Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Today is  Poetry Thursday. Ecclesiastes 5-6. I’m calling today’s episode “Your Life Has Meaning”   

Comments on Ecclesiastes 5-6

Solomon begins chapter 5 with good advice. When coming to the house of God, it’s better to listen than to run your head (as my dad would say). Actually, that’s good advice in most situations, don’t you think? You can’t learn much when you’re talking. But when coming before the Lord, listening will always be more beneficial than speaking.

And then Solomon went on to say that money will never buy happiness. In fact, the more money you have, the more worries you have, according to Solomon. He said, the best thing is to eat, drink and enjoy the work you have. 

At this point, Solomon, in all his wisdom, is forgetting something very important. He’s looking at life from a very limited viewpoint. He’s looking at life almost as one who has no relationship with God. When you leave God out of the equation, it’s very easy to have a fatalistic view of the world. We’ll get into this in more detail when we get to chapter 8. But for now, I’ll just say that the deeper your relationship with God, the more meaning you find in life. There is a reason you’re here, if you are His. He has a purpose for your life. You matter. 

One of the saddest things in scripture, in my opinion, is in chapter 6, verses 3-6. “3You may live a long time and have a hundred children. But a child born dead is better off than you, unless you enjoy life and have a decent burial. 4-5That child will never live to see the sun or to have a name, and it will go straight to the world of darkness. But it will still find more rest than you, 6even if you live two thousand years and don’t enjoy life. As you know, we all end up in the same place.”

Isn’t that pathetic? “A child born dead is better off than you, unless you enjoy life and have a decent burial.” Reminds me of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. ((((Insert clip))))

I told you as we began this book that it’s important to hang in there until the end. We’ll have three more visits to Ecclesiastes. We’re halfway through. It does get better. 

But before I sign off today, let me again encourage you with the thought that in Christ, life is full of meaning. If you’re looking for meaning outside of Him, you’re looking in all the wrong places, as the song says. If you want to have eternal meaning, it is only in Jesus. 

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 5 ERV; Ch. 6 CEV

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Transcript

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STEVE WEBB – 0:00
Why are you always running your head?

INTRO S12E309 – 0:09
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily show where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year. Today’s Poetry Thursday and we’re going to read Ecclesiastes 5 and 6. I’m calling today’s episode, “Your Life Has Meaning”. The show notes page for today’s episode is at lifespringmedia.com/s12e309. And my email address is st***@*************ia.com. Let’s begin.

ECCLESIASTES 5 (ERV) – 0:42
Ecclesiastes, chapter 5. (1) Be very careful when you go to worship God. It is better to listen to God than to give sacrifices like fools. Fools often do bad things, and they don’t even know it. (2) Be careful when you make promises to God. Be careful about what you say to him. Don’t let your feelings cause you to speak too soon. God is in heaven, and you are on the earth. So you need to say only a few things to him. This saying is true:

(3) Bad dreams come from too many worries,
and too many words come from the mouth of a fool.

(4) If you make a promise to God, keep your promise. Don’t be slow to do what you promised. God is not happy with fools. Give God what you promised to give him. (5) It is better to promise nothing than to promise something and not be able to do it. (6) So don’t let your words cause you to sin. Don’t say to the priest, “I didn’t mean what I said.” If you do this, God might become angry with your words and destroy everything you have worked for. (7) You should not let your useless dreams and bragging bring you trouble. You should respect God.

(8) In some country you will see poor people who are forced to work very hard. You will see that this is not fair to them. It is against their rights. But don’t be surprised! The ruler who forces them to work has another ruler who forces him. And there is still another ruler who forces both of these rulers. (9) Even the king is a slave—his country owns him.

(10) Those who love money will never be satisfied with the money they have. Those who love wealth will not be satisfied when they get more and more. This is also senseless.

(11) The more wealth people have, the more “friends” they have to help spend it. So the rich really gain nothing. They can only look at their wealth.

(12) Those who work hard all day come home and sleep in peace. It is not important if they have little or much to eat. But the rich worry about their wealth and are not able to sleep.

(13) There is a very sad thing that I have seen happen in this life. People save their money for the future. (14) Then something bad happens and they lose everything. So they have nothing to give to their children.

(15) People come into the world with nothing. And when they die, they leave with nothing. They might work hard to get things, but they cannot take anything with them when they die. (16) It is very sad that people leave the world just as they came. So what does a person gain from “trying to catch the wind”? (17) They only get days that are filled with sadness and sorrow. In the end, they are troubled, sick, and angry.

(18) I have seen what is best for people to do on earth: They should eat, drink, and enjoy the work they have during their short time here. God has given them these few days, and that is all they have.

(19) If God gives some people wealth, property, and the power to enjoy those things, they should enjoy them. They should accept the things they have and enjoy their work—that is a gift from God. (20) People don’t have many years to live, so they must remember these things all their life. God will keep them busy with the work they love to do.

ECCLESIASTES 6 (CEV) – 4:04
Ecclesiastes, chapter 6. (1) There is something else terribly unfair, and it troubles everyone on earth. (2) God may give you everything you want—money, property, and wealth. Then God doesn’t let you enjoy it, and someone you don’t even know gets it all. That’s senseless and terribly unfair!

(3) You may live a long time and have a hundred children. But a child born dead is better off than you, unless you enjoy life and have a decent burial. (4-5) That child will never live to see the sun or to have a name, and it will go straight to the world of darkness. But it will still find more rest than you, (6) even if you live two thousand years and don’t enjoy life. As you know, we all end up in the same place.

(7) We struggle just to have enough to eat, but we are never satisfied. (8) We may be sensible, yet we are no better off than a fool. And if we are poor, it still doesn’t do us any good to try to live right. (9) It’s better to enjoy what we have than to always want something else, because that makes no more sense than chasing the wind.

(10) Everything that happens was decided long ago. We humans know what we are like, and we can’t argue with God, because he is too strong for us. (11) The more we talk, the less sense we make, so what good does it do to talk? (12) Life is short and meaningless, and it fades away like a shadow. Who knows what is best for us? Who knows what will happen after we are gone?

COMMENTS – 5:33
Solomon began chapter 5 with good advice. When coming to the house of God, it’s better to listen than to talk. Or as my dad used to say, “It’s better to listen than to run your head. Why are you always running your head?” Actually, Solomon’s advice was good advice in most situations, don’t you think? You can’t learn much when you’re talking. But when coming before the Lord, listening will always be more beneficial than speaking.

And then Solomon went on to say that money will never buy happiness. In fact, the more money you have, the more worries you have, according to Solomon. He said the best thing is to eat, drink, and enjoy the work you have.

Well, at this point, Solomon, in all his wisdom, is forgetting something very important. He’s looking at life almost as one who has no relationship with God. And when you leave God out of the equation, it’s very easy to have a fatalistic view of the world. We’ll get into this in more detail when we get to chapter 8, but for now, I’ll just say that the deeper your relationship with God, the more meaning you find in life. There’s a reason you’re here, if you’re his. He has a purpose for your life. You matter.

And one of the saddest things in Scripture, in my opinion, is in chapter 6, verses 3 through 6. Here they are:

(3) You may live a long time and have a hundred children. But a child born dead is better off than you, unless you enjoy life and have a decent burial. (4-5) That child will never live to see the sun or to have a name, and it will go straight to the world of darkness. But it will still find more rest than you, (6) even if you live two thousand years and don’t enjoy life. As you know, we all end up in the same place.”

My goodness isn’t that pathetic. A child born dead is better off than you unless you enjoy life and have a decent burial. Reminds me of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.

I told you as we began this book that it’s important to hang in there until the end. We’ll have three more visits to Ecclesiastes before we’re through. We’re only halfway through now. It does get better.

But before I sign off today, let me again encourage you with a thought that in Christ, life is full of meaning. If you’re looking for meaning outside of him, you’re looking in all the wrong places, as the song says. If you want to have eternal meaning, you will only find it in Jesus.

What are your thoughts? Do you have a comment? Let me know. Go to lifespringmedia.com/s12e309, and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. Put your thoughts in there. Tomorrow is Prophecy Friday and we’ll read the book of Haggai.

Boost.

FEEDBACK ON EPISODE 308 – 8:19
Speaking of comments, I got a comment on the Psalms 28 through 30 show “It’s More Than Happy”. Remember that one? Yeah. Somebody named LeeAnn went by the show notes page and wrote this. “You are so right, my love.” Oh, this must be my LeeAnn, the Lovely Lady LeeAnn. She said,

“Blessed is more than a feeling of happy. As you and I have experienced together. Some of our most blessed times were in sadness and grief.” That’s true. She goes on, “When [our son] Steven almost died and we struggled in every imaginable way, physically, mentally and emotionally, we were also our most blessed. Blessed by our church family with the outpouring of love and prayers. Blessed to see God work through doctors.

“Looking back I [see] we were blessed in that it pulled us closer to God and a deeper reliance on him. That was all we had. Happy [and] Blessed is the man who Trusts the Lord!”

Well, thank you, Sweetheart, for that comment. And yeah, it’s so true, if we let him, God will use those difficult, difficult times in our lives to bless us in ways that we would never, never imagine.

ON THIS DATE IN CHURCH HISTORY – 9:26
On this date in church history, July 7, 1787, César H. A. Malan, a French-born Swiss clergyman who penned more than a thousand hymns, including the music to “Take My Life and Let It Be” was born. Now it’s interesting about this hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be”. The lyrics were by a woman named Frances Havergal, out and most of us know the hymn with the music written by César Malan, his full name is Henri Abraham César Malan, the music he wrote is called “Hendon”. [Piano playing.] Now Havergal preferred the music written by her father, William Henry Havergal, here’s what that sounds like: [Organ playing.] Now at the end of the show, I’m going to play a beautiful rendition of the song by my good friend, Bryan Duncan.

SUPPORT BRYAN DUNCAN – 10:52
Now, let me say a few words about Bryan. He’s been around Christian music since the 70s, when he was a member of the Sweet Comfort Band. And if you’ve been a fan of his, you should know that the COVID pandemic and the resulting lockdowns pretty much killed his concert career as it did almost every other performing artist. He phoned me a few days ago, and I’m not going to go into details, but let me say that he’s struggling. If you’ve been a fan, and if the Lord lays it on your heart, I’m asking you to send a donation at lifespringmedia.com/support. Just write a note that this is for Bryan, and I’ll pass it along to him, 100% of it. And if you’d like to send them a note of encouragement, email it to me at st***@*************ia.com, and I’ll forward it to him.

Bryan is a brother who truly does love the Lord, and he has written some amazing music. Not to mention, he’s a guy with an amazing voice. I’ll tell you what, after I play his rendition of “Take My Life”, I’ll also play one of his biggest hits, “Love You With My Life”. But if you can help him out, that would be awesome.

PRAYER REQUESTS – 11:51
I got a couple of prayer requests. I got an email from a Pastor Aguigo, and I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing this right, but he asked for wisdom, blessings and healing. And then I’m gonna ask you to pray for Bryan as well.

CLOSING PRAYER – 12:13
Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for giving our lives meaning. When we’re following you, you have a purpose for us. And what you call us to do has eternal lasting effects. You’ve called each of us to share the gospel and make disciples who will be with you in eternity. The things we do for ourselves will pass away but the work you call us to do will not. Thank you so much for including us in your plan. You are so good and loving to us. We worship You, Lord, and we praise You and we adore you. Father, I pray for Pastor Aguigo, that you would give him wisdom. Help him to lead his church according to your word. Bless him and the people you’ve put under his care. And I don’t know what kind of healing he needs, but you do, Lord, and I ask in Jesus name that you would bring that healing for your glory.

And I pray now for Bryan and I asked you to encourage his heart. You have given him beautiful gifts, Lord, and he’s used them to sing your praises. I asked you now to help him see what and where you want him to use those gifts now as the entire music industry continues to change. You have a plan for Bryan, and I pray that you’ll show him what you want him to do now.

Lord, I thank you for each person that you brought to the Lifespring family and I ask that you bless them according to your boundless love. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

If you’ve got a prayer request or a praise that you’d like to share with the Lifespring family, go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

OUTRO S12E309 – 13:47
Comment on the show at lifespringmedia.com/s12e309. Send me an email at st***@*************ia.com. Thank you to the team, Kirsty, Sean of San Pedro and Denise. I don’t know what I do without you. Well, I do. I didn’t do the things that we’re doing now. Beloved, I thank you for inviting me into your life today. It is a privilege. It’s a joy. It’s an honor and I do not take it for granted. Support the show at lifespringmedia.com/support. If you receive value from the show, if you believe that the Lifespring Family Audio Bible is filling a need, if you’re glad it’s here, go to lifespringmedia.com/support.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Next up is my friend, Bryan Duncan, singing “Take My Life” and also “Love You With My Life”.

[Bryan Duncan sings “Take My Life and Let It Be.”]
[Bryan Duncan sings “Love You With My Life.”]

SUPPORT BRYAN DUNCAN – 20:38
Beloved, remember, if you feel led, send a donation to Bryan at lifespringmedia.com/support. And be sure to write a note that it’s for Bryan. I’ll send him 100% of it. And if you want to write a note of encouragement, send it to me at st***@*************ia.com. And I’ll forward it to him. Thanks again for being with me. God bless you.

Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Corrected by Denise