This is the Truth Network. Oh. Welcome to If Not Forgot. Stories of Hopelessness That Turn to Hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick.
So is everything meaningless in this life? And Robbie, today we're going to be discussing the book of Ecclesiastes. And so, as we talk about this, one of the things that I've heard over many, many years, and we discussed it before the show, Robbie, was people say, gosh, Ecclesiastes is such a depressing book. But you've got a little bit of a different take. Yeah, I mean, the whole word of God, it is Jesus, okay?
Because he is the word. And so to say Jesus is depressing, really, I take kind of offense to that, to begin with. And, you know, if you look at it from a certain perspective, the Sermon on the Mount might be a little depressing, or Romans chapter 1, but that's not the point. The thing of it is, guidance from God is really, really helpful. And here we had.
Arguably, the wisest man that had lived up to his time, or however you want to put it. And that he'd asked for this wisdom for God, and now he's going to give us this wisdom. And it. It very much is just like certain aspects of the Sermon on the Mount. He's telling you that, you know, Blessed are those that mourn, and things that sound like that.
But when you really consider, especially the end of the book, he's telling you that life comes abundantly, just like Jesus says, I, you know, I bring life and life abundantly, but it doesn't happen through the world, it doesn't happen under the sun. And that term, under the sun, is loaded. It's a gigantic idea that Solomon understood all too well because he, you know. Came at the time that he did. Obviously, his father was anointed by Samuel, and Samuel wrote the book of Samuel.
And, you know, 1 Samuel chapter 6, you're going to see this whole story of Beth Shemesh, which Beth meaning house, Shemesh meaning sun.
So it's sort of the house of the rising sun, right? And it's not unlike that song in that these poor people received the Ark of the Covenant, you know, from the Philistines who had captured it, and they just put it on an ox cart, and it came into Beth Shemesh. And when they got the ark, what they did with it was they put it on the stone of Abel. Which, by the way, is still there to this day. And the stone of Abel actually means black.
Because of mourning.
Now, morning has a couple of different ideas behind it, okay? The word black in Hebrew. has to do with its darkest before the dawn. Mm. And it is.
It is actually the darkest it's gonna be right before the sun comes up. And so black has this hope. That comes with it. Like it says in James, consider it pure joy when you've faced various trials, right? And so they put this.
on the on the stone of Abel and then they made the gigantic mistake. And Solomon brings this up, right, in those last verses of Ecclesiastes, right, keep the commands of God.
Well, one of those was, don't look in the ark. Do not lift that, like, man, what are you thinking? You don't touch that thing.
Well, they're not.
Now, the whole, they're a Sanhedrin of that town that says that they killed 50,070. And the way that. Traditionally, people consider that is that there were 70 people that were the rulers of the city, and they're the ones that looked into the ark. And because they had such power within them, that group, that 70 of them dying was like 50,000 people dying. But all of them died because they looked into the ark, however, you want to put it.
That idea of being under the sun Is this idea they were going to make great accomplishments? They fell for the exact same thing that Eve did, right? If I eat this, man, I'm going to be like God. And so, under the sun is this idea of the absolute blackness that comes upon us before the dawn. And the word morning has actually a couple different ideas behind it, right?
Morning can be like I'm mourning because I'm wearing black. What do you wear when you're in morning? Black. Black. But where's your hope?
Right? Yeah. It's in the resurrection. It's in the end. And so I love the idea of where that's all going.
It's going to the part where we get we're God's going to make everything new. Yeah. And we're going to be in heaven and it's going to be absolutely amazing. And We won't be under the sun anymore. In fact, Isaiah, right, it says the sun won't give its light.
And, you know, we will, you know, there won't be any moon and those kind of things because the light will come from Jesus. Amen. And our light does come from Jesus. And so, but apart from Jesus, there is no light. And there was somebody who wrote one time, he said that the enemy of the best is not something terrible.
He said, the enemy of the best is good. You know, if I'm supposed to be praying at 9 a.m. and reading my Bible, I'm probably not going to be distracted by playing with a Ouija board. If I'm supposed to be sharing the gospel with somebody, I'm probably not going to be distracted by going to the church of Satan. I mean, this is probably not going to happen to us, Roddy.
Uh but what I may be distracted by is what's on the news for today. Right, nothing wrong with the news. We like to know what's going on in the world, but I think the enemy has used one thing as the art of distraction like we've never seen it before.
Now, when I was growing up, and when you were growing up, I'm assuming we both had television, and there were other distractions. There's always been distractions. But with the art of the cell phone, with the self, I mean, there are people who literally look at their phone for nine hours a day. And it's like, and I'm talking to myself. I got three fingers pointing back at myself because it's, for me, it's kind of a double-edged sword is that there are so many good things that I can do with my cell phone, Robbie.
And you know the same thing. Like your church that you preach at. You're online. There's a way to do it online. There's, you know, this recording that we're doing, it's online.
Thank God we have things like this so that people can see and get to hear the good news of God. The downside of that is you can spend eight hours on your day doom scrolling. And it's like, I've done that before. And at the end of the day, I'm like, what did I really accomplish? you know and so yes there are some good things that the phone can do but For me, I've got to be careful not to constantly look at it.
And honestly, I was kind of surprised before we came in the show, before we did this show. You said, oh, I didn't bring my phone in here. Man, I would have been caught dead without my phone. But maybe there's a reason for that, right? Yeah, there is um At the You know, I'm actually Sort of on a fast from certain medias right now because I know that they are completely distracting.
Other than if not for God with Mike Zwick, of course. Not talking about radio media necessarily, but I'm just talking about that. There is this idea. In fact, here's the wisdom that was given to me on Friday, and I don't want to lose it.
Okay. Mm-hmm. is that I was interviewing the captain of one of the fire departments in Los Angeles County.
Okay?
So this guy, and I you know, if you can imagine being the captain of a fire department in Los Angeles County, you got mudslides, you got fires, you got You know, huge, not just regular fires, the whole place is on fire, right? You know, those kind of big, huge fires that they've had, earthquakes, right? You got all these things.
So I asked him, I said, man, I just can't imagine having that kind of responsibility. You got all these men that. really putting their lives on the line all the time, just like New York City. I said, I can't imagine that kind of responsibility. And he said to me this, and here's here's phenomenal wisdom.
He said, you know, Ravi, we have sort of this creed within the Los Angeles Fire Department that every fire that ever was The fire at Chicago, the San Francisco fire, 9-11 said all those fires are out.
Okay. Like Ecclesiastes, there's a season. Yeah. There's a season, and the fires are out.
So this fire that you or this mudslide or this Earthquake, whatever the catastrophe is that you walk upon, it's a season. And it will Go out. don't do anything to make it worse. That's true. And I guess part of that would be would be maybe dwelling on something that's already happened.
You know, I mean, my challenge is Do I really think God can, you know, that this is going to turn out okay?
Well, if you really consider, wait a minute, God is in charge of all these things. And so let me just focus for a while on what I'm doing currently, right? Focus on the goodness of God and how much He loves. And I don't want to hear all the shenanigans, because right now is political season, right? And uh if you turn on most T V...
You're going to hear things you you can't tell. What's happening? Because so many people are calling the other person a liar right at this minute, right? And so the idea of that is confusion, right? And who's the author of confusion?
The devil. Right. Um Trying to focus on, wait a minute, God has this. This is the season, right? This is.
Political season. It's going to be over. And in the meantime, what can I do that would make it better? What's my role in this season? And I think that Solomon completely is sharing that when he gives you those last two verses.
He does. And when you were talking about that, I'm reminded of Matthew chapter 6, verse 25, where Jesus says, Therefore, I say to you, Do not worry about your life. What you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. And he goes on to say in verse 33 and 34, he says, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. He says, Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. And so, you know, I think people say, well, I don't want anxiety or I don't want to worry or I don't want this or I don't want that. But I think if you start to get at the root at it, What is the reason why they have anxiety? What is the reason why they're worrying?
Sometimes that stuff can be exciting, right? I mean, because you're going about your life, you don't have a lot going on, and then all of a sudden, oh gosh, what's going to happen this fall? What happens if the Republican lose? What happens if a Democrat gets in office in 2020? Oh, my gosh.
And it's bad, right? They don't like the anxiety, but at the same time, do they really not like it? I think it gives them something to get excited about. It gives them something to look forward to. But Jesus Christ, he gives us the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
And I'm reminded of the Apostle Paul. Most people know Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, where he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that's kind of a motto for people to win a basketball game or a football game. And that's fine if that's what you want to do. But if you look at the context of what he happened before, I believe he might have been in prison at the time.
And he's Says, I've had a lot, I've had a little, I've learned to be content in all things. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And for me, when I look at Ecclesiastes, especially the end of verse 12, the end of chapter 12, verses 13 and 14, he says, look, there's all this other stuff.
Solomon had more money than anybody who had been before him. You know, he had had more wisdom than anybody who had been before him. You know, and the Lord gave him this because he didn't ask for long life or the death of his enemies or anything like that. He gave him wisdom or a levshema, a heart that listens. And he says, look, all the other stuff, the football games that are going to be coming on this fall, the basketball games.
Five years from now, 10 years from now, you're going to forget all about that stuff. And instead of getting yourself distracted by even the news or the political events or whatever, distracted by all of the stuff that's going on in the world, you can look at that psalm. I mean, it's good to know what's going on, but where is your main focus? And for me, it's keeping the main thing, Robbie, the main thing. And I'm reminded of a story of a young man.
who always used to play a board game with his grandmother. And she would always beat him, Robbie. And she'd beat him, beat him, beat him. And until one day they were playing the game, and he says, I won. He beat her.
And she said, Yes, you did. You beat me, whatever. And he started dancing around, and he was excited, and this, that, and the other. And she said, Grandson, she said, I got one more lesson for you. He said,'What's that'?
and she took all the stuff. And she put it all back in the box and she said, it all goes back in the box. Maybe you want to make a lot of money. Maybe you want to get married, have trouble. Maybe you want to make a name for yourself.
Maybe you want to leave a legacy. Robbie, if it's not for Christ. It all goes back in the box. Yeah, I mean, therein lies part of the beauty of what Solomon was teaching, right? Mm-hmm.
You know, under the sun is this toilsome thing that we talk about in Genesis. That, you know, he said, you know, by the sweat of your brow, you're going to toil, right? And that's going to happen because that sun is beating down on you. And it comes up every morning. And if you're just out there doing the drudgery of work, then, oh, it.
You know, and you're you're creating stuff that goes Outside the box, like you say, it's going to go back in the box. But the beauty is, right? As you talked about, if you're sharing Christ and you get to see the love of Christ come into that person's life and you get to see them actually lead another person to Christ or start a Bible study or begin to, you know, those things, like you see it God at work in other people, you see God at work in wherever you see it, right? Mm-hmm. It's absolutely gorgeous.
And the idea that you were talking earlier, I was thinking that one of the big helps for me is to really have some core truths that are in my heart, right? Yeah. And so that when things start to go south, I can go back to this core truth. God is good all the time. God is, you know, He loves me.
He loves all people unbelievably. And I heard this this week too, and I think it's so appropriate that. You cannot run off. Your soulmate. Mm.
Because if that person really loves you... Right? They love you. Oh, that's shenanigans and all. Yeah.
Well, you can't run off Jesus. Jeez. Yeah, you know, look at all those people. They're running like crazy, but they ain't running off until the day of their death, right? And so.
The good news is he's coming after them. And you cannot run off. your soulmate.
So in my heart, I know I can't run off Jesus. And I can't run off my soulmate, my wife. Like, she's been with me now for 36 years, and she knows the good, the bad, and mostly the ugly. Right? And, you know, we've had whatever fights and conflicts and all those things.
But, you know, I love that idea. And there's a song about it, right? The one who loves me the most. I mean the person that knows me the best is the one that loves me the most. Isn't that good?
And the same thing with your wife, right? She knows you the best and she loves you the most on this earth and in heaven, right? The one who absolutely knows you loves you the best, you can't run him off. And so when that's down in your heart and you know that, You know, that helps you to focus on some things when your family's to shenanigans. You know, she's late to get you, you want to go to a party or whatever, or you're going to something, and she's late.
You know, wait a minute. The one that loves me. the most, right? Is the one that knows me the best. Oh, wow.
That's just awesome. It it is. And so, you know. And on the other side of that, I'll also say this. Jesus put it this way.
He said, he's going around doing miracles and he's the people are having a great time. All these great things are happening. But then he goes to his hometown and it said that he could do very few miracles there because of their unbelief. And the people in his hometown, they were like, oh, this is just Jesus. You know, it's like, you know, isn't he the son of Mary?
And, you know, he's a carpenter and we know him. It's whatever.
Sometimes, you know, and yes, sometimes our wife and my mother, I think about both of them is that, you know, they're there for me. They're 100%. They're encouraged. You know, there's a lot of good things, but they're also the ones who see my faults. Right.
And sometimes it's like I get these other people who I'm able to speak to somebody else. I'll give you an example. I was went out to sell insurance yesterday and there was a lady that I saw who was 85 years old and her grandson was there with him and she's 11. years old he she adopted him And he said, I watch all of your videos. He's like, I watch, he said, I watch, it's always popping up.
He said, I like it when you're singing or this or that, the other.
Well, my mom and my wife. If they get around to it, they may watch event. But it's almost like familiarity sometimes brings contempt, right? Because your wife, or my wife, or my mother, or how your mother was, they'll see the best in you sometimes that other people won't see, but they also see the other stuff as well. And so maybe this will encourage you, Mike.
I hope it will. As my mother near the end of her life, probably. You know, I started the Christian Car Guy in 2006. Um My mother never missed an episode. Yeah.
Never. Yeah. And she would call me and tell me, you know, you said uh 14 times. You wonder why it was Solomon that situated. He had all those wives that were correcting him.
But nonetheless, my mom, she not only would call in constantly, and anybody that listened to those early shows, my mother got. to where she did that. And then the other thing I have noticed is my wife You know As our relationship gets to whatever point, and both of us now are obviously quite a bit older than we were. More and more she listens. Mm-hmm.
And more and more she'll say, you know, I heard you You know, say, and and and then the other thing is she says, Would you, when you're on the air, can you stop this and that? You know, and I'm like, It's stuff that nobody else will say, right? But the beauty is that they want you to look and sound as good as they know you are, right? And and You know, it's an amazing thing, right, that God gives us these gifts and we get a chance to experience them if we're walking with him. Because apart from me, you can do nothing.
But with him, you'll have life and life abundantly. And Yeah, I mean, you know, they the first trillionaire from what I've heard, Elon Musk, when SpaceX came out or whatever, and I think it's gone below that now, but for a time he was a trillionaire. And they asked him, they said, well, are you happy? And he started to think about it. He's like, not really.
And I'm like, if a trillionaire, if you think money is going to make you happy, ask Elon Musk. Ask many of these people. What was the guy's name? Hughes, Howard Hughes. I think, you know, he was depressed.
He was miserable, whatever. Money's not going to make you happy. The only thing that'll make you happy is Jesus Christ. And W.C. Fields, have you heard of him?
No. He was a comedian. One of his favorite, my favorite sayings, pretty sure he said this to me: if they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can make something out of you. But he was a famous atheist and he would talk about it. He was open about it.
And this was at a time when this was. wasn't as popular. But 1946, the year that he died, somebody caught him in the hospital and they saw him. He was avidly reading the Bible. And they said, hey, hold on a second here.
You're an atheist. He says, what are you doing here? And he said, I'm looking for loopholes. And so it reminds me of kind of what Solomon is saying. This guy had it all, man.
He had the women, he had the money, he had the respect. I mean, he had it all. And yet, he was looking for love in all of the wrong places. W.C. Fields was famous.
He made it. He hit it big. People loved him. But at the end of his life, he realized that: hey, I'm about to die. And he's reading the Bible trying to find some loopholes.
And there are no loopholes in the Bible, but there is good news. And the good news is that Jesus Christ. died on the cross. He rose from the grave, he's coming back again, and that by putting our faith in him. Instead of our good works, instead of Robbie's good works, instead of Michael's good works, or instead of Ann's good works over there while she watches Paw Patrol.
We can't make it in on our own, but if we say, Jesus, I'm going to give it all to you. Do you remember what Jesus said? He said it like this: He says, Turn over all your burdens unto me, for my burden is light, and my yoke is easy. Easy. And it's a fascinating thing.
If you Just put yourself in the position for a minute, and Jesus spoke of hell. You may have heard this more than he spoke of heaven. You can go do your own research on it. You don't have to believe me. Just see what you see.
But Jesus mentioned hell a great deal. Why? Why? Because he loves you and he wants to warn you.
Well, guess what?
Solomon loves loved his people too. And so his warning in the Ecclesiastes is just this the same kind of thing. It's like, man, don't go down this road. It's empty. It will hurt you.
I love you. Don't do this. Don't put your hand on this hot stove, man, because it will burn. And that's the idea of under the sun. It will burn you.
As he wrote in the Song of Solomon, you know, the Shulamite woman says, I'm dark, I'm black, but beautiful. Right? She's blackened by the sun because she was put out in the vineyard. That idea is is so helpful. That if you saw your son, you would, you know, and he was.
Headed in a situation that you know, you want to make sure he knows that, look, you keep going down that road, and man, you're going to go off the end of a bridge, and it will kill you. Yeah. Like, Is that a time to say, well, you know, son, if you go this way, you can find heaven? No, you need to warn him that, you know, this is going to be bad. And so to some extent, you know, we talked about, you know, other book people say lamentations is, you know, but wait a minute, count it pure joy, and we can see, even like Job, okay, that some of the worst stuff happened that what, at the end of the book, Job says, you know, before I heard about you, But man Now my eyes have seen you.
In other words, it's so much better to have that relationship with God than have all the stuff that Job had, right? 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels. You know, that's not bad. That's not bad.
Well, you know, and you think about it this way: is that if you think about it this way, is that you can have what good is it to a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul? Right. Right. I mean, and so you can get everything the world has to offer, and you can still go to hell. David Wilkerson told a story in 1988.
You're familiar with David Wilkerson, right? And he tells a story about a man who came to his church who was in a full bodysuit where 90% of his body had actually been burned. And he came up to David after the service and he said, I was working in an oil rig, and I was a devout, I'm a devout Christian, and I was telling people about Jesus, and I was just about ready to quit. And the night before I quit, There was a huge fire. And one of those guys, he said, that I had been sharing the gospel with, had said, at the very end of my life, I'm going to get right with the Lord.
And he said, there was a huge fire. Three people died instantly. And then I saw this guy. He had been burned up and he was just taking his last breath. And he said, you know, the last thing that he asked me or said to me?
Do I still have my nose? It wasn't, God have mercy on me, a sinner. It wasn't, I'm sorry for my sins, Lord, save me. It was, do I still have my nose? And I noticed that the longer that we push off the gospel of Jesus Christ, the longer that we push off our salvation, the less likely that we are to do it.
And the Bible says that today is the day of salvation. And I would encourage you today to give your life to Jesus Christ, He's the only way to get to heaven. That's kind of an if-not for God. If Not for God. Yeah, same thing that I think Solomon was telling us.
I think it's so beautiful that every single syllable, everything in that book. Is salvation, it is Jesus, and it's beautiful. Thanks, Mike. You have not forgotten. All right, for my YouTube channel.
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