Confessions of a Church: Vanity of Vanities

The Psalm writer wrote: Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received. This is the word of God. It is eternally true and applicable for all of life. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again. All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still.

Matthew Henry, in regards to the Book of Ecclesiastes says:
"There are indeed many things in this book which are dark and hard to be understood"

Written by King Solomon later in life, Ecclesiastes represents lessons learned by the wisest man who ever lived. As he looks back upon the folly of his youth, particularly his pursuit of joy and peace among the material, physical world, one quickly realizes that in his advanced years God seems to have granted Solomon a measure of grace to recognize that all of his pursuits of pleasure, joy, peace, contentment, and satisfaction among the material world which is passing away, was a fool's errand. In these eleven verses today we get a glimpse of the depth of Solomon's wisdom, as he hints at complex scientific concepts such as the Law of Uniformity of Nature, which in a nutshell states that the future will resemble the past, a principle which is foundational to all scientific discovery.

That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.

These eleven verses today, and much of the book of Ecclesiastes could be summarized by his words in verse two:
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

In Scripture, the word "vanity" is sometimes translated as "futility", and in at least two instances it is translated as "delusion". It carries with it the sense that life is vaporous, a breath, and passing away. Dear friends, this is a truth which we ought to lay hold of sooner rather than later. The reality that this world and the things in it are like a vapor, a mist, and passing away ought to impress upon us the urgency of the moment.

As we will learn in subsequent chapters, King Solomon spent a good deal of time indulging in the finer things of life: food, drink, and women. There was no fleshly avenue which he did not explore, no appetite which he did not seek to satisfy, yet in the end declared: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” He had a vast earthly kingdom, was known the world over as "Solomon the Wise", and had resources which permitted him to entertain the most lavish fancies his heart could conjure up, and declared in the end: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

Solomon had all the blessings of God and as we know from studying his life, with these things he was not satisfied. This lack of contentment, coupled with a failure to trust in God and His promises, unbelief, are near the root of Solomon's stumble, and ours as well.

As an example of our dissatisfaction, he declares: "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing." Think of a song which declares great truths, which exalts Christ, one which for a season you listened to over, and over, and over. As time went by, slowly that song lost its luster. After a little while longer, that song which brought you so much joy and peace, suddenly became a tune which grated on your nerves. Now, were you to hear it, your once favorite song seems old, stale, and worn out, so you trade it in for something new and the cycle repeats. We are dissatisfied, and unfortunately, like dogs returning to their vomit, we seek after the next big thing, failing to realize that all is vanity, a vapor, futile.

All of life is an endeavor to find peace. In our pursuit to know that all is well, that we are secure, that God is pleased, that our future is certain, somewhere along the way we stop believing the grand truth that "The LORD is my Shepherd I shall not want". We go astray after idols created in our own hearts and fashioned with our own hands, idols which have mouths but cannot speak, ears which cannot hear, eyes which cannot see, and hands which cannot feel, then we become just like them. Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Even our religious duties, prayer, meditation, fasting, and ministry can become tasks of futility if our trust is in them rather than our Creator. If we set up our lives in such a way that our hope and trust is in our doing, or based upon the level of peace we have, we will find ourselves locked into a death spiral of vain pursuits, getting led along like an ass enticed by the proverbial carrot and stick.

Horatius Bonar in a book titled Peace and Holiness says this:
"I knew an awakened soul who, in the bitterness of his spirit, thus set himself to work and pray, in order to get peace. He doubled the amount of his devotions, saying to himself, 'Surely God will give me peace'. But the peace did not come. He set up family worship, saying, 'Surely God will give me peace". Again the peace did not come. At last he thought of having a prayer meeting in his house, as a certain remedy; he fixed the night, called his neighbors, and prepared himself for conducting the meeting by writing a prayer and learning it by heart. As he finished the operation of learning it, preparatory to the meeting, he threw it down on the table saying, 'Surely that will do; God will give me peace now.' In that moment a still small voice seemed to speak in his ear, saying, 'No, that will not do; but Christ will do.'"

Brothers and sisters, none of the created things which you pursue to find peace, contentment, joy, and satisfaction will do, but Christ will do. Why do you labor for bread which does not satisfy, when the bread has come down from heaven and has declared "My peace I leave with you"?

If you are able, please kneel as we confess our vain pursuits, and ask for grace to be satisfied from the hand of our Creator.

Dear Gracious Heavenly Father,
Like stubborn, dumb sheep, we constantly look to the next pasture over and wrongly believe that there is where we will find peace and contentment.
Never satisfied with the good things You have provided, namely Your Son, we like unreasoning animals pursue the lusts of the flesh rather than holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
Rather than resting contentedly in You, we trust in our own finite, sin filled, so called wisdom, and wind up squandering our lives in vain pursuits.
Please forgive us of our foolishness.
Forgive us for our pride.
Please forgive us for not seeing Your Son as the source of all our joy, peace, and satisfaction in this life.
Father, please grant us grace that we may use the good things of this life for Your ends, to the praise of Your glory, rather than being led by them as slaves of our appetites.
In Jesus's Name we pray, Amen.

Please stand and listen to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to his church:

Isaiah 49:8-10 Thus says the Lord, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages; Saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’ To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ Along the roads they will feed, And their pasture will be on all bare heights. “They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water.

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 05/18/2021 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie)