9. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10. Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.
I remember the day I came to pastor my two churches. That first week I thought I had no right to be there. The jobs were beyond me. I thought I was not able to handle the situations and staff. That was beyond my wisdom. My humble prayer was, “Lord, please help me and guide me for you have called me beyond my capabilities.”
Through the years the prayers got shorter. As soon as I was tempted to say "I can handle it." something fell into my lap that was overwhelming. I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was. God kept humbling me to make me continually dependent upon Him.
Repentance, forgiveness, and recommitment is a pattern needed in our Christian growth. Some people never re-evaluate their life by God's standards. Only when things go badly do they cry to God. When things go well, they don't bother. That is the way we are. That's why we must daily come to Christ and commit to Him all our ways, then He shall direct our paths.
In verses 9-10 history doesn't even come up with anything new. Nothing is new under the sun. Everything is the same. Perhaps we see in our day change happening so fast, we can easily say the Old Testament skeptic hadn't lived in a day like ours, but after a while the basics of life are the same.
Greed is rampant and the mortality rate is still 100%. We may change the pawns around the chess board of life a little longer, but they are the same moves and the same outcome. We lose if this earthly life is all there is.
Saul, Israel’s first king, didn't want to be king with all that responsibility. God chose him and saw his potential, but after a while power went to his head and his heart changed. He began serving himself and being disobedient to God.
David was a man after God's own heart, but, like the humans before him, he too had weaknesses when he failed to keep his eyes on his Shepherd and needed to learn over again that the power of the kingdom was not in his hands but in God's.
Solomon started well, but lusts got the best of him. His wisdom became self-centered and not God-centered. Solomon departed from the close and needed commitment he desired, later following false gods and women. It is in that context that we find an older Solomon preaching now. He had now lost the enjoyment of life.
Application: Know that outside of God there is nothing but vanity.
Prayer: Lord, teach me to stay focused on You, living in Your presence throughout my day that I might resist the vanities of this life.
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