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Love Letters From God_ The Vanity of Pleasure _ 1 Kings 4_20 · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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  To love letters. through welcome to love letters
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  from God. Today we're going to be looking
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  at Solomon's life a little more. Last week we started looking at
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  Solomon's life and he was the one who wrote the book of
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  Proverbs and and some of the Psalms.
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  And he was a very wise man. But what we're going to be
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  understanding here as we read through his some part of his
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  life and he didn't use his wisdom in a in a good way
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  always. So let's turn to the book of
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  First Kings, chapter 4. And we're going to start with
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  verse 20. Judah and Israel were as
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  numerous as the sands by the sea in multitude, hearing and
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  drinking and rejoicing. So Solomon reigned over all
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  kingdoms, from the river to the land of the Philistines as far
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  as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served
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  Solomon all the days of his life.
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  Now Solomon's provision for one day was 30 cores of fine flour,
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  60 cores of meal, 10 fatted oxen, 20 oxen from the pastures,
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  and 100 sheep, besides deer and gazelles and roebucks and fatted
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  fowl. For he had dominion over all the
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  region on this side of the river, from Tipsa even to Gaza,
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  namely all the kings on this side of the river.
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  And he had peace on every side all around him.
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  And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine
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  and his fig tree. From Dan as far as Mersheba, all
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  the days of Solomon. Solomon had 40,000 stalls of
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  horses for his Chariots and 12,000 horsemen and those
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  governors. Each man in his month provided
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  food for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon's
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  table. There was no lack in their
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  supply. They also brought barley and
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  straw to the proper place for the horses and the steeds.
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  Each man according to his charge.
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  And God gave Solomon wisdom, an exceedingly great understanding
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  and largeness of a heart like the sand on the seashore.
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  Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the
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  East and all the wisdom of Egypt, for he was wiser than all
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  men. Then Ethan the Israelite, then
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  Heman, Chalcal, and Darda, the sons of Maho, and his fame was
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  in all the surrounding nations. He spoke 3000 Proverbs, and his
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  songs were 1005 also. He spoke of trees, from the
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  cedar tree of Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springs out of
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  the wall. He spoke also of animals and of
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  birds and of creeping things and of fish, and men of all nations,
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  from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom,
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  came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
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  Pretty smart guy, you know, God gave him all that wisdom.
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  He had asked for wisdom, and God said that was a good idea.
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  I'm glad you did that instead of asking for a long life or riches
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  and so on. And with his wisdom, God said
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  you're going to have a long life and so on.
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  Solomon used his wisdom to write Proverbs, and we have read
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  Proverbs before. And but he also used it in a bad
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  way. And he wrote the book of
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  Ecclesiastes to show his mistakes and how his wisdom
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  didn't really do everything for him that he thought it would.
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  So turn over to the book of Ecclesiastes now and we're going
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  to look at chapter 2. I said in my heart, come now, I
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  will test you with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure.
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  But surely this also was vanity, I said of laughter, madness, and
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  of mirth. What does it accomplish?
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  I searched in my heart to gratify my flesh with wine,
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  while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on
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  folly till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do
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  under heaven all the days of their lives.
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  I made my works great. I built myself houses and I
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  planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and
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  orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
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  I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees
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  of the Grove. I acquired male and female
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  servants, and I had servants born in my house.
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  Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who
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  were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself
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  silver and gold and the special measures of kings and of the
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  provinces. I acquired male and female
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  singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical
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  instruments of all kinds. So I became great, and I
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  excelled more than all who were before me.
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  In Jerusalem also my wisdom remained with me.
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  Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them.
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  I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart
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  rejoiced in all my labour, and this was my reward from all my
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  labour. And then I looked on all the
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  works that my hands had done, and on the labour in which I had
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  toiled, and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the
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  wind. There was no profit under the
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  sun. Then I turned myself to consider
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  wisdom and madness and folly. For what can a man do who
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  succeeds the king only what he's already done.
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  Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, and light excels
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  darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his
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  head, but a fool walks in darkness.
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  For I myself perceived that the same event happens to them all.
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  So I said in my heart, as it happens to the fool, it also
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  happens to me. And why was I then more wise?
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  And then I said in my heart, this also is vanity, for there
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  is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
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  since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
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  And how does a wise man die? Just like a fool does?
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  Therefore I hated life, because the work that was done under the
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  sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for
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  the wind. Then I hated all my labor in
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  which I had toiled under the sun, because I must have it to
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  the man who will come after me. I must leave it to the man who
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  would come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or
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  a fool. Yet he will rule over all my
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  labour which I toiled in, and in which I've shown myself wise
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  under the sun. So this also is vanity.
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  Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labour in
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  which I had toiled under the sun.
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  For here there is a man whose labour is with wisdom and
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  knowledge and skill, yet he must leave his heritage to a man who
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  has not laboured for it. This also is vanity and a great
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  evil. For what has man for all his
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  labour, and for the striving of his heart with which he is
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  toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful,
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  and his word burdensome. Even in the night his heart
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  takes no rest. This also is vanity.
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  Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink,
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  and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor.
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  This also I saw was from the hand of God.
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  For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment more than I?
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  For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who
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  is good in his sight. But to the Sinner he gives the
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  work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is
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  good before God. This also is vanity and grasping
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  of the wind. So here you go.
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  Here's a man that's got everything.
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  He can accomplish whatever he chooses.
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  He's wise enough to gather all the money he wants, he can have
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  all the pleasure he wants, he can build his empire as great as
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  he wants. But he's going to die just like
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  everybody else, and the fool that hasn't accomplished
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  anything is going to die too. Both of them are going to.
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  When they're dead, they're dead. Not much to feel happy about,
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  but we're going to find out what Solomon will realize as we go
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  through this and read this in later passages.
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  He comes to the conclusion that serving God is the best answer
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  for everything. As you serve God, God helps you
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  through all your troubles and distresses.
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  Yeah, you're going to one day die.
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  But if you if you have served him, he's going to care for you.
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  One thing about this love letter that God has given us is that he
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  shows us the good and the bad. And in this particular case,
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  he's, he's showing us that the wisest man in the world could
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  not bring happiness to himself without God.
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  So put God in your life, make him a partner in your life, and
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  your life will prove to give you more accomplishments than it
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  would otherwise. Shall we pray?
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  Our Father in heaven, your love letter gives us all the
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  information you want us to know, and we so much appreciate that.
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  This story of Solomon shows us that no matter how smart we are,
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  no matter how much money or how much education or how much of
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  anything we have, if we don't have you, we really don't have
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  anything. So help us to understand.
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  We need you. And along with that, your love
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  letter tells us that you sent your son to provide what we
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  needed and he came willingly. And we're so glad he did.
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  And we offer this prayer in his name.
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  Amen. And that's it for today.
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