Bible Men: Elijah: A Man of like Passions as We Are

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. 1Ki 17:1  

The God Before Whom I Stand

Elijah means “Jehovah is God.” Here is a prophet who was fully clothed in God.

Paul wrote of the believer as having his loins girt about with truth, his breastplate adorned with righteousness, his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; his head covered with the helmet of salvation, and his hand gripping the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Such then is the image of a believer, of one who prays “always with all prayer” (Eph 6:14-18).   

Such is the seriousness of the matter, especially where life is involved. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12). 

Whereas a non-believer sees fate in the matters of life, a believer sees prophecy. So Elijah could boldly say ‘but according to my word.’ The joy of the LORD is a believer’s strength.

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. Isa 54:17  

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Psa 91:2 

The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Psa 34:7  

The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. Pro 18:10  

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Rom 8:31 

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. 2Co 4:8-9  

We have been chosen. Called to be saints. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” That’s a great privilege. That’s the mark of a great love. And pray how can one simply impugn such a great gift?

Knowing your God is Important

Paul called our faith a “high calling.” That’s not saying it’s esoteric, or that which is only understood by a few. It’s not the education but faith.

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Eph 2:19-22 

 And this is the LORD God of Israel before whom we stand.

Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. Joh 6:68  

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. Psa 73:25  

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psa 16:11  

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. Psa 17:15  

Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. Psa 43:4  

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Psa 63:3  

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? Psa 89:6  

 The Privilege of a Vision

Elijah delivered the word of God to Ahab and it took effect immediately. The just shall live by faith.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Heb 11:13 

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. Heb 11:14-16  

By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. Heb 11:29  

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. Heb 11:30 

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Heb 11:33-40

 

I felt your love brethren. It was a balm. Thanks and God bless!

 The Joy of Silence

Be still, and know that I am God. Psa 46:10

Seasons Come and Seasons Go

Greetings Friends.

I am sorry I got swallowed by silence.

I know it’s bad manners. But I trust I am forgiven.

Solomon wrote “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” A time for talking, and a time for silence; a time for gazing at the stars, and a time for going inside.

Some things can only be done in silence and not in a hurry. I am attempting such a task. It will make me scarce this year but God is in control. I ask only for your prayers. I need them.

Nothing Strange

Now I love silence. From childhood I have been a silence hawk. But a dear friend of mine has averred that I am traumatized. She worries it is why I am silent. I don’t know that I suffer from such a thing. I know I have laughed out aloud through my life instead!

Is that traumatic?

Her solution though is that I should talk – the very thing (if I have a trauma) which drove me into a trauma in the first place! I have hated talking since childhood!

My favourite gesture as a child, I remember, was resting my palms in my cheeks. It infuriated my mom. Many times she threw a live log of fire in my direction to drive her point home: “Remove those hands there! No one has died here!”

It always sent me laughing.

Mind you, I am not taking traumas lightly. They are real. They are devastating.

But from a believer’s perspective it is not strange.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1Pe 4:12-13  

God has used “traumas” before to bring his will to prevail among his beloved people. Take Israel’s slavery in Egypt, their exile in Babylon, and the holocaust for example.  

Mankind has been in exile since Adam and Eve lost Eden. And exiles are always traumatic. We are restless, and we shall remain so, until we return home to God where we belong.

Finally God did not spare his own beloved Son from the worst trauma of sin. He did it, because he loved us. Love, believe me, can be traumatic.

Has there ever been in history such a traumatic cry as this, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

A Love As Strong As Death

Yet the amazing thing is that God did it. He unleashed his full wrath on his beloved Son.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isa 53:3-4 

It’s quite amazing. God traumatized his Son in our behalf. That love is breathtaking. If he were a woman we should call her crazy and deranged. But this isn’t a woman but God!

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. Son 8:6-7  

Healed By a Trauma

But why should God love like this? To remove the trauma of our sin. To make our return to Paradise possible.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isa 53:5 

God did it for his name’s sake. He did it for his mercy’s sake. He did it so we may have his peace which passes all understanding.

That’s the silence which I want to enjoy for life.

Are you restless? Are you traumatized?

God died for you!

He went to the uttermost.

For Good or For Worse

So whether we suffer good, or traumas or tribulations, God is not limited to use anything to save, even swords and deaths.

But don’t fear.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1Co 10:13  

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Rom 8:35  

So I think, if I have a trauma, then it is because my silence was stolen from me in childhood!

Too much noise, I think, is akin to a trauma, especially to the sensitive heart.

Today we don’t wonder. We don’t fear.

Everything is beautiful. And therein, I believe, lies the root of our traumas. For we can’t call evil good and good evil without badly upsetting the foundations of the heart.

It wrecks it.

But noise is a distraction. It throws up the blinds. And the result is always pain and the loss of the childhood wonder.

Book for All Seasons

The Bible is a book of trauma. But it is also a book of miracles. The grave gave up the dead. And now Christ lives forever. But even more the Bible is a book of great silence.

Sometimes it’s those tunnels of great darkness which are the true bulwarks of our Christian faith. That is the lesson of Job’s trauma – and that of all the prophets. For we walk by faith and not by sight.

The great silence of heaven has meaning. God wishes for everybody to find that out by whatever way he chooses for his beloved.

Don’t resist him.

It takes dirt to dig out gold. It takes fire to polish it.

May the God of all grace grant you the joy of silent seasons this year!

Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. 1Ki 10:1  

The Queen of Sheba: When the Heart Catches Fire

The heart is a restless organ. We are born desiring to know. Some things are irresistible. They are like “coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame.” “Many waters cannot quench love,” Solomon’s lover sang, and neither can a flood drown the hunger for truth.

Even in New Testament Christ commended the queen for her relentless search for truth. “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here” (Mat 12:42). Will he commend me and you?

Granted, such struggles are common even in men, but they are most fervent in a woman. She literally leaves no stone unturned until she has found her missing coin. A man would sooner forget it and move on.

It’s true that it’s hazardous for a man to be too serious about everything. But equally it’s perilous for a man to be frivolous about everything in life. I think the right note is not to take mystical things lightly, like love, and death, and truth. Such was the tragedy of the men in the Parable of the Great Banquet who disdained the king’s invitation for a scrap of earth and flesh (Luke 14:15-24).

The queen of Sheba was not like that. History was calling and she wanted to be in it. “And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom” (1Ki 4:34).  

She heard the fame. Now she was ready to test it for herself. “And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions” (1Ki 10:1).  

Many have attempted a task. But they soon gave up. The queen was adoringly astute. “And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart” (1Ki 10:2).  

Men are great travellers. But men are invariably poor communicators. The queen “communed with him of all that was in her heart.” It’s the people who ask questions who find answers.

And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. 1Ki 10:3-5 

Don’t be Feeble, Have Courage

We are given life, not just to gaze at, but to question it, and where possible to write down our findings.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Act 17:11

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. 1Pe 3:15  

Don’t ignore anything. Question everything. Such was the path the queen took. And walking along it she emerged into the open field of eternal sunshine.

And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. 1Ki 10:6-7 

What is that which is burning inside your heart? Ask God to show you what it is. He is faithful and he will do it.

For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Psa 107:9 

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Luk 11:9-10 

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jer 29:13  

The Grace of God is Irresistible

Many kings were drawn to Jerusalem to see this king. But all had different purposes. Maybe it was curiosity for some. Maybe sheer jealous for others. But don’t be afraid. Ask. Christ has come and today not everyone has to go to Jerusalem. Just call on him wherever you are. Ask him hard questions and you will find you have a ready friend waiting to hear you.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isa 1:18  

Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Isa 41:21  

Christmas is coming and many will be driven to “Jerusalem” to see this king. Quite many still will be driven for other reasons. Not that it is wrong. Only that it seems vain. What is a greater sight to behold than the king of the whole world – the king of history?

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:  Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Mat 13:44-46 

Yes the grace of God is a gift. If you have it please rejoice in it and pray also for those other wayfarers who don’t have it yet.

  

Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Ecc 9:10

Work and Pleasure

To be halfhearted, said the preacher, is to be unhappy. So we are called to enjoy “whatsoever” we do in life.

Ideally life should be easy. We should enjoy it every time.  

But the heart is a mystical organ. It has a way of devising its own happiness. Take writing for example. A man usually starts knowing what he wants to say and how to say it. But the pen usually has its own ideas. It says what it wants to say. Sometimes it comes up with a complete new idea.

Writing is both a struggle of the will and the spirit. And so is life. We discover very early in childhood that its chief tenor is struggle. Because we live not in a perfect world but in a fallen one, life is actually a curse because of sin. That’s what explains Solomon’s torment in his great sermon. Daily we swim upstream to beat the currents of life.

But life is also a blessing. Though it rears sharp thorns and briars, life is still wonderful. It is full of colour and beautiful people.

It is worth enjoying it with our whole heart. Including work. Every work. Are we lovers? Then we should love with our whole heart. Are we students? Then we should learn with our whole might. And not just because the grave waits hungrily but because God is the chief end. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecc 12:14). 

So how should a man find pleasure in his work? How should he defeat the struggle? I think finding meaning or purpose in life should be the first motivator. It is from that foundation that everything, including work or eating, becomes a delight.

The purpose filled heart works. The grateful heart works. And work becomes a joy and not an encumbrance because behind it is the hand of a loving God and chief worker. Work therefore ennobles or degrades according to what a man believes. Do I believe in God? Then nothing shall ever be absurd again in this life.

That word “grave” Solomon uses is not entirely useless. It gives compass to the whole idea of life. It has a beginning and an end.

By doing work we put something into life before that curtain comes down. And that end according to Scripture is not far. It is very near indeed. So then the urgency for every believer.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. 1 Pet 1:24

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better. Phil 1:23

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Ps 42:2 

So we struggle, because the soul cries to be released into the eternal rest.

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. Joh 9:4  

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. Joh 11:9  

But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. Joh 11:10  

In the final analysis it’s not the duration of this life which counts, but what is left. Christ lived only for 33 years. His full ministry lasted a paltry 3 years. So get up gang! Let’s be about our master’s business!  

Hope is Not Ashamed

What keeps a man from wholehearted duty? If the body is ailing it will be hard pressed to be whole hearted. If the soul is despondent even the grasshopper will a burden. If there is no peace in the heart it will show in the work.

How did the prophets cope? David praised God. He vented, but in the end he praised God. There’s a school which deems it unfit for a man to vent. May I suggest that is not the school of prophets. Prophets weep. But even more prophets sing. Truth hates darkness. Truth shatters prison walls. So Saul and Paul sang in prison. Venting may actually be a form of prayer. The Psalms are full of it.

Walk But Do Not Run

Life is a journey, with slopes and hills, forests and plains, rocks and rough winds, but in the end it’s a life that breathes sunshine and throws up wonderful sands and vines and music along the way.

Life is poetry. It is a sublime gift from God. Read it. Recite it. Proclaim it on rooftops. Please drink it because it’s healthy.

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. Son 5:1

Lastly have a ball because nothing can really separate us from the love of God.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38-39

It is only in the way of perfect freedom that a man can give his best. God is beautiful, and as his creatures we only give back that beauty to God who deserves it all.  

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1Cor 10:31

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Joh 8:36 

“Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden” cries Christ. It’s not life which has changed. It’s the heart and the vision. Before I couldn’t see but now I do. And seeing, the work becomes light. The struggle has lifted and gone. The clouds have broken and the sun is out. Christ has come and now nothing shall be impossible ever again.

Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. Ecc 5:10  

The Peril of the City

Nothing flaunts her beauty like the city. A city, especially at night, is breathtaking. Like a woman, the city struts her stuff in the streets. She stands, and freezes, she runs while she’s walking, and at night she wakes while she’s sleeping. She cries as she laughs.

It is impossible not to covet in the city. It is where everything is happening – and where everybody who matters is. It is a desires galore.

And it is very hard for the Spiritual life to fully take root here. The city is the heart beat of the entire nation. It is where everybody in the village looks up to. What the city does the village imitates.

The Desire of Other Things

The command went forth: “Love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”. 

But Israel coveted to be like other nations. In the wilderness many coveted to return to Egypt as soon as a small trouble rose up.

The heart craves novelty. It craves ease. But that is an inexhaustible pit. It always ends in misery. “Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us” (Ecc 1:10).   

The spirit of covetousness runs the gamut of scriptures. It’s a killer of faith. For the love of the world Demas renounced his faith, while Asaph the musician nearly suffered a mental breakdown because of it.

These are only a few examples of the damage wrought by covetousness. Jesus rebuked it. Paul bewailed it.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1Ti 6:9-10 

Solomon’s Enduring Truth

Did Solomon suffer covetousness? Yes. It’s what had led him to become idolatrous. He failed to put breaks on it. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col 3:5).  

Nevertheless God gave him to be an enduring lesson for all mankind on the dangers of runaway desire. It doesn’t lead to happiness but misery instead.

And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Deu 8:2-3  

The heart is unruly. Without God it is a city without walls. So Jesus exemplified to us the best path towards an abundant life.  

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Mat 6:19-21 

The city is beautiful. But a lot of muck runs underneath it. The city sprints. And it scorns everyone who cannot catch up. The city is for winners and not losers. And so coveting is fierce, even murderous. That’s why God had warned about it.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. Exo 20:17  

If a man covet everything his neighbor has the next thing he will covet is murder. That’s how Cain’s murderous spirit was born. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Covetousness spawns discontentment and fights.

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Jas 4:1-3 

Covetousness destroys faith, heart, and soul.

And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. Mar 4:19 

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Heb 13:5  

Always Look At the Big Picture

“God crieth in the streets.”

 Let’s not miss him.

He may be the woman crawling, the son holding on to her mom’s teat, the boy crying, the old man looking lost, the man sweating, the agony emanating from the market, the thundering scream, the screeching of breaks, the shattering of bones.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Mat 25:34-36  

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Mat 25:40 

The city is a beautiful place. In the city people can get saved completely like Paul while others can get lost completely like Demas. Choose wisdom and live.

Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man… For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Pro 8:1-36 

Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. Ecc 6:7 

The Peril of a Full Stomach

In the old world there were major feasts and even worship rites surrounding food and fertility. The climax invariably boiled over to some form of debauchery.

To be fat was celebrated. To be thin was frowned upon and even regarded as reactionary, as Shakespeare knew.

CAESAR: Antonius!

ANTONY: Caesar?

            CAESAR: Let me have men about me that are fat;

Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o'nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

ANTONY: Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman, and well given.

CAESAR: Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:

 My mother used to chide: Humbira nda wahuna! Cover your stomach when you are full. She is a church woman of the Tukundereza fame, and that was her way of shielding us from being vain and falling under the wrath of God. “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.  Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God…” (Deu 8:10-17).    

A full stomach is a good thing but it is a poor teacher. It makes a man reckless. It dims the mind and lifts the flesh.

Now Solomon was magnificently glorious, even by Christ’s admission. The lilies may have surpassed him in beauty but men (and women) were drawn to him like a moth to the light. His God given wisdom held kings in awe (1Ki 4:34).  

But that also became his snare. It is easier for the world to change a believer than a believer to change the world.  That’s how the king multiplied horses, wives, silver and gold. From there the lure of full stomach came naturally to him. He had to because he had 1000 women to keep happy.

And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. 1Ki 4:22-23 

The Burden of “I” “Me” “Mine” and “Myself”

In chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes alone the number of times the letter “I” appears is 36. “Me” appears 12 times. “Mine” appears 4 times. “My” 8 times and “Myself” 3 times. “I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards… So I was great… And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy” (Ecc 2:4-10). 

That is the preamble. But the conclusion is disheartening. “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun…Therefore I hated life…” (Ecc 2:11,17). 

Desire is a good thing, for we wouldn’t be able to wake, breath, and move, without it. So we desire God, and it is then we hunger for him like a deer in a desert.

But some desires can end in tears, like the social media. It is a parade of everything we lack in life, and that’s a race a man cannot win. It is a race especially a believer does well not to be engaged in because he will never be happy that way.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Rom 8:5-6  

The heart is like a well in a quiet place. Desire is like sand, and when a lot of it falls into the well, that well eventually runs dry.

Solomon choked on his desires. It is that emptiness which informs his raving in Ecclesiastes. The modern man’s reaction is worse. He keeps silent.

The miser in parable of Luke 12 makes an interesting reading. He was rich, and the rich are susceptible to some of the most novel tragedies.

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? Luk 12:16-20  

If you consider it critically, God, in his graciousness, was really saving this man from his impending misery.

Prayer: The Famished Road of Life

Solomon had forgot God. He had become vain. But God in his mercy saved him. “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love” (Son 2:4).  

Should we point a finger at him? no. Because that is where we too were. Like him, we have been saved by grace.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Tit 3:3-5 

Solomon became a good teacher, so should we. It is the purpose of life.

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.  For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.  For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.  He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Pro 4:1-4 

In religion it is not by way of a full stomach that we usually reach the mountain top, but more often it is by the famished road of prayer, sweat and tears. If that is where you are right now fellow believer don’t give up. Keep climbing.

 

 Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. Ecc 7:23  

The Problem Solomon Presents to Modern Believers

I once had a very good Christian friend. But she was unapologetically critical. She believed all other denominations (including mine) are worldly and we will never see God. According to her we are Great Babylon.

We debated a lot. We argued a lot. But there’s one Bible name she couldn’t stand, Solomon. She insisted he wasn’t a believer but a castaway. However that friendship petered out because we had very few subjects we agreed on. My argument was that Solomon departed from his faith, but he changed. Her argument was that Solomon never changed.  

But this is why I believe Solomon changed. Immediately after introducing himself in his Ecclesiastes, Solomon fires his first salvo. NIV reads even better: “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’”

I believe it takes a radical to start off like that. In his Ecclesiastes the words vanity, vanities, and vain (meaningless) appear about 40 times. You jump from one vanity chapter to another.  Such a confessional book couldn’t have been written if the writer had not met his turning point.

I think part of my friend’s problem is that she couldn’t see Solomon’s repentance with her own eyes. In David we can see his Psalm 51. In Solomon you search for his “Psalm 51” moment but in vain. In the Old Testament we saw the repentant wearing sackcloth and ashes. But in Solomon it does not seem like he tore his soft raiment. Rather he seems to have gotten away quite free, and still he kept his wives.

However it is startling that the people who get stung most by God’s grace are sometimes the believers themselves. I believe my friend was caught up in that dilemma most believers find themselves in but they don’t admit. Her anger was not with Solomon, her anger was with God. “All these years I have been with you dad?” Her lament is the lament of the elder brother.

Nonetheless it can be argued that Solomon here comes across more as a philosopher than an evangelical preacher, that being his time. He is bluntly realistic. Sometimes you feel the note of a fatalist or a stoic wrapped up in his musings. He sinned. But should a man live forever in sorrow over empty ashes? So he lays bare all the facts of his life as bare facts deserve. It hurts but it sets a man free.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Ecc 9:7 

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ecc 9:9  

The Peril of an Easy Life

Solomon had too much time in his hands. For a man of 700 wives and 300 concubines he must have had time.

David had Saul who gave him sleepless nights. Jacob had Laban who kept him busy and Hannah had Peninnah. Samson had the Philistines and Delilah. Isaac dug his wells relentlessly but in quiet fortitude. In contrast Solomon was born in a palace. God visited him in his sleep with a blank cheque. He had gold and silver for toys. He had peace and one doubts he ever saw blood with his own eyes. 

Whereas David wrestled in the wilderness with real giants, Solomon’s struggle was that of a man who had too much and gained nothing from it. “What does it profit a man?” asked Christ. Then Solomon broke every commandment God had placed before him concerning the kings of Israel. He made God angry, and that is the most vexatious sore of them all.

But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. 1Ki 11:1-2  

And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. 1Ki 11:9 

Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 1Ki 11:11-12   

Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s repentant note. It might not satisfy our flesh but let’s remember “Salvation is of the LORD.”

There’s a Better Hope

Unlike Solomon who lacked the gospel’s eternal hope, comfort and joy of life, God has given us himself, the greatest possession of all, which is Christ. He had no earthly possessions but he has made the whole world rich by his grace. “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (Joh 4:14).  

The old prophet cried, “Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?” But today life can no longer be vain for one who is in Christ. “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psa 16:11).  

There is a Season for Everything

Change happens. When Solomon was young he behaved vainly. But now he was old (though we fight strenuously not to arrive there, but we do). Change set for Solomon. Has it set for you?

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Pro 3:13-15 

So at last Solomon changed. All indications are that he died happy. “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!” (Son 4:10). 

What love! what a feeling!