SOLOMON II

Meaningless....meaningless...everything is utterly meaningless.

An old testament book written by the wisest man who ever lived dedicated every thought to a life that is meaningless. You live...work...have fun...then die! A cycle that was tackled by Solomon himself in detail. Ecclesiastes has got to be the second saddest book in the Bible...next to Lamentations. But I believe that its inclusion in the complete canon of scripture is not an accident. Every jot and tittle of this book contains principles that can be applied in our lives!

One of my fascination about Solomon is not in his abilities, skill nor wealth...It's his up brining. Proverbs 22:6 told us that we should train up a child in a way that they should go, for when he is old, he will not stray from that teaching. I believe that part of Solomon's training is the persistent doctrinal training of his father, David! Our fallen nature will never guarantee 100% obedience to what our parents tell us, but as we grow old, the nuggets of wisdom that are passed to us by our parents will tend to complement the reality of life. Yes, we will sin and fail, but if our training includes REBOUND (getting back on track) then I can say we have been taught well. The premise of Proverbs 22:6 is not to reform us till we can always say yes...but to stick with the reality of our sinful selves never depart from the grace of God!

Sadly, Proverbs 22:6 was not part of Solomon's agenda...because right after His death, his two sons divided the kingdom that once stood united for God and openly rejected God by building pagan gods! Maybe if only Solomon took what his father taught him and injected it to his sons then maybe...just maybe...conflicts could have been settled maturely!

Next time, we'll closely look at Solomon's success in life and how he tried to frantically search for happiness!

Till my next post!

Ciao!