Helpful resources:
As we read through the book of Ecclesiastes together, I will also be reading this book;
Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End by David Gibson.
Today’s passage: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Helpful thoughts:
- Solomon is the “Preacher” and author of this book.
- These first eleven verses serve as an introductory summary to the theme of the book.
- There is nothing for man to gain (Take final and full possession of, or control over) on this earth.
- Life is not a possession to be gained, but a gift to be enjoyed.
- Our life will come and go, time will continue on, mankind will always want “more”, and history will repeat itself without anyone even realizing it.
Questions to consider:
- Why is it so important for us to remember that we will never “conquer” life under the sun? What does the acknowledgement of our inability to truly be in control do for our perspective as it relates to God, eternity, and this life?
- What perspective has the Preacher not yet brought into his preaching? Where is God? How does this omission help us to discern the arena within which vanity persists?
- How is it true that there is never anything “new”? In what way(s) is the technology of our day and mankind’s interaction with it, “Been already in the ages before us?”