Problems with "the Preacher"...Now Resolved

"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin: and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Matthew 6: 28-29

When I was a young believer, immature and questioning many things, I came across a huge stumbling block when I read the book of Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon. He was the successor of King David, his only son to do so, though several others tried and failed.

God gave Solomon more wisdom than any man on this earth, because that was Solomon's wish when God asked him what he wanted above all things.(I Kings 3: 5-10) God was highly pleased with this request. Solomon started his reign so well, but it ended in disgrace, with the nation divided and going into captivity. Solomon became ensnared and found one thing that he ended up desiring more than God's wisdom: beautiful women.

The hundreds of wives and concubines of Solomon stole his first love away. The Scripture says:

1Kings 11:4 "For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as [was] the heart of his father David."

Solomon had it all. He had the legacy of his father, he had all that wisdom God had bestowed,and he had been the one privileged to build God's temple in Jerusalem. Solomon also was indescribably wealthy, and yet all the lovely ladies lured him away from all of these blessings and from the Holy God of Israel.

Indeed God had warned anyone who would be King in Israel in the book of Deuteronomy beforehand, this was nothing new. The monarch of the Jewish people must not complicate his life with many wives.

Deuteronomy 17:17 "Neither shall he {the King} multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

Solomon tried everything he could to reach his "pleasure principle." But after a while, he realized you could not find it with multiple partners. Was that the reason God had ordained one man and one woman brought together for life in the first marriage ceremony in the Garden of Eden so many years before?

Solomon finally reached his old age and realized he had been duped by his own lust and carnal pleasures. He realized that he'd been a fool. The man with the most had given away his inheritance and was a loser by his own choice. He was the opposite of his father, David. He'd heralded the nation's division and being carried off captive to Babylon.

Well, I read the book of Ecclesiastes for the first time back in my early twenties and became utterly depressed. Especially when Solomon (ie, the Preacher) kept saying all was vanity. Here I was, a new wife and mother, wife "my whole life ahead of me."


"Why, oh Preacher, are you telling me everything is vanity? Guess I should just quit now before I try to "get ahead!"

At that time, we attended a small group at our church. Another young couple came who also had a young baby. The husband's name was Scott, and he was a young theologian, looking at the time for where to go next to minister. In our fellowship time, I confessed to him:

"I just read Ecclesiastes. That book depressed me so much."

"Really," he said. "That is my favorite book in the Bible."

He went on to explain to me how Solomon had reached the end of himself, and it was outlined in that book.

Eccles. 1: 2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Grasping for the wind? Now that is depressing, Preacher!


The book is bad news if you think you are someone, if you think you have something to offer God in and of yourself.


But to those who are nothing and know that God is everything, that book and the message it preaches is welcome news. It shows that man and all his plans, his contriving, his thoughts, and plans for this world are nothing to the Lord. His five year goals, ten year goals, his retirement plan, according to the Word, according to the Preacher, who is speaking after wasting his life, in one word, is: "vanity."

The whole world,then, really is in His Hands, not in our own little grubby ones.
Everthing can change in just one moment.

I like this line from an old Rich Mullins song:
"We must be awfully small and not as strong as we think we are"


(from the song: "We are Not as Strong as We Think We Are")

So I was completely despairing. But Scott's words planted a seed in my mind. I wish I could talk to him today. I would like to tell him how my opinion has changed. For now, I see the Preacher's message as good news. If the richest, wisest, King could look back on his life and realized his squandered opportunity, and warn others NOT to take the same path, then Ecclesiastes was certainly no mistake. It most definitely needs to be in the canon of Scripture, for without the Word deeply inside our souls, believed and treasured, we would all end up like the Preacher.

Ecclesiastes 11: 5 "As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything."

Solomon the Preacher's final conclusion:

Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14 " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil."

Peace and Safety?

We hear many words today about the Palestinians and the Israelis finally being able to live together, side by side, in a place where there will be "peace and safety" at last. In fact, this is a goal that many of our recent Presidents have wished to achieve: bringing about the coveted "two state solution." Like it or not, the one tiny country of Israel in the Middle East affects every other country on this planet.

But no one has succeeded in bringing this solution forward. Even today, rockets were fired into Israel while the President was there. Peace and security, peace and safety. I don't see any sign of it on the horizon. The Israelis desperately want peace. Their backs are up against a wall. They are surrounded by enemies who want nothing more than to destroy them. And the Iranians nearly have their bomb ready to fire upon Israel. Just like Haman in the days of Esther.

Hasn't that always been the way? In the Old Testament we heard of the Philistines, the Amorites, the Midianites, the Canaanites warring against Israel for just a few examples. Goliath is the representative of them all,for he demonstrated fully the satanic plan to destroy the Jews, so no Messiah could ever come. David took 5 smooth stones, but he only needed one to sink the stone into Goliath's forehead. He overcame the wicked one through faith in God's plan to deliver him.

David relied on the Lord, not the stones:

1Samuel 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

1Samuel 17:46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

Did you notice the very last words David said, "that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel?"

But the Israelis today are making a tragic mistake. They are not looking to the One True Deliverer, the only One who can save them from their enemies. They are sadly looking to make a deal with men. One day, (I believe it could be very soon) they will make a deal with a specific man. The Bible calls him the Man of Sin, among many other names. This man will have very cunning words and he will, unlike all the times before, finally be able to broker a peace deal between the Palestinians and the Jews.

There will be "peace and safety." For exactly three and one half years the Jews will be fooled into thinking this Man of Sin is their Messiah, but then all hell will break loose. He (who is also known as the Antichrist) will slaughter a pig in the Holy of Holies in their temple in Jerusalem. Then the Great Tribulation, the most horrible time the earth will ever see, will begin. Jesus told His followers exactly what to do when that situation occurs in Matthew 24: 15- 44.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

When the Jewish people (desperately looking to others for peace right now) cry out in recognition to Jesus Christ, knowing that He all along was their true Messiah, then He will return with His saints and deliver His people Israel.

Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.

You see, the tiny nation of Israel, after being destroyed by Titus of Rome in AD 70, was scattered to the ends of the earth. In May 1948, by a miracle, God brought them together as a nation again. The prophetic time clock began ticking according to Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy then. God told the Jewish people through Zechariah the prophet:

Zechariah 12:3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

I believe that we are seeing that now. If anyone is reading this and is not sure what all this talk of coming trouble means I urge you to consider that Jesus Christ came into this world for all of us. He came to bear the sins of every man, woman, boy and girl. Though there are terrible things transpiring now, it is only going to get much worse when the Great Tribulation begins. When you place your faith in Him by trusting that He died upon the cross for you, and that God raised Him three days later because He was satisfied with Christ's payment for our sins, then you, too, can have eternal life, no strings attached.

This is the most important decision you will ever make. I beg you not to put it off. Jesus loved you so much He was willing to do that for you, and even if you were the only person on earth He still would have done it for you. His love for you is as high as the heavens, so receive Him while there is still time.

The Lord is my Shield

I am attempting to study in the Psalms, may the Lord bless it. I was reading Psalm 3 and missed some things before when I had read it previously. Did you know Psalm 3 was written by David when he was an old man, fleeing from his son Absalom, who was attempting to steal his kingdom from him?

David did not have this happen to him out of a clear blue sky though. He had laid the seeds for his family's dysfunction when he committed premeditated murder and adultery with Bathsheba many years before. God told him he would pay and he did.
Absalom's rebellion was part of David's discipline. Yet because David fully had repented long before the rebellion (in Psalm 51 we can read about it) the discipline was a suffering for blessing when David wrote Psalm 3.

David's heart was broken when his son attempted to steal the kingdom. He still loved his son Absalom very much. But David
pours out his complaint to God in Psalm 3:1-2


LORD, how they have increased who trouble me!

Many are they who rise up against me.

Many are they who say of me,

"There is no help for him in God." Selah

But as I read along yesterday, my heart was cheered by verse 3, a beautiful chorus that we often sing in church. I wonder if David knows that we sing still his words that he wrote in desperation that day.

Verse 3 continues: "But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts my head."


I was looking up other verses where it talks about the Lord being our shield, and there are many of them. In case you would like to look them up here they are: Gen. 15: 1, II Sam. 22: 3, and 31, Psalm 5: 12, 28: 7, 33: 20, 47: 9, 84: 11, 91: 4, 115: 9 and 11, 119: 114, Proverbs 30: 5, and Ephesians 6: 16.

According to Smith's Bible Dictionary, the shield represents the protection of God, and in Ephesians 6: 16 it represents our faith.

Have you ever been in a place where you needed the Lord to raise your head? Where you needed the Lord to be your shield?
I have, many times. As I walk through the season of midlife- the empty nest, physical challenges, seeing the hurting world around me - well, I for one, need the Lord to be my shield. That is why I love David's Psalms. That is why I loved that one little verse crying out to me yesterday.

If you look at the world today, there are many who would also say to us, just like David's enemies said to him, "There is no help for you in God!" They would mock at us, laugh at us, while we cling to our God. Let me ask you a question, to whom else will you turn? Who else will be a shield for you? David wrote these words after he had failed. Did God turn him away? No He did not!

Do not look at yourself and your ability to keep your promises to God! Do not be surprised at the depths of your sinfulness! Jesus knew all your sins before you even committed them. Just look at Christ and keep looking at Him. He is your help and your shield.

Lamentations 3: 21- 24

"This I recall to mind, Therefore I have hope.
Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
'THE LORD IS MY PORTION,' says my soul,
Therefore I hope in Him!"