The Bible Column - All is Vanity

“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” Ecclesiastes 1:2-3
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9
Happy New Year! I trust that you will have a blessed and prosperous 2019! In our lives there are many new things. There are new days, weeks, months and years. There are new babies, trees and plants. There are new families and generations. There are new pleasures and sights for us to experience and observe. But the Bible explains that in the realm of vanity, there is nothing new!
The Scriptures above tell of life on this earth apart from God and in the vanity of the world. They tell of the world’s utter insufficiency to make us happy. They tell of the vileness of sin and its certain tendency to make us miserable! The repeated word “vanity” speaks of the emptiness that Solomon had felt in times of his backslidings. He knew from his own experiences of which he spoke. He declared that regarding the way of the earth, the world systems, and evil, there is no new thing under the sun! Since the fall of mankind and the entrance of sin into the world, the same vanity and its effects remain constant around us today! In reading Solomon’s log of the earthly vanities recorded in the entire book of Ecclesiastes, he addresses the cycles of life, human wisdom, pleasure and wealth, materialism, circumstances of life, work, political success, wickedness, the uncertainties of life, the aging process, and more. He gives perspective, council, and God’s design for human life on this earth. He warns of God’s judgment and the duty of man.
After 13 chapters of sacred writ, Solomon gives his concluding thought. In Ecclesiastes 13: 13, Solomon writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God… “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Clearly, each of us is daily establishing the record of the doings of our life as a permanent record! Proverbs 20:11
May the Lord help us in 2019 to heed Solomon’s warning and exhortation! One day we will give an account of the things done under the sun!