HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

I am not smart by any means.  In fact I feel

embarrassed around truly smart intelligent

people.  But at times like that I try to keep

my mouth shut.  Why expose my ignorance

to them?

Consequently I want to spend some time 

trying to understand the writings of someone

who was truly smart - Solomon.  Maybe I 

can learn a little from him.

God gave Solomon more wisdom than any

person that ever lived, or will live.

[I know.  You and I both have friends and

neighbors who think they are the "SMARTEST"

thing that ever lived.]

So that puts me into what we call the book of

Ecclesiastes.

  

""Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher,

"completely meaningless!"

What do people get for all their hard work

under the sun?  Generations come and 

generations go, but the earth never changes."

"History merely repeats itself.  It has all been

done before."

(Ecclesiastes 1:1-4 and 9 NLT)

I am looking at it from a different vantage point

than you are.  I am old.  Really really old.  And

after looking back over a life of hard work I have

to agree with Solomon - what's the point?

Some day I will die and all that effort will

be lost, gone forever - that is in this material

world if that is all I have worked for.

But there is a realm that will last forever,

the Spiritual realm.  If I shift my focus from

the things of this material world to the world

or realm of the Spirit - everything changes.

Solomon comes to the conclusion at the end

of his book which we will probably look at
a number of times:

"That's the whole story.  Here now is my final

conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands,

for this is everyone's duty.  God will judge us

for everything we do, including every secret

thing, whether good or bad."

(Ecclesiastes 12:13,14 NLT)