In this episode, we delve into the timeless wisdom of Ecclesiastes and explore the challenges of living a life that prioritizes worldly achievements over a deep, meaningful relationship with God. David Hawking guides us through the reflections of Solomon, who despite having experienced all of life’s pleasures and successes, concludes it as vanity when God is absent. Through anecdotes and biblical insights, listeners are encouraged to seek true satisfaction and fulfillment through faith and a reliance on divine provision.
Many times children simply do not do what their parents did. Their value system is not the same as the parents, and they don’t want it. And maybe they were the rebellious sin nature of fighting against the authority of their parents. So the parents become the enemy, though the parents are trying to protect the kids. And as a result, one day the children become something other than their parents are. And you tell me this is not a grief to parents? It hurts deep within our hearts. We wish we could change it. ¶¶
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, it’s a blessing to have you with us for the Friday broadcast of Hope for Today. At some point, the question is no longer, what else can I try? It’s, why isn’t any of this working? Ecclesiastes chapter 2, we’re going back there today. This chapter is not written by a man who failed. It’s written by a man who tried everything and got there. But pleasure didn’t deliver. Success didn’t last. Work, well, you got it, it didn’t satisfy. And today, Bible teacher David Hawking continues his study called Living for Your Job, as God’s Word exposes the dead end of building a life on what this world promises. We’re back in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 in just a moment. First, we want to thank you for listening and for the many ways you stand with this ministry. We ask that you continue to pray for us, do pray for us, and as the Lord directs and supplies, consider supporting this work through a donation or regular monthly giving. Your partnership helps keep this teaching on the air and makes it possible for God’s Word to go forth day by day without compromise through David’s teaching on Hope for Today. We’re grateful for every prayer and every gift given in obedience to the Lord. You can give right now at DavidHawking.org, DavidHawking.org, or call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And Bible, on your phone, by the numbers 24253. Let’s get into God’s Word with Day 3 of Living for Your Job, found in Ecclesiastes Chapter 2. David.
SPEAKER 03 :
The truth is that because every individual is unique and every single child that is born has its own nature and its own propensity to evil, there is nothing that we can do apart from the grace and power of God to change it. And that is a stark reality that hits many of us as we grow older. You don’t know what people will be like who follow you. And do you know the story of Solomon and who it was that followed him? Rehoboam. Lack of conviction, lack of principles in his life. And the whole kingdom is split and torn up. And Jeroboam, a man who caused Israel to sin and go into idolatry, he takes over. Not even in the messianic line, but he takes over and starts ruling Israel. And thus we have a divided kingdom. Was Rehoboam what Solomon was? Solomon, who also was given the name Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord. Solomon who was pleasing to God, the Bible says, with the exception of how he pursued these things in his life. Solomon who at the end of his life saw all of these things and gave his heart back to God alone. Did his children do that? No. What was the history of the kings of Israel? Every one of them were bad. What was the history of the kings of Judah? A father is good and a son is bad and another son is bad and then a son is good and it goes on and on like that. That’s one of the griefs that we must bear, and Solomon says it’s vanity. We don’t know what they’ll be like who follow us. And a second problem, which he mentions in verse 20 and 21, is they’ve not labored for what we have done either. They didn’t lay a finger to anything that we have done, and we have left it to them. Others are going to inherit what we have done, but they’ve not done one thing to achieve it. He says that’s vanity. It’s interesting, he adds at verse 21, it’s not only a vanity, it’s a great evil. I think many parents, grandparents, ought to think twice about that statement in Solomon. It’s not only vanity, in the terms of to you and what you have done, now you’re giving it to somebody who hasn’t lifted a finger. You say, well, I’m doing it in love and to give them a good start in life. But Solomon not only says it’s vanity, he says it’s a great evil. Because the truth of the matter, if you give too much, you have now set in the stage of a person not sensing their own accountability to God. They don’t sense their own responsibility to life and the people around them. Instead, they think, hey, it’s a culture of getting rather than of giving myself and of committing myself to life and the responsibilities of it. It’s a great evil, he says. And a third problem related to this is that our struggles and sorrows that we’ve done in our life make no difference whatsoever to this fact that someone else, whether it’s a child of yours or someone else in life, is going to eventually get all that you have done. No matter how much you struggle, you say, I worked hard for that. And Solomon says, big deal. Vanity. Because someone else will get it after you’re gone. And you look at this and you’re saying, this is a positive message? Hey, sometimes we need to face the negative because we don’t understand the positive without the negative. I hope I can strip all your dreams and plans away from you. I hope I can smash the props out from under your life. I hope I can leave you in absolute depression so there’s only one person that you’ve got to call on, and that’s God Almighty. That’s what I really believe. I think the trouble with our culture is that we aren’t calling upon God. We don’t see these things as from the hand of God. Man is trying to achieve things himself. He’s the captain of his own fate and the master of his own soul, and look at where it’s leading us. We need to get back to the Lord himself. I look at all these factors and what we’ve been looking at here and I say, what’s the answer to all this? I think of Lord Byron. Lord Byron, a poet, well-known, read in a lot of our literature classes, but absolutely one of the most filthy men in all of life, all of history. Corrupt in every way, messed up his life every way he could. Listen to this one. At the end of his life, here’s what he wrote. I quoted it verbatim. I want you to hear it. He said, “…where I offered the choice either to live over again or to live so many more years, I should certainly prefer the first.” And yet my young days were vastly more unhappy than I believe those of other men commonly are. I once attempted to enumerate the days which might, according to the common use of language, be called happy. I could never make them amount to more than eleven. And I believe I have a very distinct remembrance of every one of them. I often ask myself whether between the present time and the day of my death I shall be able to make up number twelve. the dismal character of a man who wasted his life. In James MacDonald’s excellent commentary on Ecclesiastes, written in 1856, he quotes a Princess Amelia in England, who shortly before her death said this, Unthinking, idle, wild, and young, I laughed and danced and talked and sung. And proud of health, of freedom, vain, Dreamed not of sorrow, care, or pain, Concluding in those hours of glee That all the world was made for me, But when the hour of trial came, When sickness shook my trembling frame, When folly’s gay pursuits were o’er, and I could dance and sing no more, it then occurred how sad t’would be were this the only world for me. You could read all the poetry and literature of all of our countries and ages of the past, and you’ll discover the same pessimistic, depressing tone. Why? Because long ago, Solomon said in one of the greatest poetical books of history, in Ecclesiastes, that all of these pursuits are vanity, that death is no respecter of persons, and the truth is that others are going to inherit everything you have ever done in life. It’s vanity, he said. So what’s the answer? We’ve looked at the problems. Let’s look at the principles we should apply. Verse 24, there is nothing better. There is nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink, that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have an enjoyment more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight, but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is good before God. And this is also vanity, obviously, for the sinner and grasping for the wind. Now I look at this passage and I see three things. Solomon does this throughout Ecclesiastes. He talks for a while, tells you about life, and then he summarizes about what true, lasting satisfaction and joy is. And I think he tells us three things. One, satisfaction or enjoyment is based on the resources of God alone. Verse 24, this is from the hand of God. Where does lasting satisfaction, where does enjoyment come? How can I go to work even though it’s a hassle tomorrow and even though people are bugging me? How can I go to work and really enjoy life? And the answer is, look to God. It comes from the hand of God. Turn please to 1 Timothy chapter 4. Now some Christians believe that this is still worldly wisdom and you’re not supposed to enjoy life ever. They are dedicated to not enjoying life. I don’t sympathize with you. I feel sorry for you. And I don’t believe you’re right. 1 Timothy 4. There’s plenty of other scriptures besides Ecclesiastes to prove the point. And how could you say that this is worldly wisdom when Solomon says it comes from the hand of God? Are you saying worldly wisdom comes from the hand of God? No. Enjoyment comes from the hand of God. Lasting satisfaction. Is it true that we should enjoy every day like this? 1 Timothy 4 says in verse 4… Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified or set apart by the word of God and prayer. There are two things that will govern, therefore, my thankful and responsive heart to all that God has created. What are they? The word of God and prayer. God’s word will guide me as to what is right and what is wrong, and my own relationship with God and prayer will keep my heart tender and precious towards him who alone who alone can determine in my heart how to enjoy that which my hand does. Turn to Psalm, please. Psalm 104. Psalm 104. If you’re trying to live your life apart from God himself, apart from trusting his resources, you’re on a wrong track, friend. I wish we could stop every person who tried to do it. And sometimes we’re so stubborn and we don’t listen. We don’t accept it as God’s revelation. So we go out and we get hurt also. And the pain and the suffering and the sorrow could have been avoided if we had responded to God. But instead we go through the process only to discover we were wrong. Psalm 104. Interesting what he says here in verse 14 and 15. Speaking of God, he says, Isn’t it interesting? Even the whole matter of food and how to sustain yourself in life, God does it. Why? He does it so you can make your face shine and make your heart glad and rejoice. Because it comes from the Lord. Like Jesus taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. You say, why do I need to ask that, man? I buy the bread. Where’d you get the money? Hey, I have a job, man. That’s where I got it, salary. Really? Who gave you the job? Well, I went down, I asked him about it. Well, who caused him to give you the job? Well, hey, man, he just wanted some, you know, you can go, if you want to play this game, we go all the way back to Adam. You know what I mean? There isn’t anything we have. The Bible says it doesn’t come from the hand of the Lord. So how am I going to enjoy life? I’m going to recognize everything I have is from the Lord. And you know, that can really excite you because you see, I have a lot more than you know I have. You say, I knew he had other income. No, no, listen. I got a lot more than you know. And so do you. You see, I happen to be a joint heir with Jesus Christ. And this whole universe is his. And sometimes when I walk out under the stars, I like to look up and say, man, those are mine. Right up there, all of them. This is mine. I’m a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. And half of us go around acting like paupers. I got a lot more than you may think I got. And it’s an exciting thing to me. I can enjoy life because this is my father’s world, and I am his son, and I am a joint heir with his son, Jesus Christ, and it belongs to me too. Take care of my flowers, and take care of my weeds. Ouch! Take care of everything, because they’re mine. I’m going to enjoy them, and one day God’s going to even beautify them more than I see now with my eyes. Praise God, I’m a joint heir with Christ, and so are you if you know and love the Lord. Enjoyment, everything comes from the hand of God. And the second principle, back to Ecclesiastes, the second principle is that satisfaction and enjoyment is not only based on the resources of God coming from his hand, but it’s also based on our relationship to God. No doubt about it. Look at verse 25. Who can eat and who can have enjoyment more than I? Now, depending on what version of the Bible you have, you’ll notice, some of you who did not have what I just read, that it reads, without him, some translations read, apart from him, rather than more than I. And there’s a difference in point. Is he saying that no one can have enjoyment more than me because of my trust in God? That’s an interesting point. Or is he saying, who can eat or have enjoyment apart from him? Which means you have to be related to him in order to have the lasting enjoyment. Now, I think it’s the latter rather than the former. I think the translation is apart from him. You say, why do you say so? In eight Hebrew manuscripts on this matter, all eight of them have the phrase apart from him. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it also in the Greek has apart from him rather than more than I. In the Coptic version, the Syriac version, in Jerome’s translation of the scriptures into Latin, they all have the phrase apart from him. I happen to believe that is the correct translation of verse 25. Good points both ways. But let’s read it that way, assuming that all the evidence is piled up that way. It says, who can eat or who can have enjoyment apart from him or without him? A whole different point, you see. Satisfaction is based on our relationship to God. And one final point in verse 26. God gives wisdom, knowledge, joy to a man who is good, but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering, collecting, that he may give to him, obviously, one day in the future, to him who is good before God. Satisfaction, therefore, is based on our response to God. He who is good in his sight. You say, wait a minute, is that saying good works get to you in heaven? No. In fact, I would take you back to verse 25 and say, the ability to enjoy can’t be done apart from Him, and that’s dealing with your relationship to God. We aren’t discussing here how a man becomes a Christian. We’re dealing with the conduct and behavior of a person’s life. The truth of the matter is, Christians who know the Lord and have received Christ, but who live carnal lives and do not look to God to sustain them, who are not frankly good and pleasing in his sight, but rather are committed totally to what self wants. The Bible teaches that there’s no lasting satisfaction either to that person. God gives the joy, the Bible says, to him who is good, not only positionally because of his faith in the Lord, but good because that’s the conduct and style of his life. In other words, many of the pursuits of sensual pleasure and appetite and the things of this world are exactly designed to get you away from the key that really brings that joy from God. Christians who walk with the Lord have a tendency to be joyful even though they don’t know a thing you’re talking about. Did you know that? And sometimes you say, man, they are out of it. Don’t they know what’s really happening? Hey, who cares? Who cares? I want to live my life with joy. And God will give it to him who is pleasing in his sight. Are you rightly related to God? Is that really the issue? William Cooper, the English poet. He wrote a song that’s a very interesting song because it was controversial in his day. William Cooper lived at the last of the 1700s. And he had fits of depression in his life. He was a Christian. Some call him a manic depressive. He wrote this song in a fit of depression. William Cooper was studying Ecclesiastes chapter 2. and he remembered something Lord Chesterfield said about his whole life. And he pulled it out and he read it, and I’ll read it to you. Lord Chesterfield, who never became a Christian, obviously, said, I have run the silly rounds of business and pleasure and have done them all. I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world and consequently know their futility, and I do not regret their loss. I appraise them at their real value, which is in truth very low. Whereas they that have not experienced them always overrate them. They only see their gay outside and are dazzled with the glare. I have been behind the scenes. I’ve seen all the coarse pulleys and dirty ropes of life which exhibit and move the gaudy machines. I’ve seen and smelt the tallow candles which illuminate the whole decoration to the astonishment and admiration of an ignorant audience. When I reflect back upon what I have seen, what I’ve heard, what I’ve done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry and bustle and pleasure of the world had any reality at all. I look upon all that has passed as one of those romantic dreams which opium commonly occasions. And I by no means desire to repeat the nauseous dose for the sake of the fugitive dream. Shall I tell you that I bear this melancholy situation with that meritorious constancy and resignation which most people boast about? No, for I really cannot help it. I bear it because I must bear it, whether I will or no. I think of nothing now but killing time the best I can, now that time has become my real enemy.” It is my resolution now to sleep in the carriage during the remainder of the journey. William Cooper took those words of Lord Chesterton. William Cooper, a Christian, though often depressed and often discouraged, and he wrote the words of one of the most beautiful songs of hope, though controversial in his day, a dark day in English history. He wrote the song, there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. He said the only answer to Lord Chesterfield and the only answer to the futility of all life’s pursuits and worldly pleasures is to find it in the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. To have sweet forgiveness is to have peace. To have the sense that you have been cleansed is to have the joy of life.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s David Hawking with the third and final installment of his message, Living for Your Job. And he’ll be back in just a bit to close out our study time for today. Do stay with us for some additional thoughts and teaching. Right now, though, his son Matt’s here, and we have a great Bible study resource that’s going to help you get the most out of our current study in Ecclesiastes. And Matt, let’s talk about it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ecclesiastes is one of the most profound and needed messages for our culture today.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s written by the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, who describes himself as the preacher. And his divinely inspired writing in the biblical text of Ecclesiastes is a reflection, Matt, on all that life offers. Which is vanity without a relationship to God. Solomon had it all. He had fame, wealth, wisdom, pleasures in abundance. He had everything, didn’t he? A flood of all that the world holds valuable. But as you know, Matt, he grew to be utterly unsatisfied. Yeah, because the accumulation of it all did not bring him happiness or peace. He learned the hard way.
SPEAKER 02 :
What Jesus taught in Matthew 6.24, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon money. Yeah, Matthew 6.24.
SPEAKER 01 :
In our Ecclesiastes radio series and in his book, Is Life Worth Living?, David Hawking will show you Solomon’s divinely inspired reflections on these matters. Solomon Discovered and this book and radio series will help you discover all of life as God intends. And if your life is rightly related to God. it will be abundantly worth living. Amen, Matt.
SPEAKER 02 :
And right now, we have an excellent value package for you that combines my dad’s book on Ecclesiastes, titled Life Worth Living.
SPEAKER 01 :
Plus, the complete collection of David’s messages in our current Ecclesiastes radio series. Now, we’re going to be in Ecclesiastes for several weeks, Matt. And with this package, you’ll have the book, which is a powerful study guide, and the complete series saved and secured on audio for years to come. Yeah, order the Is Life Worth Living package for just $40 by phone or online today. The web address is davidhawking.org. You can also order by phone. Call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And Bible is 2425. Listen, before David returns, we want to take a moment to acknowledge you for making this broadcast possible. Your support helps keep God’s Word going out to a lost and dying world. They need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the body of Christ needs the encouragement of God’s Word. Amen. If you’d like to give today, you can write to us at Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. Or call us in the U.S. at 875-BIBLE. In Canada, 888-75-BIBLE. And again online at davidhawking.org. And here again is David.
SPEAKER 03 :
Father, thank you that you’re the great healer. Thank you that you’re the great one of forgiveness and love. And no matter what we have done in our lives, there is no sin greater than your grace and forgiveness. For our Lord Jesus has paid for it all. And though we have pursued a thousand things and been unhappy and defeated, though it has never brought us lasting satisfaction, one moment… at your feet, one moment at your hand, and we know true joy. You, Father, are our joy. God, I pray that many here who do not know that peace and that joy may give their hearts to Jesus Christ and know that he alone can pay for sin. He alone can cleanse and forgive the stains of our heart. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, friend, if you’re new to the Christian faith or you’re not yet a Christian, but you’d like to know more about what it means to be a Christian according to the Bible, we want to help you. We can offer you two free gifts and free means free, a clear biblical booklet by David called What is Christianity? And a Bible study by mail to help you get started in a new relationship with Jesus Christ. These resources, again, are a gift to you if you don’t yet know Jesus Christ or if you’re new to the Christian faith. And again, there’s no cost or obligation. You can get these resources at DavidHawking.org. Use the contact form or call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. The Bible is 24253. Well, next time on Hope for Today, it’s back to the book of Ecclesiastes, and we hope you join us then. And do invite a friend to listen with you to Hope for Today.
