Ecclesiastes 2:16-20

"For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:16-20).

People often say that money can not buy happiness. You may not agree but it seems to me that the people who tell me that the most, have money. People without usually will add, "but I would like to try". I think Solomon was telling us as part of the over all message in Ecclesiastes that money does not bring happiness. I must confess as I believe I have done before that as I study Ecclesiastes I am always thinking, "but I would like to try".

Why though? Why would I like to try? Well, because I don't have faith like I thought I did. When faced with all the financial problems that I posted about recently I didn't turn to God. I sat down to write another Ecclesiastes post and read "Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit" (Ecclesiastes 2:17) and thought.....EXACTLY! Have you ever done that? I think it is something I have done numerous times and I have a feeling I will do it again. I suppose that is how God grows our faith.

Solomon does something in these verses I often see people with money do. They take all the credit. Do you suppose Solomon really did any of the labor? I think not. Do you suppose Solomon went out and told the workers that success was vanity and vexation of spirit? I bet he did.

Here's something you should never do if you own your own company. You should never ever complain about money to your employees. It makes them feel like their job is not good enough. It is even worse in Solomons case....... You should never complain about money while it is obvious that your doing well and your employees are struggling. This inspires bitter feelings.

Solomon was the richest man ever and to take the credit for their labor and say he wasn't happy with it while the labors saw how he prospered...... doesn't exactly inspire anyone to follow God and it obviously brought Solomon nothing but misery.

I see Christians today who have plenty but give nothing or if they do give, they give to some foreign country, charity, and/or anything other than those around them. I see Christians in charge of others who tell them to "tighten up" while they are buying new cars, trucks, motor homes, and taking trips. I bet Solomon told his labors to work harder and they looked at the life he was leading and thought .......why?

So money doesn't buy happiness, what then? Maybe it's the idea that it brings security. I certainly only saw nothing but doom in my recent financial trouble. I wanted the security that money brings. I wanted the peace the security would bring. Awwwww......but look at Solomon. Money and security did not bring peace. He broke fellowship with God and Ecclesiastes is the result. I broke fellowship with God and the previous few post are the results.

There is no peace outside Jesus. It's a lesson I must learn again and again. It's a lesson I offer to you to learn yet again. Without Jesus as my focus I see nothing but people prospering while I struggle. With Jesus as my focus I see nothing but Him. What else is there?

Ecclesiastes 2:16

"For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool" (Ecclesiastes 2:16).

Today we had communion at church. It caused me to reflect, to prove myself, to examine, to reevaluate......it got me praying. I felt unworthy to take communion and thus I zoned out on the preaching and turned my attention to God and found that I have been floundering. Floundering has an interesting definition. It is, "To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance. To move or act clumsily and in confusion". This is and has been me.

I wonder if Solomon was floundering when he wrote the above line. obviously he did not think it would be remembered. I wonder what I'm doing for God that will be remembered. I want to do something.

I decided today that I am a hot coal. I smolder and make a lot of smoke and every now and then I flame up but I'm finding that I can't seem to catch anything on fire. It's hard to smolder. I miss my seminary extension classes and can't wait for them to start up again but I'm drifting off topic.

There was a man who drove through the fields one day picking up teenagers who were doing their chores. He spotted a boy bailing hay and asked if he would like to join the others on his old flatbed truck and come to a revival. That boy accepted. We know him as Billy Graham. We don't remember the man driving the truck but I wonder if he was smoldering until the day God used him to catch Billy Graham on fire.

I hope that I can catch something on fire here. I hope I can make a difference. I hope that God will use me to put something here worthy of remembering and I hope it's not me getting in the way of starting a fire. I hope I am done floundering.