Riches without Enjoyment (Eccl. 6:1-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2013 8:27 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: Riches without Enjoyment

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ecclesiastes 6:1-6

            Message of the verses:  We find ourselves this morning in the sixth chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes, looking at the first six verses.  Our look into the third chapter of Daniel is over and we look forward to looking at the fourth chapter of Daniel next month.

            Dr. Wiersbe entitles his chapter on the sixth chapter of Ecclesiastes “Is Life a Dead-End Street?”  I suppose that we have all thought this though at some point in our lives, for we know that there were people in the Bible who had though at times that life was not worth living, people like Moses, Elijah, Job, Jeremiah and Jonah.  Paul writes to the Corinthians “8  For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9  indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10  who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, 11  you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many (2 Cor. 1:8-11).”   

            Dr. Wiersbe seems to always give his readers a clue as to what they will look at in the chapter that he has written, and at the end of his introductory commentary he writes “In Ecclesiastes 6, Solomon discussed three of life’s mysteries:  riches without enjoyment (1-6), labor without satisfaction (7-9), and questions without answer (10-12).” 

            5/12/2013 8:40 AM     5/12/2013 8:02 PM

            “1 ¶  There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men- 2  a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction. 3  If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, "Better the miscarriage than he, 4  for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity. 5  "It never sees the sun and it never knows anything; it is better off than he. 6  "Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things-do not all go to one place?"

            I seem to have a lot of thoughts going through my mind and at my age you had better get them written down before they leave your mind and you cannot recover them.  As we look at verse two we wonder if Solomon is talking about himself or if he is talking about someone that he knows.  I truly don’t have the answer to that question, but what I am leaning towards is that Solomon is talking about his own life.  We know that Solomon was a young man when he became king and while young he asked the Lord for wisdom so that he could lead His people, and since he asked for wisdom the Lord said that he would give him riches and a long life too because he did not ask for them.  We know that as Solomon grew older that he broke all of the laws that God had given to those who would be kings in Israel.  We also know that not only was Solomon the richest man to ever live but he was the wisest man ever to live.  What conclusion can we come to as far as why Solomon blew it, for he is not even mentioned as one of the good kings of Israel to which his father was.  Perhaps, and this is what is going through my mind, God allowed Solomon to have all of this wisdom and riches so that we can learn that even having these qualities and riches that there is still a big empty spot in a person’s soul.  I believe that this is one of the reasons that Solomon has written this book of Ecclesiastes.

            James 1:17 says the following, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”  (KJV)  I studied the book of James sometime in 2003 and when I was looking at James 1:17 I wrote a paraphrase of this verse which said, “Every gift that God gives us is perfect, and the way that He gives it to us is perfect, and He keeps on giving us gifts all of the time, even when we do not realize that HE is giving them to us, and God is not like the moving of the planets and stars, for He never changes because He cannot change for worse because He is holy, and He cannot change for better because He is perfect.”  (From 8-28-2003 Spiritual Diary)  Ok we are talking about gifts as we look at verse two, and James speaks of gifts in 1:17, but the thing that we have to understand is the following:  “To him (Solomon), it was a basic principle that nobody can truly enjoy the gifts of God apart from the God who gives the gifts.  To enjoy the gifts without the Giver is idolatry, and this can never satisfy the human heart.  Enjoyment without God is merely entertainment, and it doesn’t satisfy.  But enjoyment with God is enrichment and it brings true joy and satisfaction.”  (From Be Satisfied)  The thing about this is that I had learned this principle before I had ever read it in any of Warren Wiersbe’s commentaries, for he has put this principle in other books.  The way that I had to learn it was a difficult lesson and the lesson showed me that I was enjoying the gifts that the Giver was giving me, but not the Giver of the gifts. 

            Now as we look at verses three through six we know that this is a hypothetical case for no one lives for 2000 years.  We also know that no monogamous marriage is likely to produce a hundred children, although Solomon’s son Rehoboam had 88 children, but he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines so we can say that the apple did not fall too far from the tree.

            We can figure out that Solomon was exaggerating here to make his point:  “No matter how much you possess, if you don’t possess the power to enjoy it, you might just as well never have been born.”  This is what Solomon goes on to say in these verses.  We have to enjoy life, enjoy the gifts that God has given to us and the God who has given them to us, we have to enjoy family and friends and this is something that many people do not learn until life has passed us by.  There is a song that I want to quote that fits in nicely, and the song is entitled “Cat in the Cradle,” and it is not a Christian song.

"Cat's In The Cradle"

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talkin' 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say "I'm gonna be like you, Dad
You know I'm gonna be like you"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home, Dad
I don't know when, but we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let's play
can you teach me to throw", I said "Not today
I got a lot to do", he said, "That's ok
And he walked away but his smile never dimmed
And said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah
You know I'm gonna be like him"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home, Dad
I don't know when, but we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then

Well, he came from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
"Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while"
He shook his head and said with a smile
"What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home son
I don't know when, but we'll get together then, Dad
You know we'll have a good time then

I've long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind"
He said, "I'd love to, Dad, if I can find the time
You see my new job's a hassle and kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, Dad
It's been sure nice talking to you"

And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
When you comin' home son
I don't know when, but we'll get together then, Dad
We're gonna have a good time then.

            I have another story that is supposed to be true about a man who was rich, like the man Solomon is talking about.  When his children got older they did not come to see him very much which bothered him, but I suppose much of it was his fault.  When he died he set it up in his will to have his riches go into an ATM machine which was but beside his grave site.  He thought that since his children did not come to seem him when he was alive they would come to visit his grave. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The ability to enjoy life comes from within.  It is a matter of character and not circumstances.  ‘I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”  For those who have looked at any of these SD’s you know that that verse is like a life verse to me as it is my desire to learn contentment.  Dr. Wiersbe goes on to say “The Greek word autarkies, translated ‘content,’ carries the idea of ‘self-contained, adequate, needing nothing from the outside.’ Paul carried within all the resources needed for facing life courageously and triumphing over difficulties.  ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ (Phil. 4:13, NKJV).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I was so glad to see the definition of the word content, for I think that contentment is one of the themes that flows through the book of Ecclesiastes, and will be seen more clearly at the end of the book. 

            Looking at all the things that I have as gifts from the Lord is something that I also need to think about some more, for that is the truth for it comes from the pages of Scripture.  Thinking about the gift of salvation and what it cost the triune God to provide this gift for me is another thing to dwell on, especially after partaking in the Lord’s Supper this evening at church.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to learn contentment.

Memory verses for the week:  2Cor. 5:17-19

            17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.  18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Answer to yesterday’s SD “Judah”  (2 Kings 18:1)

Today’s Bible question: “Who tried to make Joseph sin?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

5/12/2013 9:15 PM