Prepare
Opening Prayer
A spoken opening prayer is absent from the transcript; pray with Bryan's closing petition that God gives purpose, receives trust, and teaches his people to seek wisdom by fearing and loving him.
Read
Scripture Passage
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
3 What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he toils under the sun?
4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.
5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And hastens to the place where it arose.
6 The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north;
The wind whirls about continually,
And comes again on its circuit.
7 All the rivers run into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full;
To the place from which the rivers come,
There they return again.
8 All things are full of labor;
Man cannot express it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which it may be said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.
12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 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. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
And what is lacking cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ec 1:1-18
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The Preacher observes life's frustrating cycles: generations pass, creation repeats its courses, people labor without lasting satisfaction, history is forgotten, and even unmatched human wisdom cannot straighten the world or grasp all that is done under the sun.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
Vanity of vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
No one explicitly selects a best verse. Verse 2 announces the refrain that Bryan and the children use to interpret the chapter's repeated labor, mortality, forgotten history, wisdom, folly, and frustration.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Do not seek wisdom merely as an end in itself or live only to accumulate possessions that pass to another generation. Trust God's purposeful rule, fear him, love him, and pursue the wisdom that serves his glory.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
All right, you can come over next to Debra, Ellie. Yep, go over next to Debra. Go over next to Debra. Thank you. Good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotion. Oh, I've got you tea. That was really loud. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions.
This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all of the wisdom literature. That's right, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, congratulations, we are now at Ecclesiastes chapter one.
Can you guys try to say that word? Ecclesiastes. Is that a big word or a small word? Big. It's a big word, isn't it? Why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. We not press the button. Oh, we did press the button. All right, here we go. Ecclesiastes chapter one. We're gonna read 1 through 18, so through the end of the chapter, okay.
The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. You know who the son of David was? Solomon. David was the son of Jesse, but the son of David, Solomon, that's who we think wrote this, right? Okay, so Solomon also wrote the Proverbs, or at least most of them.
All right, here we go. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. So that the word vanity could mean like frustration or Absurdity or feudal. Or in Pilgrim's Progress, Vanity Fair, wanting something. So vanity is just like empty, right? Worthless. All right, so Vanity of Vanities says the preacher. What prophet has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? It's okay. So the question is, why work? One generation, I know the screen went dark, that's okay.
One generation passes away and another generation comes. But the earth abides forever. Someday will daddy die? And then what will happen to mommy and daddy's stuff? Yeah, you all will get it, but then you all will work hard and you'll get stuff, but what will happen to you? You'll die Yeah, just keep going on and on and on so so it's kind of vain right if you're just working for stuff One generation comes and another goes, but the earth abides forever.
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose. Every morning you wake up, and what happens to the sun? It's gone. And what happens that night? It's gone. And it goes down. Yep. It's okay. The wind goes towards the south and turns around to the north. The wind whirls around continually and comes again on its circuit. Well, we know about wind here in Iowa, don't we? Yeah. Does the wind ever really stop? No. Nope. You wake up, there's wind. You go to sleep, there's wind. It just goes. It does its thing. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place from which the rivers come, there they return again. All things are full of labor.
Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Do your eyes ever just give up and stop seeing? No. What about your ears? Do they ever get tired doing their job? No. Oh yeah, look at your bow. Does the sun ever get tired of shining? What about the rain, does it ever get tired of coming?
Nope, it just keeps going on. Yeah, but his point is, these are just things that just... keep on going on. There's just seasons and times and changes. That which has been is what will be. And that which is done is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said? See, this is new.
It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after. Do we have to work really hard to study history? But will we ever remember everything everybody has done? Nope. We'll never be able to do that, right? Do you think that you'll be remembered for everything you've done? Nope. Your work is just going to be done, right? Can you put your hand down, please? So here he goes, Nathan.
You can read verses 12 to 14. Right here, the preacher. The preacher was the king over Israel and Jerusalem, and I set my heart to seek and search out my wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven. This burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, which they may be exercised, I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and indeed all is ready and grasping for the wind." Alright, so the preacher is the king of what? Jerusalem! Yeah, he's the king of Israel and Jerusalem.
And he seeks out his heart and what's he trying to find out? What's verse 13 say? Is there anyone good? No, he says, I set my heart to seek and search out concerning wisdom. He wants to know everything that's done. And so he wants to know all this stuff. And what's he find?
I have seen, look at verse 14. Can you guys stop playing with your tea and look? I've seen all the books that are done under the sun and all is You think that you could catch the wind you think you could reach up into the end of the sky and grab it You can't grab it right if you're trying to grab the wind is that fruitful or fruitless That's what he's saying What is crooked cannot be made straight and what is lacking cannot be numbered Deborah? Can you read the rest of the chapter for us verses 16 through 18?
I communed with my heart. I communed with my heart, saying, look, I have attained greatness and have gained more wisdom than those who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge, and I set my heart to known wisdom, to know madness and folly, and I perceive that is Yeah, so he communed in his heart and he said, look I've attained greatness and I've gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. He thinks he's really wise, doesn't he? So he said my heart understood great wisdom and knowledge.
So then he set his heart to understand not just wisdom but also to know madness and folly. So he tried to figure out work and labor and times and seasons and it was all like grasping for the wind. And so was foolishness and folly and madness. That's why he's saying vanity, vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.
So we're gonna, as we work through what him searching out wisdom and trying to understand things, we're gonna see at the very end that he comes to some true wisdom. But he's gonna kind of explore different things and come to just simple truths about them, all right?
Okay, well let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much that without you, we know that there is no purpose, but you are doing all things for your glory, bringing about your end. God, we pray that you would let us trust in you. We pray that we would not just seek out wisdom for wisdom's sake, but that we would fear you and love you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, we're going to say goodbye first. Bye, we'll see you tomorrow.