“And I set my heart to
seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this
burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be
exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed,
all [is] vanity and grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:13-14, NKJV)
There, you see! Don’t waste
your time reading and pursuing knowledge! King Solomon himself said that
seeking wisdom is burdensome (“evil business”) and vanity! Actually, Solomon
said everything under the sun is vanity, striving after wind so if we follow
the logic, we should stand perfectly still with our hands by our sides, eyes
closed and holding our breath. Solomon states a conclusion from a lesson
learned: wisdom pursued apart from God is vanity. Learning is hard work and has
a reward in the end--but learning must be done correctly. Solomon only
increased in wisdom by learning in context, by learning “under heaven.”
Look again at those who followed
Jesus--they were learners! This is what is meant by “disciple.” They received
instruction from the Master, the dispenser of wisdom, and they were to apply
what they learned to their lives, which in turn, touched others. Learning was
not easy as their discipleship hinged on change, starting with that which
constituted their very lives. They had to stop what they were doing and start
doing something new. They had to leave something behind in order to take up
what lay ahead. The moment they did that, their first lesson was learned. They
got dirty, wet, hungry, scared, confused, were intimidated--but they learned.
Let us not miss the fact that Jesus’ disciples spent most of their entire lives
in the shadow of Solomon’s temple.
Solomon was faced with a choice:
learn about life the way God intends life to be, or learn about life apart from
God. Wisdom literature plainly distinguishes the disciple as the wise and the
non-disciple as the fool. In other words, we can learn in the school of hard
knocks (where all is vanity) or we can learn by submitting to “right” and
glorify God by all we do and say.
Follow Solomon’s thought
and watch how he entertained the diversions. How much wisdom did he maintain
when righteousness was set aside? What did he learn by removing himself from
wisdom but that apart from God all is vanity? Solomon accomplished much in his
lifetime (the “golden age” of the kingdom), but he slipped. He lost focus. He
stopped following the Master.
We glorify God by “learning
under the heavens” and glorify ourselves by “learning under the sun.” Wisdom is
found “under the heavens” and foolishness is found “under the sun.”
When
we are in the process of learning, we must constantly take what is before us to
back to the Master, to hear His voice in scripture and in prayer. We will see
there what man apart from God is like, what is truly evil, futile. We must
remain humble to say, “God is right” when we our presuppositions are
challenged--otherwise, we will never learn.
