The New York Times recently reported on the upsurge of students in philosophy courses at major universities.
According to the paper, young people are seeking philosophical answers to their growing confusion and disillusionment.
Well, they need to read Ecclesiastes, the Bible’s built-in philosophy course, written by Solomon, the wisest man in the Old Testament.
After a promising start, Solomon was drawn away from the Lord by the influence of his foreign wives. The resulting despair probably prompted him to write the book.
We can track Solomon’s spiritual and intellectual progress by reading all three of his books.
- Song of Solomon represents Solomon as a young king – virile, energetic, and full for God.
- Proverbs represents his mature years and sage advice.
- Ecclesiastes represents his sunset years as he looked back and realized his life was unfulfilled by money, possessions, education, or pleasure.
The premise of Ecclesiastes is that life is meaningless unless God is acknowledged.
God has put eternity in our hearts, and without eternal values we’ll always be
looking for substitutes.
Everything under the sun is vanity and a chasing after the wind.
Key Thought:
Life without God is meaningless.
Key Verse:
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecc 12:13).
Key Action:
To be happy and fulfilled, we must fear God, obey Him, live for eternity, and let Him bring meaningfulness to very area of life.