Ecclesiastes 2:12-17
12So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?
13And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
14The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.
15Then I said to myself, "As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me Why then have I been extremely wise?" So I said to myself, "This too is vanity."
16For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten And how the wise man and the fool alike die!
17So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.
What is the point? We are all going to die anyway? No matter how smart or how wise we are, only a minuscule portion of our life will ever be remembered even amongst the greatest of us. How much do we really know about Abraham Lincoln, Ghandi, Shakespere, Moses, or even Jesus? What kind of lasting impact can we really have? Even if we will be remembered for much, what good is that at the end of days? Eternally, what good is wisdom, in of itself?
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)
You can't get bogged down with the seeming futility of life. As Christians, we have to remember not to expect this world to fulfill all of our hopes and dreams. Solomon lost his focus, hence his existential state of mind.
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