Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 says,...

Today's verses are Ecclesiastes 1:12-18, which read,

v.12-15 - I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.  And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven.  It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.  I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.  What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.

This paragraph gives us more information that points to Solomon as the author of this book.  King over Israel in Jerusalem; the focus on wisdom; and seeing all the works which have been done under the sun point to him who calls himself "the Preacher."  The preacher has gathered the people together to say something to them of spiritual significance.

Solomon is on a quest to look at all that he has seen and lay wisdom up alongside of it or to make sense of it all.  He sounds like Luke, the gospel writer, who set out to write an orderly account of Jesus' life for Theophilus.  Solomon also gives the conclusion of his findings before speaking of his quest in all these areas.  He tells us the summary that all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.  It makes me think of those large wind turbines which are all across our country and we are trying to harness the wind but the wind doesn't always blow.  We are attempting to control something that is ultimately controlled by another and Solomon identifies that one as God.  

He ends this thought with the phrase probably commonly said to one another, "What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted."  Something or someone is crooked and lacking.  Our human wisdom and efforts will not be able to straighten it or make it to be counted as not lacking.  Do you see the gospel in this little phrase?  We are the crooked and lacking ones.  We try to straighten ourselves and we try to make ourselves worthy to be counted but our efforts come up short.  The One who controls the wind has to step in for this task to make sense.

v.16-18 - I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge."  And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after the wind.  Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

We get a glimpse into the life of King Solomon.  He is a king who has been active in knowing and experiencing more than any other king.  He didn't just sit on his throne and rule but got out to see, hear, touch and feel what was around him.  He wanted to know the meaning of life.  He wanted to know why bad things happen to good people.  He wanted to know more about the world he was living in.  

Even him who had all the benefits of this earthly life and ability to focus on this one task was no different in the final result as just striving after the wind.  He actually was at a deficit to those who didn't go after this task because at least they had less grief and pain because they didn't know because they didn't search for more answers.  The more he learned and observed, the more King Solomon grieved and felt the pain of living in a world that was chasing after things that were vanity.

So we have received the summary of his findings before he has spoken of the details of his quest.  Usually the summary is at the end of the term paper but Solomon gives it at the beginning so that he can give the solution at the end.  He wants us to look at each direction in which he goes and already have in our minds that this quest is not going to be the answer.  I hope we will listen with modern ears to see us and the world repeating this quest to find meaning in ourselves and things around us and come to the conclusion that all is vanity and striving after wind.  Let us pray.

"Lord, we are on another journey through another book of Your word, the Bible.  Help us to walk along with King Solomon and point out any attempts we are trying to bring about a straightening and a counting of worthy on our own accord.  The grief and pain are great and You are the only one who can bring the answer.  Amen."

Pastor Adam