Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 – a verse by verse devotional study

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

Discussion Questions: What’s something you know so well that you could give an impromptu presentation on it? What’s a fun fact you’d like to share with the group? What’s something you had delusional high hopes for?

Today, we have more knowledge available to us than at any other time in history. In seconds, a smartphone can call up information that would’ve taken months to compile a few decades ago. But despite all the facts at our fingertips, people today seem more confused, frustrated, and lost than ever before—in this section of Ecclesiastes, we’re going to talk about why.

v. 12-14 — “I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”

The thing about Kings is they don’t have term limits. Your reign ends only when you die or someone kills you. So, if Solomon himself is writing this, picture him still on the throne—perhaps towards the end of his life. And he has been King over Israel for quite some time now—His reign lasted 40 years (1 Ki. 11:42).

During those 4 decades, Solomon brought on one of the most unique periods of history in the Promised Land, compared to how these reigns usually went…Usually, kings came to power, got into wars, worshipped idols, displeased God, & died. Solomon’s reign did feature most of that, but there was a lot more going on too…

He settled a dispute between two women who were bickering over a baby (1 Kings 3:16-28). He studied plants, animals, poetry, music, philosophy, and more (1 Kings 4:29-34). Solomon was a zoologist, imported spices from all over, and loved exotic plants—he wanted to see it all. And you can chalk most of Solomon’s shenanigans up to his tireless pursuit of wisdom.

He describes it as “applying his heart” to know wisdom, which means he put every ounce of effort into it. He dedicated his heart, mind, soul, and strength to becoming wise.

After trying to discover every bit of info and find every fact, he says: “I’ve seen everything done under the Sun—and it’s all meaningless.” Now, you might ask: “Wait—how can that be possible? How could an ancient king in Jerusalem be aware of what was going on across the world? How is he qualified to judge “all that is done under heaven”? Well, the Bible tells us that Solomon knew more about the world than any wise sage in the East (1 Ki. 4:30)…

and—on top of that—rulers from across the world were coming to him to see his kingdom (1 Kings 10)! So, if anyone is equipped to evaluate the quality of life on earth, it’s gotta be Solomon.

As the ultra-informed person—who knew plants, animals, and people, what does he conclude? This search for wisdom, knowledge, & information is an “unhappy business”—a lousy job. Now, God created work before the Fall…Adam had a job to do in Genesis 2. "The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15). But when Adam & Eve sinned, God cursed the ground and made their work much harder. And, to be honest with you, all this work we’re doing feels like it’s just “busy work.”

It never gets us anywhere…

Solomon calls it “striving after the wind”—and isn’t that a frustrating task! Think about it: If you somehow managed to catch up to the wind, you couldn’t really grab onto it…And even if you could capture or contain it somehow, you wouldn’t end up with anything but a bottle of air! The pursuits that keep us busy in this world amount to nothing—even something as noble or godly as wisdom can end in emptiness!

It sounds like Solomon is dogging on wisdom here…but wisdom was kinda his thing, wasn’t it? After the “wise” men in the nativity, Solomon is the first biblical name you think of when wisdom comes up. I mean, doesn’t he have a whole book of wisdom, called Proverbs? Why does he spend 31 chapters in that book saying “Hey you, wise up!” only to now say: “Ehh, I don’t know if wisdom is all it’s cracked up to be…” Well, because the two books are answering two different questions. Proverbs tells us that wisdom is a good thing and, generally speaking, life works better when you live according to God’s design. Ecclesiastes says: “Now, in a world messed-up by sin–sure–wisdom can guide you, but it can’t give you meaning.”

And maybe that’s the problem for us…We try to find justification, validation, or even salvation in what we know. Think about it—what do many kids these days say when they go to college? They’re not just attending school to find knowledge…they’re going to “find themselves”—to find purpose. And, for those of us past that stage and working in the professional world, we do the same thing. We try to validate ourselves—and prove our worth—by what we know. Someone brings up cars, sports, or religion, and we feel special because we know about those things! We enter the chat and show off our expertise to impress those around us.

People who are not as religious do something similar too—they’re not exempt…They think:

If society could get rid of God, replace Him with knowledge, life will become free and make more sense. But that has never happened, and honestly the opposite occurs whenever we try that. So, to put it bluntly, giving this kind of weight to “wisdom” is, well, unwise and stupid!

I mean, Solomon had wisdom from God Himself, and it wasn't enough to satisfy him!

Yet, we think, the more we know, the more others will like us and the more we’ll like ourselves…But remember that the pursuit of knowledge brought the fall of humanity!…

Adam & Eve were intrigued by knowing good and evil, so they ate the forbidden fruit.

And you would think more knowledge is a good thing…but don’t forget that it was called

the tree of the knowledge of “Good and Evil”—I know we love to be informed, but wouldn’t you rather live in a world without having to know evil? That sounds like a great idea—but it’s not our present reality…We live in a world where we know way too much and can control very little.

Now, for most people, hearing that human beings can make no real impact on the world and

that we have zero control is concerning, disheartening, or even frightening. But before the end of this, I’m going to show you why that should give you peace.

v. 15 — “What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.”

We so desperately want to control the world, control others, and control our circumstances.

We want to right all the wrongs, make sense out of everything, and solve every problem. But it’s impossible—we can’t stop sinning and we can’t stop world hunger…[Jesus said “the poor will always be with you” (Mt. 26:11)] What’s crooked in the world, can’t be made straight. And there’s a lot of things lacking in this world that we can’t make up for.

You know, there’s a story in the Bible where a man became king, and during his inauguration party, God’s finger showed up and wrote on his wall. It said: “you’ve been weighed, and found lacking” (Dan. 5:27). And let me tell you what…he wasn’t the only person in power to be "crooked" and "lacking"…All people are that way, and there’s nothing we can do about it!…But that hasn’t stopped us from trying…Entire governments have been overthrown in attempts to purge them from corruption…but then what happens? The new system becomes just as corrupt—just look at the Roman Empire, or sadly the United States.

v. 16-18 — “I said in my heart, ‘I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.’ And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”

Now, if you thought this life was only meaningless when you fail at it. Or, if you thought wisdom plus great success can give life purpose and meaning, Qohelet is here to prove you wrong! All things are vanity whether you’re a complete failure or a total success. Becoming the wisest person ever won’t solve any of your biggest & deepest problems or make you feel better. Solomon is definitive proof of this…he was wiser and greater than all the kings in Jerusalem before him! [This includes, at least, Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18), Adoni-zedek (Josh. 10:1), and David]. And during his reign, not only did he search for wisdom, he says he explored the depths of madness—wild celebrations—and folly—silliness. But there was no party or practical joke that could distract Solomon from the pointlessness of life.

After becoming the biggest and best king, Solomon realized that life’s biggest questions can’t be answered by having more information…He discovered that more wisdom equals more problems. “Ignorance is bliss,” as they say, because the more you know the more it weighs on you. The more you know about being healthy, the more it troubles you when people live unhealthy lives. The more you know about managing money, the more it pains you to see people with bad spending habits. And even the more you know about the Bible, the more you’ll become frustrated with churches who ignore it.

And speaking of church, given Solomon’s conclusion, isn’t it a little odd that people are always looking for practical preaching? They want advice, life tips, and tools to try out during the week…But none of those things can ever comfort you in this meaningless life…So, let me give you something that will. I don’t do application; ‘round here we do proclamation…

So far, we’ve been hearing—and relating to—the perspective of human observation. But now it’s time for some divine intervention, some redemptive interruption. After all, life will continue to be meaningless as long as we keep God up in the sky and out of this world…

If the God who exists stays in heaven, He really can’t help us…But our God not only came to live “under the Sun” with us, He became one of us.

Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh (Jn. 1:14), and so, now, rather than us embarking on an endless search for wisdom, Jesus—God’s wisdom personified—has come searching for us! "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord'" (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

So, we no longer need to seek knowledge in order to stay informed and important in the eyes of others…Instead, we can rejoice that we know God. "Thus says the LORD: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD'" (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

We know a God who knows everything. So, we no longer have to make failed attempts to control it all. We have a God—a Savior—who came to make the crooked things straight. "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:5-6).

Rather than living this life with our hands gripping the steering wheel as we careen off a cliff,

We can live by this promise rather than control—because our control rarely works and it never lasts anyways.

We no longer need to “strive after the wind” because we have a God who is far more difficult to contain than the wind. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).

And one thing this God will accomplish in us is this: He will use the Law to convict and kill your self-confidence and perceived control. The Law produces knowledge…of your own sin (Rom. 3:20)! And this knowledge will “increase your sorrow”…godly sorrow that leads to repentance and salvation (2 Cor. 7:10)! But until the last day comes, when our salvation is fully realized, here’s what we do: Given the state of things “under the Sun," we seek the things that are above (Col. 3:1-2). Because we have a Savior who has forgiven us, prepared a place for us, and who rules the world, we don’t look around us for comfort or purpose, we look to Jesus and prepare to enjoy the gifts He won for us.