Dear Diary, “My life resembles a train wreck, I wish I could get some advice on how to get everything back on track before it’s too late.” There is some great wisdom in nursery rhymes. Consider the words of this timeless classic. “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again. At some time or another, our lives have resembled Humpty Dumpty. We have tried everything we could think of to get those pieces put together again to no avail. Now with most of our hope gone, we once again survey that pile of rubble that is now our life. We are painfully aware that our mistakes and disobedience have brought us to this place. Now, more than anything else we want to know if there is any hope of picking up the pieces, reassembling them and moving on with our lives. I am sure that Solomon despite all of his wisdom wondered the same thing. As we have been making our way through Solomon’s diary, the Book of Ecclesiastes we have learned many things about him. The most glaring fact is that Solomon reached the place where his life resembled Humpty Dumpty. A series of poor decisions and disobedience brought Solomon to this point. Now as we reach the final entry of his diary, Solomon offers the most important lesson that he learned over the course of his life. This lesson will allow us to learn how to reassemble the pieces of our lives and get everything back on track again. Today, let’s look at the bottom line as Solomon sees it.
I. Can we really trust the advice that Solomon is giving?
A. Solomon establishes his credibility.
1. He was a man that had been given the gift of wisdom.
2. He was considered by his contemporaries to be a wise and accomplished teacher.
3. The wisdom from which he is writing has been divinely given and not simply gained from earthly sources.
4. Solomon had thoroughly researched and experienced everything that he is writing about.
5. Solomon would have been considered the top scholar of his time as he carefully researched everything he taught or wrote about.
B. Solomon serves as a voice of experience.
1. There is nothing wrong with being intelligent but knowledge is worthless unless it is applied to our lives.
2. Solomon had the desire to go deeper into these subjects he was writing about, the only way for him to do that was to experience them.
3. When the words of this diary are read it is not simply a warning based on education. Solomon is saying that I have been down this road and I know the results of these actions firsthand.
4. As a teacher Solomon went ahead of his students in order to discover the truth so he could accurately teach his students.
5. Solomon also communicated in a way where it was easy for is students to comprehend and apply.
II. The conclusions reached from Solomon’s great experiment.
A. God is real and has revealed His will to man.
1. Solomon uses the shepherd metaphor in regard to God as being the source and giver of true wisdom.
2. This also could be seen as reference to the fact that Solomon realized that God was guiding him to write these words that would become a part of the Scriptures.
3. Solomon warns that study that is not founded in the fear of God is worthless for helping a man gain true wisdom and to guide his life.
4. As he has investigated man’s situation Solomon arrives at the conclusion that God has provided man with the ability to gain His wisdom so that he can live life appropriately before Him.
5. Solomon also reaches the conclusion that for everything man is dependent upon God because man lacks the ability to control or predict his circumstances.
B. God knows all that is in the heart of man.
1. As our creator Solomon is aware that God knows every thought and inclination of man’s heart.
2. Nothing is hidden from God, on the Day of Judgment all the hidden things in our heart will be laid out in the open.
3. God has wired our hearts to desire peace and contentment but man chooses to look for it in all the wrong places so despite all the searching the emptiness remains.
4. Solomon concludes that the circumstances he reveals as being meaningless and empty should cause man to desire to draw near to God.
C. God will hold man accountable for what he does or does not do.
1. God’s Word should be the foundation of all our studies as it is the road map to guide our lives.
2. Solomon now presents the entire summary of the book of Ecclesiastes.
a. The Hebrew text places the Hebrew word soph (end) in large characters before the summary to highlight the importance of what is coming.
b. The summary is given in clear and concise terms to avoid any possible misinterpretation.
3. The first conclusion is to fear God and keep His commandments.
4. Fear is simply that sense of awe and respect that grows out of our faith in a Holy God. That awe and respect is displayed in obedience.
5. Solomon clearly established the fact that everyone will stand before God in judgment where it will be determined if a person lived according to God’s will.
6. All the perceived injustices in the world will be corrected and all the good that was overlooked will be rewarded.
III. Applying Solomon’s discoveries to our own lives.
A. God is willing to always teach us more about His will for our lives.
1. Solomon states that everything boils down to the primary thing that God expects out of us.
2. God’s universal will for mankind is to respect Him and be obedient to the commands that He has given.
3. God has designed us to have an intimate and interactive relationship with Him; if we live life without this we will be left feeling empty.
4. When we strive to live out God’s universal will for mankind, He will begin to show us His specific will for our individual lives.
a. Promptings of the Holy Spirit.
b. Through the study of His Word.
c. Through the counsel of others.
5. If we ask God to show us His will for our lives…Guess what? He will begin to show us.
B. God is going to hold us accountable for how we live our life.
1. Solomon is clear that each of us will stand before God and be judged.
2. We will not be judged according to what someone else did but according to what we have done on this earth.
3. How we live our lives on this earth really does matter.
a. Have we sought to live according to God’s will?
b. Have we loved and served others?
c. What have we done about Jesus?
4. When we are before God there will be no excuses that will be accepted. We will either stand before Him alone or with Jesus. The choice is up to us.
C. God is always willing to give us a second chance.
1. Regardless of how intelligent we are, God’s grace still makes absolutely no sense.
2. We cannot understand forgiveness that knows no bounds or understand how God can not only forgive our sins but totally forget them as well.
3. When we come to Him truly repentant He is faithful to forgive us and give us another chance.
4. We can never go too far that the grace of God can’t reach us. Are we willing to accept God’s offer of another chance?
Closing:
In the movie City Slickers, Billy Crystal plays a radio-advertising salesman going through a mid-life crisis. Like Solomon, he realizes that there has to be more to life. He and his friends deal with the predictability and emptiness of their lives by going on a cattle drive. At the end of the movie as they prepare to return to New York and the familiar routine, Billy Crystal explains the concept of a “do-over” to one of his friends:
“Do you remember when you used to play ball as a kid? Sometimes when you fouled things up, you would get a “do-over.” It was a second chance to swing at the ball. That’s what is happening to you now. You’re getting a “do-over” in life.”
