Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

Rachel Workman:   So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. ¹⁰ Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. ¹¹ But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. Nothing aside from Christ that is.

Interesting that Solomon took anything he wanted and denied himself nothing yet still says it's all meaningless. Today the world says differently.

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John Burnett:   Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. ¹⁰ All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them.  Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines so whatever woman he wanted, he had.  The world teaches this is ok but Solomon disagrees, says that it is vanity, and provides no profit.  I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. ¹¹ Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had ^[a]exerted, and behold all was ^[b]vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.  Pride was something that Solomon obviously struggled with in these verses.  Pride and self-righteousness are two sins that will condemn you faster than any other because they blind you from your need of a savior because you think too highly of yourself.  God shows grace to the humble and resists the proud. 

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Tomorrow’s reading for Ecclesiastes 2:12-17.

¹² So I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and madness (for who can do this better than I, the king?^[a]). ¹³ I thought, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. ¹⁴ For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate. ¹⁵ Both will die. So I said to myself, “Since I will end up the same as the fool, what’s the value of all my wisdom? This is all so meaningless!” ¹⁶ For the wise and the foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In the days to come, both will be forgotten.

¹⁷ So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind.