparently. Maybe people thought one sex sang better than the other. He was like, I got them both, man. Men and women. I own them whenever I want them to perform, I bring them into my courts and they perform. He says. He goes on and says buildings and projects. You. You think your house is great. Not only did I build a great house, but I built a great everything. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. When it comes to intelligence, he thought he would find satisfaction in just being really smart. As a matter of fact, when I read the book of Ecclesiastes, I think about that.
Nerds and geeks, right? That’s the way you’re supposed to say it. Just this nerd sound. And it says in verse 17, I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and fall and follow folly. I perceived that this also was but a striving after wind. And finally he just says, you know what? Whatever. I thought my heart would find pleasure in that. That’s just what I made my goal. If it brought some sort of satisfaction, I just didn’t limit myself from it, he said. I said in my heart, come now. I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. And he says, this also was vanity. Even in his job. Solomon finally decided he would just devote himself to work. Maybe if he just became a workaholic, he would find satisfaction. And he says, I considered all that my hands had done, and all the toil I had expended in doing and all was vanity. Solomon sums it up this way several times in his book he says, I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after the wind. A find in our American culture today because we sometimes quote the American Dream that the book of Ecclesiastes becomes extremely practical to the satisfaction that we seek within our own lives, apart from the Lord. We relate to Solomon’s rockstar lifestyle. Maybe we don’t quite drink from the depths of the world that Solomon does, but we find that life just doesn’t satisfy.
We’ve searched religion. It can’t satisfy. We say things to ourselves. My spouse should satisfy our. If my kids would just obey, that would satisfy her. If I could find a new job or get that college degree, that would finally satisfy me. If my spouse would just come to church, or my parents would give me approval and validation, or I could find acceptance or just fit in or or just have more money. I would be satisfied. And as we taste of those waters, we find in the end we can’t get no satisfaction. And Solomon begins this journal entry on the Book of Ecclesiastes. The literary style of this book. Just to give you a little background as we begin, the book of Ecclesiastes is described as poetry. It’s one of five poetic books found in the Old Testament, beginning with job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Out of your five poetic books, Solomon wrote three of them. Solomon writes this poetic book, and it’s described in the genre of literature as wisdom literature. The way wisdom literature works in the Bible, especially in the book of Ecclesiastes, in the Book of Proverbs, is that God’s goal in inspiring someone to write those books is God desires for you to do something and not do something else. Meaning, God desires for you to live wisely and not live foolishly or stupidly.
And so the wisdom literature has proclaimed to us in order for us to follow and pursue after God with wisdom. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re this intelligent human being. What it means is that you understand where to go to gain the proper information, to live life the way that God has called you to live. And the Solomon writes this poetic wisdom literature. He also writes most of this wisdom literature in the form of what we call proverbs. Proverbs are deep, memorable statements that help us grasp a hold of wisdom. Thoughts. You guys may not even consider this or have thought of this, but being in America and used to our culture, you have certain proverbs that you live by today that you probably say to yourself regularly, and you don’t even think about it. Watch this. Practice what you preach. Mm. No pain, no gain. Out of sight, out of action. Speak louder than. Don’t throw the baby out with the. Bathwater. The best things in life are free. My son. In all his wisdom, he must have known we were starting Ecclesiastes. Today he comes to me with his two year old mind. He’s working on the platform of King Solomon here. I leave the church yesterday and I go home and. And I’m dirty. And he wants to impart from me this proverb. And so I walk in the house and I say hi to Stacey, let her know I’m home, and say hi to my sons.
I get ready to go downstairs to take a shower, and I said, I’m going to take a shower. And I turn to walk and he says, wait, daddy, wait. And I look up and he says, well, what is it, son? He says, don’t poo in the shower. That is great. That is, you are wise beyond your years. I will not do that. In the same place I cleanse my body. Is Proverbs coming out everywhere all day long? You know, one of the most powerful proverbs I think I’ve heard comes out of the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s really what turned me on to this book as a young man learning about the Lord, coming straight out of Bible college. I remember one day, um, the pastors of this church I was at were too busy to go to the hospital to visit with this older lady whose husband just had a a major heart attack. And and they managed to keep him alive long enough for her to get to the hospital and say her goodbyes. And and it was fell on my shoulders to go to the hospital and visit her. And this was one of the first times I’ve ever gone as a pastor and ministry to visit someone in the hospital, so I had no idea what I was doing or what I was even going to say. So you know, when people go through bad things, you always want to say the magic words.
That makes it all better. And a lot of times we just don’t have that. The Bible tells us when it’s time to grieve. You just grieve with those who are grieving. Sometimes words can’t make things okay. And I remember I walked into the this room just not wanting to step in there for the circumstances. She’s seeing her husband for the last time and and she had an opportunity to maintain his life on a ventilator if she wanted to. And I was there when the doctors had come in and just gave her the option. Do you want us to pull the plug, or should we allow him to go on? And, you know, I was hoping to God, she wouldn’t turn around and ask me that question, and I don’t know. What are you saying? Something like that. And and and so then I became inquisitive as she sat there, as the doctor left the room, and I just asked her what? What are you going to do? And she said, you know, my husband knows the Lord. And. In life today. We’re we’re really good. At teaching people how to live well, but we’re really bad at teaching people how to die well. And we cling to life like it’s the most important thing. But I know my husband knows the Lord, and where he’s going is far better than here. And then she turned to the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter three and quoted, there is a time to live.
And a time to Die. This book contains profound wisdom for us in our lives. But I got to say, as you read the book of Ecclesiastes, the important thing to remember about a proverb is that a proverb isn’t always true. Sometimes we read things in the book of Proverbs like laughter is better than sorrow. And there are times in life where just laughter doesn’t fit the moment. And so while Proverbs are are is wisdom literature, the proverb doesn’t necessarily always ring true. And so when you read the Bible and you read about God’s laws, God’s laws are always true. When you read about God’s promises, God’s promises are always true. When you read about Proverbs. Proverbs is just good, godly wisdom that seems applicable to most of the things that we encounter in life. And can I just say we need proverbs? We need wisdom. The reality is, in our lives, we think so much about things that are insignificant and think little about things that are really and truly important in life. Sometimes we tend to just float around without asking the deep and significant questions for our lives. A lot of times we end up climbing the wrong mountains, seeking the wrong pleasures, and trying to to find ourselves satisfied in the wrong things. And and we can’t get satisfaction. And so Solomon begins to write this book. There’s a couple of themes I want to make you familiar with.
I’m going to make one big point that Solomon makes about the book, and we’re going to call it done for the day. All right. That’s like a short sermon. Don’t worry. I’m a pastor. We go all day. All right. So so this is what Solomon says was he quotes in the in the book of Proverbs and excuse me, I want to leave this. Let me go back. In this verse, he points out two ideas for us that are important and significant to understanding this book. He says in verse 14, I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity. Some translations are going to say meaningless. The most accurate translation of that would actually say vapor, which means you just it disappears. It goes into nothingness. These things that we strive for, it’s just it’s nothingness. It doesn’t matter beyond today. And so Solomon describes that as vanity. And so when you read the book of Ecclesiastes, where he discovers the idea of, of the words under the sun, and the idea of the words vanity carry an importance. And what Solomon desires to communicate to us. The word under the sun literally means life away from God. It’s describing someone who sort of puts their nose to the grinder, and never bothers to look up to ask God what it is that he desires to do in your life. And so you live life under the sun but never aware of the sun.
And so Solomon describes this. And as you read this book and you see this phrase over and over, keep in mind as you’re reading this, what Solomon is saying is this is the individual who’s living life apart from God. Because as you get through chapter eight, chapter nine, you’re going to start thinking, man, Solomon is way depressed and he needs help. And what he’s saying to us is, if this is you, these are the things you’re striving at, then you’re living life under the sun. And the ultimate end of that is there is no satisfaction. The other thing that he describes for us is vanity, which means there is no purpose, there is no meaning to it. We like to attribute meaning. We like to find some value in it. But when we get to the end of the road of this thing that we we think satisfies our life, what we find in that end is that we as people are as empty as when we first began that journey. It’s a Solomon will discuss a little bit for us in his journal entries, and then he’ll come back to this phrase under the sun and and life is vanity. And I just want to say this because this book is, is somewhat of a negative glass half empty book. We’re not going to go all through this book, verse by verse, like we tend to do in some other books.
Where we’re going to do is we’re just going to glean some truths from the book of Ecclesiastes, because this book is poetry, and because this book is Proverbs and because it’s wisdom literature, the way it reads doesn’t make it as easy to preach. And so we’re going to take some significant, important thoughts from this book and just travel through it together and see how it applies to our lives. And Solomon’s encouragement for us. One of the other frustrating things that you’ll find if you were to leave today and just read this book, maybe even for the first time, is you’ll see that there’s a lot of questions Solomon poses. Without a lot of answers. And the reason that Solomon does this is that Solomon’s desire is to provoke you in your own faith and thinking in this world. Meaning he’s not the type of preacher that we like in our churches today. What we want to do is we want to come to church and we want to hear all this, this theological truth taught to us. And then we get to the end where there’s this conclusion where you tell me, like these three points I need to remember. So when I leave, I don’t have to think. But what Solomon does is he’s saying to us in this book that he wants us to think and challenge our own lives where we are. And so he poses these questions for us in our thinking and his desires for you just to prod, be prodded and what he’s trying to communicate and and seek out.
What is this wisdom mean to me in my life? What is it God desires for me to know? How is it I can change my life? To stop living life under the sun and start living life for the son? And so Solomon records. Eventually the Bible. If I were to go straight to the end this morning, that’s what I’m going to do. See in the beginning he calls life vanity. When you get to chapter 12, he explains to the very ending of what this book is about. So today we’re really looking at the bread of the sandwich, and we’re going to unpack the meat in the weeks ahead and whatever other vegetable things you put in your sandwich. But we’re going to unpack that and see, see what it means for us as individuals. And you can imagine Solomon’s writing this book, all of these chapters communicating to us, life is vanity. It becomes meaningless. We’re not satisfied when the things we do. Mick Jagger saying my book and he and he gets to chapter 12 and he’s you can imagine if it was today, he was driving down the road and all of a sudden this thought just drills him about what he’s been trying to express in the book of Ecclesiastes. And he just pulls his car over on the side of the road, and he flips out his journal, and he wants to write down this last thought for us.
And if we could get anything from this book, this is the thought. He says this. Excuse me. Verse ten. The teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true. I don’t speak Ebonics, let me tell you. This is called keeping it real, right? If someone is about to keep it real, he says, this is it. If there’s a one thing that I want to express to you this morning. He says in verse 11. The words of the wise are like goads. It’s not an old person. I’ll tell you what that is in a minute. They’re like goads. They’re collected sayings like firmly embedded nails given by one shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything. In addition to them of making many books, there is no end. A much study wearies the body. Solomon says to us, wise words are like goads, goads. In biblical times, actually, if I were to be 100% truthful, no one knows for sure. If you look this up in dictionaries, it will say some of them will say, we don’t know for sure, and then they’ll go on to say this, but this is what we think it is when when a farmer would drive his oxen in the fields to plow the fields or to the store to buy whatever he wanted, if there were stores, he would take a goad with him.
And what the goad did was it helped steer the oxen on the path for which they were to take. And he’s saying in this passage of Scripture, the wisdom in which Ecclesiastes imparts to us is like a goat. It helps us to stay straight. Pursuing after God in your life is like a goat. He helps you to stay straight. Now notice it’s not saying that God uses this goad to whip you into place. What it’s saying is God’s words are used that way. They work within our heart to challenge us to seek after the Lord. And so the wise words are the words of a wise man are like goads. They’re collected sayings like firmly embedded nails by one shepherd. I know a little bit about history, and I know this nails, um, today, aren’t quite like nails the way that they used to be. And so when you were to build a house back in Solomon’s days, uh, if you bent the nail, too bad you got to bend it back and keep using it. Right. There weren’t as many to go around. And so what you find is you went into people’s homes and you would walk into the entry of their home. They would oftentimes place near the door or placed near the place where they laid their head a nail on the wall. And what they would do with that nail is they would firmly embed it into the wall, and they would hang with string.
The things that were important to them in their lives. So that way, whenever they got up to go out the door, they didn’t reach on their dresser to grab their wallet. They reached to the nail and pulled it off of the string. And so the nail was important. It’s their junk drawer. It’s their dresser. It carries the valuables of their life. And what he’s saying for us is that wisdom works in that way. We seek wisdom in the Lord, that God could steer us straight, and that they could become firmly embedded nails through which we hang the valuables of our life upon. And so it becomes important to us and all the things that the world communicates, that the one source that we listen to is the right source. And so he says this in verse 12, listen, be warned, my son, of anything, in addition to them of making many books, there is no end and much study wearies the body. Here’s here’s a negative to freedom of speech. Freedom of speech. You’ll love it. Here’s a negative. People say things without being accountable for what they say. If you feel like you want to say, you just spew whatever it is that you want to spew and everyone else has to deal with it. And what Solomon is saying in this passage of Scripture is that people just say things, and they don’t even think about the repercussions of the things that they’re communicating, whether it’s true what it’s going to have long term effect on people’s lives and whether it’s even wise.
They just say it and you got to be careful what you’re listening to and what you’re inundating your life with, because as you fill yourself up with things that don’t satisfy, even if you just call it entertainment, eventually you’ll look at it as a source of satisfaction. And so it’s important that you seek the wisdom of the Lord. As much time as the world has to work on you, it’s important that you seek the wisdom of the Lord. And what he refers to this as is in verse 11, is is a shepherd. These words as goads are like Shepherd’s words, and these words as nails are like Shepherd’s words. And here’s the illustration that Solomon’s pointing to us. I once knew a shepherd farmer from Kansas. They had tons of sheep. And so one day, because the Bible talks so much about sheep, I decided just to pick their brain about all these sheep verses I could find. And this is one interesting thing that he told me. He didn’t do this on his farm. But just about shepherds when you’re walking the hill, countries say, of Jerusalem. There are no fences. And these shepherds take their herds to places where they can have provision for their life, find restoration and strength. They get water for their bodies and and food for their bodies, and they’re protected by the shepherd.
And the shepherd wanders the hills to make sure the flock is cared for. But as he’s wandering along, so are other shepherds with other sheep. And eventually, because these animals aren’t fenced in, they intermingle with each other. Now, how in the world does one shepherd keep his sheep from mixing with the other sheep? Interesting thing about sheep is that when a shepherd gets a sheep for the first time, one of the first things that he does with the sheep is he draws it near, and he just begins to build a relationship with that sheep. He even talks to it. And communicates with it. So when the shepherd is walking the hills and he comes in contact with another shepherd with a flock of sheep, all the shepherd has to do to get his sheep from that field and away from the other flock is just tell it to follow. The. The sheep recognize the shepherd’s voice. The only time that sheep is ever in danger is that when they wander so far from the shepherd that they can no longer hear his voice. And what Solomon is saying to us is that the wisdom found in God’s Word is the way that the Shepherd communicates to you. And the further you wander from that shepherd, the further you are from hearing his voice. But if you spend time with him when the shepherd calls, and when the shepherd gives direction and wisdom, you hear his voice.
Matter of fact, Jesus even validated what Solomon said. My sheep hear my voice. And I know them. And they follow me. A real sheep. Following after Jesus knows what it sounds like when Jesus speaks. A real sheep who follows after Jesus seeks the wisdom of Jesus to stay near to that shepherd. It’s like a goad for your life. It’s like a well driven nail in your home through which you hang all the valuables. And the more you spend time with that shepherd, the easier it is to hear his cry in the world when he’s calling for you to draw near because you’re in danger. And so Solomon ends with this final thought in Ecclesiastes. It’s important for you to be near the shepherd because he cares for you. And so he says in verse 13, now all has been heard. And here’s the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. So sometimes we hear that voice of the Lord and saying, Fear God, it’s the greatest commandment. And and sometimes that thought just doesn’t settle with us, does it? Fear God and obey his commandments. All right. We want to be the king of our own world. God fear me. I make my rules.
And so when we hear this idea that God has created us to to put this reverential all over top of us, that that he is creator and we are created, and that we are to fear him and obey him. There’s a part within us that rebels. On the other side of that, you hear those same words and you think, well, maybe I’m not rebelling, but I’m also burnt. So people of authority and positions have been placed in my life before, and they’ve said things like this to me, and it’s and it’s not worked out in my favor. I’ve been abused by religion or individuals that that God has placed over me in my life, or that I thought God had placed over me in my life. And I hear that and it makes me angry. Can I just tell you this morning? Just some thoughts for us as we think about what the Bible is saying in this passage of Scripture. We talk about fearing the Lord. What the Bible simply recognizing is that you acknowledge in your life he is in control. He is creator and you are created. And no one knows better what you need than the shepherd who created you to provide the things in life that you need. God knows what you need better than you know. See Mick Jagger as he’s going along singing the songs I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. The same with With Solomon. As he’s singing these words, they’re looking in things apart from God to find satisfaction from the very one who created a world through which they could find satisfaction in him.
God knows what causes you to run. How you work, what brings you joy. And so when we say we fear the Lord, it’s saying he is in control. But when the Bible talks about fear, it’s not saying afraid. We’re not afraid of God. But it’s a reverential awe of who he is. And reverence to his authority and power and holiness and glory. We Revere him. And we don’t take it lightly of the position that he has above us. We fear the Lord and we obey him. Respect for the Lord or fear for the Lord recognizes that we are created and we are created to honor something with our lives. Why not make it the one you were designed to worship? Respect and fear of God is important because you’re not bowing down to a God who wants to suppress you. But while you’re bowing down to is a God who desires to elevate you. And to lift you up. The Bible refers to Jesus as a shepherd because the shepherd’s responsibility, it tells us in Psalm 23, is to lead you beside still waters. I don’t know if you know this, but sheep are so cuckoo sometimes that if they get beside water that’s rushing or makes a lot of noise, they get so frantic. They, they, they pee themselves more than they drink, you know, they they just can’t stand it.
They’re frazzled. They sit there by the water. I don’t know, Jesus. The water’s shaken, you know. And so Psalm 23 says this. He leads you beside still waters. That your soul could be calm. And that he could refresh your life. And so when we talk about a fear of the Lord, we’re not talking about a fear that we often think about of an individual who wants to dominate you and wants to suppress you and just wants to boss you and everything that that they do. But you’re looking at one who desires to elevate you in your relationship with him. Matter of fact, James said, that’s the key. James 410 humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you. Some translations go on to say, in due time. Meaning we’re going through this world and we’re seeking satisfaction. And maybe we’ve even tried to find satisfaction in the Lord. But I love how some translations say in due time, meaning it’s in God’s time. We need to open up the doors for him to provide in our lives, to bring his joy into us. As it says in John chapter 15, he came to bring you joy, that your joy may be made full in him. And so we simply provide the opportunity. We open ourselves up to everything that the Lord offers us as a shepherd and allow him to have control.
Satisfaction comes on his timetable as we pursue after him. But the Bible carries this important part for us. Rather than James saying fear, he talks about fear in God, but he talks about in our part that it’s important we walk with humility. Solomon describes this as his last point. Matter of fact, as you read this book, he describes it as this major point. We can’t get no satisfaction in life. And and really the starting point to find your fulfillment and to find joy in your relationship with the Lord starts with fear in him. A reverential all of his authority over you and recognizing that. And maybe this morning, if we’re honest, we’re saying, God, I’ve been burned. Or God, I feel empty. God, I don’t want to surrender. But God, you are God. So please help me. Maybe this morning. If you’re feeling empty on a relationship with the Lord. The good news is, is that you never have to supply the strength to begin with. It’s the shepherd. All you do is hear his voice and draw near to him with your heart. And in that humility he provides the strength and lifts you up. This passage of Scripture that Solomon describes at the end of this book is the time for us where we make decisions. Understand that wisdom literature is written, that we don’t do something and we do something else. We we don’t live like fools, but we live wisely. And so it becomes important for us when we encounter things like this, that Solomon communicates that we make decisions within our own heart.
And can I tell you that this isn’t just a decision that you make once in your life? This is a decision that you determine to live every day of your life. Lord, let me hear your call. Don’t listen to God because you see him. As a killjoy. Listen to God so you can enjoy. Doesn’t matter how much money, vacation, relationships, houses, clothing, surgeries, whatever you want to have, what you find is Solomon’s declared. In the end, if you live for no eternal purpose, you find no satisfaction. You were designed as human beings to find something far greater than yourself to live for. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, God has placed eternity in your heart, meaning if all you’ve strived is just for the pleasure of self, you find no satisfaction in that, because God has written eternity in your hearts for you to look at life as something far bigger than just you. Something that lasts far longer than just your life because it’s a vapor. Solomon’s desire. This morning. Is that for all of us to go on this journey of finding satisfaction in the Lord. When you begin the book of Ecclesiastes, it starts here. I’m giving myself. To you. Because the rest of this world has left me empty. And Lord, what I want. As you and only the satisfaction that you can bring.