Ecclesiastes

This morning my devotions lead me to Ecclesiastes. It's been a while since I've read this book, but it really jumped out at me. I've decided that I'm going to read through it in great depth until I'm finished with it.

One of the themes is searching.

Solomon had every earthly possession he could have ever wanted- wealth, power, wives, food, clothing...

Yet he was still empty inside.

Through his searching he found that life without God was meaningless and fruitless. He found that no matter how many things we have, we always want more.

So true.

We pray, 'Lord if only I had ____ I would never ask for anything else, it'll be the answer to my prayers, solve all my problems!' And yet, if and when that prayer is answered, we find we need something else.

I'm not implying that we shouldn't go to the Lord with our needs and prayer requests because that's what He wants us to do. We do have certain physical needs. It's also okay to enjoy the Lord's blessings without feeling guilty. As parents, we provide for our children and would feel awful if they felt guilty for enjoying gifts we've given them.

But there will always be something that our flesh desires. The more we try to get, the more we realize how little we have.

"All things are full of labor; man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." Ecclesiastes 1:8