In our Ecclesiastes, Solomon continues along the narrative that the things of the world are worthless:
Ecc 1:8 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.
Ecc 1:9 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.
So let’s go ahead and hone in on that first verse,
Ecc 1:8 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.
the eye is not satiated with what it sees, no matter what it sees, and the ear isn’t content with what it hears. Our sense are not satisfied, we are in a constant state of desire. We look at the richest people in the world, they are always after more. People who cheat on their spouses, usually end up having more divorces, the average Hollywood Celeb gets married 4 times.
Meanwhile, going back to the first part of the verse: all things are wearisome; “Man is not able to tell it”. — talks about the mundane minutiae of life, it can get so boring that we cannot even describe it. This state of discontent has us wandering from one sin to another trying to find fulfillment.
Our second verse has Solomon continuing his frustration over the human condition.
Ecc 1:9 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.
There, Solomon likens the accomplishments of the past and the future as one in the same. An example of this is the expansion of empires, leaders back in Rome thought that by expanding territory and conquering other nations, a sense of fulfillment would be brought about. Today, Western Superpowers continue to expand their nations and it still has them thirsting for more.
Even today, with our creature comforts, the generations that came before us spent most of their lives in one specified area, maybe once a month or once a year, they would leave their villages, but other than that, they’d “stay put” most of their lives.
Now here in 2021, in mainly this last century, we have mastered air travel and be anywhere in the world in 24 hours.
Even with communication, back then you’d have to wait for a boat to come to pass on a message to someone in a foreign land, now today, we have this pocket sized super computer that can reach anyone in the world at the speed of light.
One would think with all of these technological advancements from the last hundred years, we’d be happier, but we’re not. We are still after more, in fact – you could argue that this junk has made us sadder. Since the internet came about, suciide rates have increased by over 1 third or 35 percent. This stuff doesn’t make us happier.
So Solomon wrote this back in 930 BC, and now almost 3000 years later, it is still true. Human desire is never fulfilled.
Human desire cannot be fulfilled because of the curse of Adam, that original sin has us always wanting more.
The only cure for that curse is Christ.
Christ….who knew US before time began:
Ephesians Chapter 1 verse 5 tells us He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
That means that Christ — knew us before all of this was created, so we should ponder upon that next time we are sitting around like Solmon was when he frustrated being unsatisfied with the world, Christ knew us as He hung on the cross and HE did that because He loved us.
I know we all love our family, but truth be told, how many of us could hang for 6 straight hours with nails poked into our hands for someone we loved?
It’s easy to sit in this air conditioned room and say, oh I’d do that no problem, but could we really do it?
Christ did that for us, because He knew us & He loves us! He knows every hair on our head.
So, in closing, — The new heart that Christ can create is the only thing that can bring about true contentment that Solomon was so longing for when he wrote this.
