Learning the Hard Way or the Better Way

One of the deluding influences of worldly possessions is the belief that you have power. Think of it this way, these gifts are like Christmas gifts. These are gifts you unwrap only to discover that batteries are sold what? Separately. Notice verse 19, everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and, notice, power to enjoy them. Power comes separate. Solomon learned some lessons in life the hard way.

He lacked for nothing when it came to wealth and possessions. But as Stephen said a moment ago, Solomon had to learn that power to enjoy what he had came separately from the possessions themselves. Sometimes important lessons in life are learned the hard way.

When you go through a trial, don't you love it when you find someone who's already been there, who can give you guidance? They learned the hard way so that you can learn the right way. Solomon learned many things the hard way and Ecclesiastes is full of advice on how we can find contentment the right way.

Here's Stephen Davey with today's message from God's Word. Now what Solomon does, is about to do in our study is to introduce us by way of inspiration to some lessons where we can learn either the hard way by experience or the better way by belief in the truth as described. To highlight the difference in how you can learn, what Solomon does is provide two case studies for our observation. We're back in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and we'll call the first case study simply selfishness and insecurity. A lot of other words we could use but we'll stick with those two.

Case study number one selfishness and insecurity. We left off at verse 13 now let's pick it up there. There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun. Riches were kept by an owner to his hurt and those riches were lost in a bad venture. It's as if Solomon says now let me let me tell you about something I have seen down here under the sun.

Down here during my lifetime on this planet. I gotta tell you this literally turns my stomach. The word grievous can be rendered sickening. This is something that sours your stomach.

This is something that troubles your heart, your mind. And what is it that he saw? He describes here a man who kept his riches.

That word kept as the nuance of guarding or clutching or hoarding. He's been careful but he's insecure. He's afraid to lose it.

He doesn't let anybody enjoy it. The implication that his son won't be able to touch it until the father's dead that's when he can have it. In the meantime there's this bad venture.

The Hebrew can be rendered simply enough bad business. He invests in some bad business venture and loses everything. Now the implication in this case study is that he had enough. He could have kept his riches.

He didn't need more but he wanted more. He empties his bank account. He gambles everything on a business deal that goes south and he loses it all.

Let me give you the lesson and then we'll look a little bit deeper. If you risk what you have to get more than you need you won't enjoy what you have then you might lose what you need. The description here is that this man has become self-centered, somewhat isolated, though he's wealthy. He isn't enjoying his riches. Solomon writes he's guarding it. He's clutching it. That means he isn't sharing it. He certainly isn't giving any of it away.

He's evidently worried about it. You get the idea his family isn't enjoying any of it either but then some kind of opportunity, Solomon doesn't describe it, comes along. Now for a person like this to buy in it must have had nothing less than a money-back guarantee that it's going to be doubled or tripled or quadrupled. It'll be more than he could even imagine. He's already rich but oh just imagine how rich I'll be is his idea. So he sort of goes all-in on this guaranteed venture. Solomon simply records in verse 14 without any commentary and those riches were lost, gone.

How much did he lose? Well Solomon describes it here in terms of being stripped, naked. Notice verse 15 as he, describing case study number one, as he came from his mother's womb he shall go again naked as he came and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

This is a gut-wrenching scene, grievous evil. Just as he came so shall he go and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind. In the meantime between coming and going what is he really profiting? He's toiling for the wind. He's chasing after more and we've already learned this beloved and he's just saying it all over again. When you chase after more it's like chasing after the wind. You're not gonna catch it.

Now let's pause for just a moment. There's nothing un-biblical about getting involved in a business venture. There's nothing wrong with sacrificing to start some enterprise.

What we refer to as selling the family farm and starting a business. The case study here though is of a man who is doing this not because he has needs or even he wants to earn more to give away, it's he wants to have more to clutch. He wants more to store away. He is risking what he has in order to get something he really doesn't need and in the meantime he's not enjoying what he has and he's about to lose everything he needs.

It's possible for all of us to miss the value of what we have when we set our sights on having more. I found this illustrated perfectly the irony of someone missing the value of what he had because all he could think of was getting more. This news report of a young man in Ottawa, Canada, robbed a bank. He held up a teller with his pistol and demanded all the cash she had. It was a little bank, small bank, but she emptied her till under gunpoint and he ran out of the bank with $6,000. So with his pistol waving in the air he ran out $6,000 richer. He was later caught and sentenced to six years in jail, but his pistol which had been confiscated ended up being auctioning off. This young man's pistol was a rare Colt semi-automatic made by the Ross Rifle Company in 1918 worth $100,000.

He used a $100,000 pistol to get $6,000 in time in jail. He had no idea what he had. He missed the value of something he already had in desiring more.

Now that's learning a lesson the hard way. Solomon ends this case study by telling us what happened to this greedy insecure man who lost it all. Things didn't get better. Look at verse 17. Moreover, that is now, look, he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger. Darkness is a word that symbolizes his misery.

You could translate it obscurity. Look at him. He's isolated. He almost pictured the lights are out.

He can't pay power anymore. He's eating his meals in his greedy misery, isolated from everyone. The word vexation is a word that refers to frustration and mental anguish. The word for sickness is a Hebrew word that includes both physical and mental digression. Here you have this mysterious mix of psychosomatic illnesses that just eat away at him. They just eat away at him. And listed last here is his anger, his rage.

You could translate that. Wrath. He's infuriated over his loss. He lashes out to anybody who will listen. There has the nuance in this word of some kind of righteous indignation. He's better than those people that ripped him off.

They should never have done it. He can tell you about the deal and about the business. And even though he was foolish to do what he did, it was all their fault and this is all he can talk about. No wonder he's eating alone. He's lost in his ambition, his scheming, and no one dares come near him.

And I think that this is the kind of individual who will never enjoy another meal. This man's ego, as big as it was, was defined by what he had, what he possessed. And when he lost it, when that was stripped away, he lost any reason for being. And that's reflected in his spirit and his disposition and his attitude and his obscurity.

He loses any reason for caring or loving or serving. You take away everything from someone and you will discover who they are. You strip away their stuff and you discover their reason for being. Do they care about others? Do they love others? No, not if it's all about them.

If it's all about them, if you take away what's theirs, forget everybody else. I couldn't help but think as I was working through this case study of our Lord. Look at him when everything is stripped away. Look at him hanging on the cross. He's going to die naked just as he was born naked. His dignity is stripped away.

That loincloth in paintings is an artistic addition out of sensitivity. Roman crucifixions were humiliating in every possible manner. Everything is taken away from him. He's taunted by the crowd.

He's mocked, spit upon, cursed. He owns nothing but the tunic that now lay at the bottom there by his feet that the soldiers are gambling to own. His best friends have run away from him in fear and look how he acts.

Listen to what he says. Imagine there with everything stripped away, he hasn't lost his reason for being or his goal or purpose. He speaks with compassion, giving his mother to John for safe keeping. He utters that amazing prayer, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing. He cares about them. There's this thief hanging next to him. And what is the thief thinking? He's thinking about himself. I'm glad he came to the Lord and he believed the fact that the Lord was indeed the king, but he's saying to the Lord, would you remember me?

Now when you have everything stripped away, you don't really care about what other people need. And Jesus says to them, I will remember you. This is the perfect man, the God man, the Redeemer who has come to make a way from earth to heaven. Look at how he acts and relates even when everything is taken away.

Wow. We have every reason to believe in this case study that this man lost both earth and heaven, which is the most tragic of all. As believers, we don't live for earth possessions, although we will one day, according to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 5, the Lord's own promise of the coming kingdom, we will one day as the redeemed inherit the earth. This newly created earth is part of your inheritance. This will be your planet, but we don't live for it. We live for heaven. I think C.S. Lewis put it well when he wrote, aim at heaven and you'll get earth thrown in.

Aim at earth and you will get neither. Case study number one, selfishness and insecurity. Now Solomon presents case study number two. He's observed a different kind of person. We'll call this acceptance and enjoyment.

Look at verse 18, just the first part. Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting. So Solomon says, now let me show you somebody else. There's a contrast. There's another case study for you.

Let's learn some lessons here. This one's good and fitting. The word fitting could be translated beautiful. This is attractive.

This is something you want to pursue. This is a life worthy of living. And what is it?

Notice further. To eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him. For this is his lot.

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them. And to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil, this is the gift of God. If you've been with us in our study, you recognize immediately that this is one of the most God saturated texts, entries we've come across, isn't it? He mentions God over and over again.

And what he does is he refers to God over and over again. In fact, he refers to four different gifts that come from God. Four gifts which he points out.

We could easily miss them as we read it rapidly. So let's go back and take a closer look. The first gift, let me give it to you. The first gift is the ability to even be alive. Look at verse 18.

Eating and drinking and finding enjoyment in your toil under the sun for the few days of your life that God has given you. Your life is a gift from God. If you ever get up in the morning, believer, and say, you know, God hasn't given me anything lately, take one more breath.

Well, what do you know? That was a gift. It's easy to overlook. God created you. He measured out your days, whether you have a few or many, it's his gift to you. In fact, if he hadn't given you the gift of this life, and then the gift of faith to believe in his son, you won't have eternal life.

But imagine that, missing that. This is just a brief prelude because of his gift of life he's given us now. And the enjoyment we'll have by the exercise of faith in his son in eternal life, yet future.

The ability to be alive. You're alive because it's God's purpose. You're alive because it's God's plan. You're alive because God wants you alive. He wants you here.

He has a purpose, many of them for you. Secondly, here's another gift. The ability to enjoy what you have.

Now I want you to watch this carefully. It isn't the ability to have, but the ability to enjoy the things you have. Solomon writes, the power to enjoy them.

That's an interesting thought. It never really struck me like it did when I'm rehearsing these gifts and studying them. These gifts, the enjoyment he's saying isn't in the gift, but there's another gift that allows you to enjoy the gift. So think of it this way, these gifts are like Christmas gifts. These are gifts you unwrap only to discover that batteries are sold what?

Separately. So your kid tears into that box, you know, that remote-controlled car and then can do nothing with it. Why? Because it needs 87 batteries and you've only got two. So you ransack the cupboard, find the battery.

Why? Because without the batteries, you can't enjoy the gift. You have to have something empowering the gift to allow you to enjoy it.

This is the idea here. Not just gifts, but the power to enjoy them. Notice verse 19, everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and, notice, power to enjoy them.

Power comes separately. The power to enjoy them is separate from the gifts that have been given. And you think about it, unbelievers have food, unbelievers have provision, unbelievers have wealth, unbelievers have perhaps more than you do. But here's this unique distinctive to those related to God.

The power to enjoy them comes separately and it's a gift from God. And by the way, Solomon knew this really well. He'd learned the lesson the hard way. If you were with us in our last study, you remember Solomon learned this lesson because he has everything imaginable.

He's worth 2.3 trillion dollars, remember? But he's been miserable. He's out of fellowship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He knows how boring a new possession, a new building, a new garden can be. He knows how tasteless a meal can be even when you're eating it off a solid gold plate.

So what? You can enjoy a meal of a paper plate better than gold if you're in relationship with God who gives you the gift to enjoy that meal. Satisfaction is sold separately.

Here's another gift. The ability to accept where you are. In the middle part of verse 19, God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them and to accept his lot.

Solomon has used that expression already in this paragraph and he's used it before in his journal. That refers to your personal allotment, that is your assignment, your placement in life. This is another way of reminding us that we will never really fully muster up consistently contentment. There are times when we'll never be able to consistently, perfectly convince ourselves that where we have been assigned in life is a gift. You might say to me, you might pull me over and say, Stephen, you know, you talked about assignments in life being a gift, but let me tell you where I am. I don't look like a gift.

It is. And accepting that lot is a gift from God that comes from relationship, trusting and surrendering to the goodness of God and the kindness of his will and the intention of his will to do a work in you which is good, which ultimately conforms you to the image of his son, Romans 8, 28 and 29. Oh, this is, Lord, your lot for me. This is your assignment for me. This is a gift from you.

Help me see it and maximize it. Not only is acceptance of your lot in life a gift of submission and surrender and trust, Solomon adds a fourth gift. That's the ability to enjoy what you do. Again, in verse 19, at the end of it, to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil, his labor, his work, all of that is bundled up in what Solomon writes next. This, all of this is the gift of God.

You'll never really then, here's the lesson, learn it the hard way or the better way by accepting the truth. You'll never really enjoy your job until you realize it is a gift from God. You mean the job I've got right now? Yes. You mean where he's assigned me right now? Yes. Well, can I change jobs?

Maybe. He'll give you wisdom to make that clear. But right where you are right now, where you're facing tomorrow morning as you drive, the last thing on your mind might be, wow, what a gift from God.

Man, I can't wait. You know, some people in here have easier, better, maybe even better paying jobs. You think, man, they can smile. They smile as they're going to work and you're thinking, I smile when I leave work. You work around people like that.

Can't wait till the weekend I get out of this place. How do you enjoy your labor when you recognize it's part of God's gifting at this point in time in your life? What's your perspective on that today? The gift of accepting where you are, where you've been assigned. Maybe today you need to ask the Lord to help you to finally unpack the suitcases in your heart and say, okay, you've placed me here for this time and for your purpose. The gift of enjoying what you do in life.

Imagine that. Redeem your gift card for his glory. Make the most of them.

Thank God for them. Honor God with them. Anticipate the day when redemption is finally complete and you are finally home. Taking the advice of someone who's gone before you is a way to learn the right way. That's the title of Steven Davies lesson today.

Learning the hard way or the better way. This is Wisdom for the Heart and Steven's working his way through a series from Ecclesiastes called Surviving Evil Under the Sun. This series will continue the next time we're together but between now and then we'd love to hear from you. For example, do you have a question about the Bible or the Christian faith? Steven has a page on our website where he answers questions that have come in from listeners. You might be interested in going online and seeing what others have asked or you might have a question of your own. And if you do, send it to info at wisdom online dot org. Once again, that's info at wisdom online dot org.

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It's Wisdom for the Heart P.O. Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27627. We'd love to hear from you. Our phone number is 866-48-BIBLE. Steven's daughter, Candice Davie, and her team of volunteers answer the phones and would be happy to speak with you. If we're talking to other listeners and you get our voicemail, leave a message and your number and someone will call you back. That number again is 866-482-4253. I'm Scott Wiley, and for Steven and the Wisdom team, thanks for listening. Join us next time for more Wisdom for the Hearts.