Eccles. 1:2 3-9 13-14
WHAT ARE YOU HEARING?
It was found written on the walls of a library at a university “apathy Rules.” Apathy could mean indifference, boredom, laziness, lack of interest or concern.
Do we get excited about what God is doing in this world? Are we passionate for the things that God really cares about? Do we hear God when He speaks?
Education for the most part serves only to broaden stupidity, pump up self-satisfaction, and enhance lack of caution. Mencken wrote, “The basic fact about human experience is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not that it is primarily painful, but that it is lacking any sense.”
Maybe you have heard some of these sayings that seem for the most part to be true:” Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.” “Every day in every way our world is getting better, better and better.” “There is a light at the end of every tunnel.” “Things never seem as bad as they seem so dream, dream, dream.”
Why do they tell us these things? “You just need to smile a little more, to believe, just grab for it, you’ll make it someday.” They would want us to believe that if we only keep hoping, there is a purpose in life. You know as I do that this world holds little hope. This world is corrupt, wicked and immoral. Much of what we do is not fun but is tiring and seems pointless. Many people that we meet are cruel, selfish and downright mean. If we choose to live here on earth with no upward look we find life void of purpose.
All worldly things are vanity. Not of themselves for they are God’s creation and therefore good, but in reference to that happiness, which men seek and expect to find in them. So they are unquestionably vain, because they are not what they seem to be, and perform not what they promise, but instead are the occasions of innumerable cares, and fears, and sorrows, and mischief. The writer says they are not only vanity but vanity of vanities, vanity to the highest degree. And this is redoubled, because the thing is beyond all possibility of dispute. All is unprofitable as to the attainment of that happiness which all men are enquiring after. By this restriction he implies that the happiness which in vain is sought for in this lower world can only be found in heavenly places. Men continue and that a short age, and then they leave all their possessions, and therefore they cannot be happy here, because happiness needs to be unchangeable and eternal; or else the certain knowledge of the approaching loss of all these things will rob a man of solid contentment in them. Man is more changeable than the very earth upon which he stands. Together with all the comforts which he enjoys, he leaves all behind to be possessed by others. There is nothing in the world but a continued and tiresome repetition of the same things. The nature and course of the beings and affairs of the world, and the tempers of men, are the same that they ever were and shall ever be; and therefore, because no man ever yet received satisfaction from worldly things, it is vain for any person hereafter to expect it. When Solomon came to rule he ruled for forty years without war in his country. He had money spend and time and energy. He comes to this conclusion: "Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher, "utterly meaningless!” So he asks: “What do people get for all their hard work?” Those who worship their work and play in their time of worship have gotten their lives broken up. They are getting depressed which I believe is a major disease today. Just look what kind of pills are selling the most today.
We have read here that things in this world come and go. Generations come and go. The Sun is constant every day. We hear the wind and see what it can do every day. We seem to never wonder about the water supply, even in drought we have found when we turn on the faucet there is still water. Things of this world do not give us much hope. Jeremiah says about God “Great is thy Faithfulness.” I have seen and heard of great people in my lifetime. They have had money, fame, popularity but they are gone and with it so has what they had. I have just recently read of Rachel who was very beautiful and the favorite wife of Jacob and that she died in child birth. Beauty did not keep her living or bring her long life. I know many who spend much money getting their hair fixed up and putting on make up and dressing up to look good who will still die. We can have record of when the sun rises and when it sets and does that really mean much to our lives?
You perhaps have seen it on the weather report where it shows you the bright white swirls and the stark of blue from a satellite that reveals to us the wind currents. You have seen the jet streams that show where it will be sunny or where the rain will be. After you have seen it does it cause you to wonder what can I do about it? I would have to tell you nothing. You have no control over the weather. “The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea.” I like what one person sang in a song when he said, “How do the rivers with fresh water run into the sea and it is salty water. Then when the sea water evaporates and causes it to rain into the rivers again it is no longer salty?” What control do you have with the sea or the rivers? What would you do if there was no fresh water? As you think about the wind and water of the sea and the rivers does your life seem a little dull?
Solomon then speaks these words “Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.” Is it not true that as a child everything was bigger than it seemed and things were more beautiful than they really were? As we have come to age those things that were wonderful as a child now are no big deal. Many chase after that which is bigger and think it must be better. Take sound systems. I can remember when you bought a record player with speakers attached. Then we were able to have a record player and it was stereo and we were able to place the speakers away from the machine to set better sound. Recently we were able to get something that they called wrap around sound of which we did not keep. What will be next? Will we ever be satisfied with what we can hear? “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” Kipling wrote, “The craft that we call modern; the crimes that we call new; John Bunyan had typed and filed them in 1682.” 11 “We don’t remember what happened in those former times. And in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.” We would say as we have said “Apathy Rules.”
Solomon wrote “I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done in the world. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. Everything under the sun is meaningless, like chasing the wind.” Solomon sought to explore by all human might everything under the sun that could be had or be experienced by man. His life came to saying life is all like chasing after the wind. I gave my heart, his serious and fixed purpose, and his great industry in it. To seek diligently and accurately. By the help of that wisdom wherewith God had endowed me. Concerning all the works of God and men in this lower world; the works of nature; the works of Divine providence; and the works and depths of human policy.
Let us look at two thoughts here:
1. If there is nothing new under the sun, our only hope must be above it. It is true that there are many today who have all their lives wrapped up in the here and now. They completely ignore that there is another life. We know that after this life there is another and we have to make a choice in this life of where they will spend it. There are only two choices.
2. If a man, who had everything, investigated everything visible and did not find meaning to life, then the one thing that is needed must be invisible. Solomon had everything and had done all that a man could do and yet he was not satisfied. So in our world there are many who do not hear what is inaudible or see the invisible. A poorly dressed lady, with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries. She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children, and they needed food. The grocer scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store. Visualizing the family needs, she said: "Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can." He told her he could not give her credit, as she did not have a charge account at his store. Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family. The grocer said, in a very reluctant voice, "Do you have a grocery list?" She replied, "Yes, sir." "O.K." he said, "put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries, " She hesitated a moment, with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then carefully laid the piece of paper on the scale, with her head still bowed. The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down. The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, "I can’t believe it." The customer smiled, and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance, so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more. The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement. It was not a grocery list; it was a prayer, which said: "Dear Lord, you know my needs, and I am leaving this in your hands." The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered and stood in stunned silence. The lady thanked him and left the store. The customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said, "It was worth every penny of it." Only God Knows how much a prayer weighs.
POWER OF PRAYER: Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
No one can go back and make a brand new start. Anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
The story goes that here was an Indian walking in downtown New York City with a friend who lived there. In the middle of Manhattan the Indian stopped and whispered, “Wait, I hear a cricket.” “We are in the middle of a big town. How do you hear a cricket? It’s impossible! You cannot hear a cricket! Taxies are gong by. Horns are honking. People are screaming at each other. Brakes of cars are screeching. People are everywhere. Cash registers are dinging. Subways are underneath the street. How can you hear a cricket? ” He led his friend along, slowly. They stopped and walked to the end of the block, went across the street, looked around, cocked his head to one side, and nothing. He then went across the street and found a large cement planter with a tree growing in it. He dug in the mulch and pulled out a cricket. “How in the world could it be that you heard a cricket in the middle of this big town?” “My ears are different than yours. It depends what you are listening to. Let me show you.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a bunch of change. He held them high and dropped them on the street. Every head within a block turned toward where the Indian was standing. It depends what we are listening for. Are you listening for the right thing? Would you hear the cricket which was invisible? Or is your mind only geared to material things you can see? God is speaking today and He can only be heard by those who are listening.
