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This week we’ll study chapter six, but first - something normally uncharacteristic of me - I wanted to say a few words from my heart about a subject Solomon briefly raises in verses three through six of Chapter 6. His reference to a stillborn baby. For those who may not know I’m the oldest of eleven children, however, growing up we were always referred to as a family with nine children due to two of my sisters being lost at birth, one just prior to being born – stillborn, and one during birth. Their names are Melissa Jean and Ruth Ann. My mom and dad, and all of us children mourned deeply for both of them and especially for my mother who was particularly devastated as two pregnancies in a row ended in death not life. Over the years we’ve all comforted ourselves with the knowledge that both of those babies were in heaven and today my mother’s there with them and I’m sure she’s happy to finally be reunited with them.

Through the years I’ve come to realize how many miscarriages, still births, or babies born with severe birth defects actually occur and more recently the number of abortions that take babies before birth as well. I haven’t look at the statistics in a while so I can’t quote an exact number but if you were not aware worldwide abortion takes millions upon millions of babies. Please be rest assured I’m not an “activist” and this space is for Bible study not personal agendas, but the Bible is clear on the sanctity of life and the moral error abortion brings about. What overwhelms me at times is the realization that heaven is filled with these innocent babies and while their loss on earth is incalculable God has a special place for them and I praise Him for it.

As I told our class at Southview this past week working as a CFO I interact with wealthy people and those hoping to become wealthy on a daily basis and I’ve seen the good and bad side of what wealth and the “promise” of wealth can do to folks and how it can affect them. I’ve talked with a man for instance who worried constantly that it was taking him so long to accumulate his wealth that he’d die before he could enjoy it, and another who wanted to live another two hundred years just so he could see what changes new technology would bring and the opportunities for gain that all that held. I’ve seen people so consumed by their desire to gain wealth or by the fear that their wealth would be lost or stolen it affected their judgment, their health, and the loss of any real family or purpose other than the accumulation of wealth. Solomon speaks to them this week.

Now to our lesson, while I only have three questions for you this week give some thought to each, there is much to be learned about the world around us and our own desires as compared with what being a follower of Christ means and what it offers us in terms of peace, purpose and providing a direction for our lives.

Let’s read Chapter 6 and consider the following:

1. Contrast Chapter 5, verses 18-20 with Chapter 6:1-9. List all of the differences Solomon mentions between someone who sees all that they have coming from God, with someone who sees all that they are and have as coming from their own endeavors.
   1. ANSWER: I have personally known many wealthy people who believed that their wealth and success all were the result of their own endeavors. In fact many of these scoffed at the mere thought that perhaps their success and material gain had come from God. When you read all of the things Solomon lists in Chapter 6:1-9 that happen to such people, they are in complete contrast to the person in Chapter 5:18-20 who acknowledges that all he has comes from God. In Chapter 6, we see that their success is burdensome on them, they will work half their lives to gain wealth and success and the other half to keep it. It seems they can never actually enjoy it – enough is never enough – and the drive to do more, succeed more, and gain more is a constant force in their lives. It matters not how large their family gets, how wealthy they become, or how much stature they gain in the community – they cannot rest. Because they believe that all that they have and all that they are result from their own efforts, they cannot rest or enjoy. When they do seek peace and fulfillment, they can’t find it, because they discover that, in spite of all their efforts, life is fleeting; and when they die, none of what they’ve accomplished or gained will go with them – it’s all meaningless. In contrast, look at the man in Chapter 5 who knows that everything comes from God, and that God has a purpose for his life and is accomplishing things through him. This man can enjoy what God has given him. He can find rest, fulfillment and is content in God and with what God has provided for him. He finds great delight in each new morning and looks forward and not back. Because he is so busy enjoying that day’s challenges and blessings, he fills his days with gladness of heart and is at rest in God’s care.
2. What does Solomon mean in verses seven through nine? Do any of us fall into this same trap, list some examples.
   1. ANSWER: Yes, many of us fall into this trap. The trap of seeking things, not because it’s God’s will but because we want something. We are easily fooled by how something appeals to us, whether it’s food, material wealth and possessions, or success. We just know if we can only get that next promotion, or buy that expensive car, or win the lottery, then all would be well with us. It’s a snare that’s easy for all of us to fall into, and yet we find, once trapped, that it was empty and unfulfilling. We find that it did not meet our expectations; rather, it left us hungry for more, or worse, simply led us to looking once again in all the wrong places for that inner fulfillment that only comes from being and living in God’s will.
3. Read verses ten through twelve. How does the way Christ teaches us, Matthew 6:19-34, compare with what Solomon writes here about a man who is striving under his own wisdom and actions?
   1. ANSWER: Solomon and Christ are teaching us the same principle: no one but God knows how our lives will turn out, no one. Yet, we believe that if we plan and strategize and work extra hard, we can somehow guarantee our success…success as we define it. Once achieved, however, it ends up being meaningless; it does not provide the sense of purpose, fulfillment and inner peace that we were seeking, and yet we continue to strive for it on our own merits. Just as Christ asked, which of us can grow even one inch by all of our worrying? – None of us, of course. Christ teaches us to not focus on building up “treasures on earth” because they can be lost, stolen, burned up – success, worldly happiness, these are fleeting. Instead we should be focused on heavenly things – that is, living out our lives in God’s will, not our own. How foolish we are, believing we can know the future and, even more foolish, believing that we can affect it. We are on this earth for such a brief time, then we’re gone, and all that we have will be left behind – Where is the fulfillment in that? Seek God’s kingdom first, and everything else will be provided to you.

As we continue to study Solomon’s writings I pray that God is leading each of us to consider what the real priorities are to be in our lives, how God is our Sovereign provider and how trusting in Christ not only meets our physical needs but provides us with a sense of purpose and direction. Troubles come in all shapes and sizes, as do blessings and we need to be prepared for both. This week Solomon shows us the futility of trusting in our own efforts, or following after others who do as well. In the final analysis only God and His Son Jesus know the outcome and only they can provide the kind of peace and fulfillment we seek in this life.

As the time of Christ’s coming draws closer the Bible tells us the world around us will grow increasingly dependent on man’s wisdom and the pursuit of wealth and pleasure, but in the end that will lead to destruction. Matthew 7:13-14 should be a warning to us all not to get caught up in the ways of the world, no matter how attractive those ways may seem they do not lead to eternal peace and fulfillment, don’t get caught in one of Satan’s biggest lies. Just as he did with Eve he does with us today, promising wisdom and pleasure at the expense of an eternal separation from God.

May God grant you this week His peace and wisdom and may the Holy Spirit comfort you as you seek God’s will for your life.

Thanks for studying with us,

Wes