Episode 504

TODAY’S READING

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-14

 

This verse is about Solomon, who is the son of David, and this is at the end of his life. And this is a man who saw everything which did everything and had everything, yet it wasn’t worth it. And he is talking about how no matter what we chase and what we do. It’s all meaningless. He starts off this chapter by saying that it is meaningless like life is meaningless when you look at all of the material things when you look at the things that we strive for, the things that we think are so important. And if you see in 2 Chronicles 9: 22-24, we can see a little bit of a glimpse as to how he lived. It says that King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. All of the kings of the earth saw an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift of articles of silver and gold and robes, weapons and spices, and horses and meals. So this is the kind of life that He lived, and then at the end of it, he says, Again, include Ecclesiastes 1:12-14. It says I have seen all things that are under the sun, all of them meaningless chasing after the wind. 

 

So I labeled today’s evil stop chasing when because I think we all fall trap to that. I think that we live life and we look for the next new thing, the next shiny thing, a better house, a better car, newer clothing, whatever it is, and although riches are nice, I just want us to ponder on the thought, What is life if not lived for His glory? Do you know who God is to us? If we had everything taken away? He is still the king that sits above; he is still the provider, he is still the Creator, and He is still the leader of our life. So who is God to us if everything were to be taken away? He is to be exactly the same as if we had everything granted to us. So let’s ponder on that today and for the rest of the week. What is life if it isn’t lived for His glory?

 

Prayer

Father God, we love you, and we thank you for a beautiful Thursday. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity of another day, another morning in praying and seeking after you; Lord, we thank you for the words that you pour into us. We thank you that my voice decreases and your voice increases. We thank you that you meet everyone exactly where you are, and you speak directly to them and their situation. Lord, I

pray for my friend on the other side of this mic; I pray for my beautiful community. May they have a beautiful Thursday, May you watch them and guide them. May you bless them as they go off on their ventures. May you bless them when they’re taking their exams. I know that there’s this finals week, or we just finished on finals weekend. So we’re praying for those in school, and Lord, we’re also praying for those out of school. We’re praying for those in the home, praying for those in their careers, or praying for those in different seasons. Lord, we thank you for everything. We ask that you bless this beautiful Thursday, and we remember, Lord, that life is all about giving you the glory and nothing, nothing that you can give us some lessons with where that supersede the importance that you have in our lives. Lord, if you took everything from us, you would still be king of it. We love you with everything, and we ask that you bless this Thursday. Amen.