Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” EMPTINESSS – LIFE WITHOUT GOD Psalm 39:5 – 6 reads, “Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly everyman at his best state is but vapor. Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them”. Dear friend the Word of God reminds you and me that our lives are like the smallest popular measuring unit of ancient times which is about 2.9 inches (“four fingers”). At best we are like vapor – here today and gone tomorrow. Some of us are busy heaping up riches and when we are gone others will take it and squander it on themselves. Job said it well in Job 27:16 – 17 “Though he heaps up silver like dust, and piles up clothing like clay – he may pile it up, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver”. The writer of Proverbs said the same thing with a different slant in Proverbs 28:8 “One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion gathers it for him who will pity the poor”. In God’s economy the wealth will be given to someone who treats the poor fairly. Dear friend we serve a very wise God. “Vanity” here speaks of emptiness. It is to waste life without any purpose or any goal. It means to live like an animal or a bird lives. There are a great many people who live like that. The late Dr. J. Vernon McGee shared some of his experience as it relates to emptiness: I was in a hotel in the Hawaiian Islands where the jet set (An international social set made of wealthy people who travel from one fashionable place to another) come. They fly all over the world spending a few days or weeks in Hawaii, then at Acapulco in Mexico, and then in the Rivera in France, then to Spain, North Africa, South Africa, and so on. They are world travelers. I watched these folks and listened to their conversations at the dinner table, out in the hotel lobby, and in the elevators. The thing that impressed me about them was how purposeless their lives really are. They talked about people they had seen in other places. They talked about plays they had seen. They would ask, “Where are you going from here?” Someone would say, “Wasn’t that place where we were last year a bore!” There was no aim, no goal, no purpose in life. This is also the conclusion of Solomon. Vanity of vanities. Emptiness of emptiness. It is just like a big bag of nothing. Solomon in the Book of Proverbs gives us gems of wisdom. In Ecclesiastes he gives us globules, not of wisdom, but of folly. Then in the Song of Solomon love is the subject. Wisdom, foolishness, and love – Solomon was an expert in all three fields. He knew how to play the fool; he was wise in government; and his love life was quite a story. Solomon was the wisest of men, but no man ever played the fool more thoroughly than he did. He is the riddle of revelation. He is the paradox of Scripture. The wisest man was the greatest fool. “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity is life without God. It is man walking and talking “under the sun,” trying to get something out of life (Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee, p. 107 – 108). Dear friend you have a great career and a great job but you still feel a sense of emptiness. Lots of cars and houses but you are empty without God. Lots of businesses generating millions of dollars but you are empty without God. You have so many college degrees behind your name but you are lost without God. Today admit to God that you are empty and that you are a sinner. Then ask Jesus to come into your heart. Romans 10:9 – 11 reads, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Prayer: Father, I confess to You that I am a sinner. Come into my heart today. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 04:43:11 +0000
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