Soul Hole

"The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person." Ecc. 12:13

The Book of Ecclesiastes is essentially an autobiography of the third king of Israel, King Solomon. In the second verse of Chapter one, Solomon sets forth his theme for the entire book, which is also the theme for his entire life. " 'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher, 'Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.' "

I was brought up in the "Bobby Joiner School of South Georgia Theology." The way Coach Joiner would explain this proclamation by Solomon is that we are all born with a hole in our soul. This hole is a vacuum that causes a void in our life. We will try anything we can to fill that hole. The only problem is that hole is in the shape of a cross, and the only thing that will adequately fill it is Jesus Christ. Some things will temporarily plug the hole, but anyone who has taken Economics 101 is familiar with the "Law of Diminishing Return." For example, your first ice cream cone is great. Your second one is not bad, however your tenth one is terrible. The more you get of it the less satisfying it becomes, and what once was fulfilling is no longer, and you move on to something else. If it were possible to fill that hole outside of Jesus Christ, Solomon would have found the secret. Literally, anything that Solomon desired, he had at his disposal. Let's examine only a few things that Solomon tried to fill that hole with:

1) He had wealth like no other in the history of the world (1 Kings 10:23) He controlled all trade and commerce of the entire land, and kings and rulers from all over the world sent him tribute. He had the largest construction company the world has ever seen. (Not to mention he built the temple) He had a massive ship building business. He made Donald Trump look like Fred Sanford.

2) He had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). STOP...go back and read that last sentence again. It's hard to even fathom this. I have a difficult time finding a date and this guy had 1000 women at his beck and call!!! Surely if this void could be filled with physical pleasures, 1000 women would have been sufficient.

3) Could it be wisdom? Early in Solomon's reign as king he prayed that God would give him wisdom to effectively govern God's people (1 Kings 3:9). God answered his prayer and Solomon was the wisest man to ever live. He spoke 3000 proverbs and wrote over 1000 songs.

4) How about popularity? Kings from all nations who heard about Solomon sent men to listen to him. "The whole world saught audience" with him (1 Kings 10:24). People heard stories about him that were so unbelievable, they had to go see for themselves. Everyone knew of Solomon.

The Bible only records a portion of Solomon's "accomplishments." So why in the world did he claim all this was vanity? The answer is Solomon tried to fill the void in his soul with the wrong things. His father, King David, gave Solomon one final command just before his death. He told Solomon to "observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his law and requirements..." (1 Kings 2:3). This is why Solomon calls all his lifes work "vanity." He was not focused on the right things. He still would have had all the riches and wisdom, God promised him that when He answered his prayer, but Solomon, through lack of faith in the Plan of God, made his wisdom and riches his lifes focus. God took a backseat to them. It was not until his last years of life that he realized he had been focusing on the wrong things for the last 40 years, which is why he wrote Ecclesiastes.

In order to avoid coming to the same conclusion about your life as Solomon, it is necessary that you apply the "South Georgia Doctrine of Deudis & Deudat." This simply means, if God says to "do this" then do this, if God says to "do that" then do that. Let's stay focused on the Plan of God for our lives.

If you have never come to a point in your life where you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ's complete work on the cross for your eternal salvation, then you won't understand what Solomon is trying to tell us in the conclusion of Ecclesiastes. Don't go another minute without making a decision about what you will do with Jesus Christ.