The Joy of Glory

Ecclesiastes 7 (click here)
Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things—28 which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 29 See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. (Ecclesiastes 7:27-29)

Reflection
Solomon has not only sought to understand his own life and search for satisfaction, but he has studied other people as well. He has tried to find out/figure out what makes them tick…what is everyone searching for in life…and at the end of the day he cannot make anymore sense of other peoples lives than he can of his own.

Every now and then he feels like he can understand another man (1 out of every 1000…not an impressive statistic), but he has never found a woman he can figure out…Ha! At least he’s honest.

After observing himself and others, he is only able to come to one conclusion…we are all broken. God made us upright and he did so for a reason. God made us with purpose and meaning, but we have gone astray from the plan and purpose of God and sought out our own schemes. This is ultimately why life feels pointless…because we have walked away from the point for which God designed life.

What is that God given point/purpose? I have a feeling that only God can tell us… and I have an even stronger feeling that he already has told us. Perhaps that is where Solomon is leading us.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.