We live in a world that says that many things will lead to contentment and satisfaction, yet the reality of life is that you can watch a few minutes of the news and know that satisfaction and contentment is not to be found in the things of this world.
Now I realize that there might be a level of contentment and satisfaction in certain things, but what I am talking about is that contentment which is deep and satisfying.Ê Solomon was a man who had everything, yet he found no satisfaction in any of it.Ê We are going to look at what the world purposes as enough to satisfy, but when scrutinized does not and what really satisfies.
Ê1. Mirth and pleasure are not enough to satisfy (2.1-3,10) ÊHere is one of the biggest lies the world tries to get people to believe! We are told the more pleasure, the more indulgence, you allow yourself, the more satisfied you will be.
Bigger cars. Homes. Vacation properties. Sexual pleasures.
ÊPleasures, in various forms and shapes are held out as that which, if partaken in, will lead one to satisfaction. Yet the true result of this is an emptiness, and of no profit! (2.11)
Ê2. Gold and silver, riches are not enough.Ê Solomon talks often about riches: Silver and Gold.(2.8) The conclusion Solomon was lead to was that satisfaction and contentment did not lie in these things! (2.11; 6.1-6; 7.1-2)
Why don't we believe him?
Families in chaos.
Children left to raise themselves.
Relationships scarred, all for the sake of a few dollars more.
ÊIf we think we are ever going to find satisfaction in riches, we are, as Solomon would say, striving after the wind.
3. Work is not enough to satisfy! (2.4-7)Ê Here again, Solomon hits at a soft spot! How many people have become enslaved to work, as that which gives worth, and satisfaction! How many people use work as an escape; throwing themselves into their work hoping that it will bring the contentment and satisfaction they don't have in the rest of their lives. Yet again we are aware of the stress; blown apart families; and relationships of use and abuse rather than care and concern as we become workaholics.
Ê4. What will satisfy? Fear of the Lord and obedience to His commands.. (12.13) In Fearing Him and displaying it in obedience, all of these other things will fall into place with a right perspective! People become more important than things; relationships deepen and less becomes more because we see things as they really are! Matthew 6: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you!" If you want to know true satisfaction and contentment, then fear the Lord and obey Him.Ê To seek satisfaction anywhere else or in anything else is to grasp at the wind and come up empty.
