The Secret To Satisfaction

This past semester at BJU, I took a class called Poetic Books. In that class, we studied out the books of the Old Testament that contained Hebrew poetry. Ecclesiastes is one of those books. It is a beautiful book that not only is aesthetically organized, but Ecclesiastes is a book that influences worldviews. This book talks of a man who had it all, tried it all, and at the end of it all, he repented of it all because he lived it with God not at the center of it all. The books literary form is a cultural apologetic: A defense of a worldview. I believe this is also Solomon’s argument for his worldview. Probably something similar was probably said when Queen of Sheba came and tried him with hard questions. Whatever the purpose may be, the matter stands that this book was written to teach. This book connects with us easily because it shows us a lot of despair, and as humans that is no stranger to us.

I like how Ecclesiastes 12:13 is stated: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” I want to draw attention to the phrase “duty of man.” The concept behind this word is “the essence of man, the manliness of a man, the heart of the man.” This is the heart of it all! This is what the book wants us to do. This is how we need to walk away from this book, but we will not walk away with that understanding unless we understand the key to unlocking Ecclesiastes. The key to Ecclesiastes is actually right above in verse 11. “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.” Solomon is saying, in essence, do you want to understand my book? Then you need to understand what goads and nails are. Goads are long pointed sticks that would motivate animals to move. If animals were moving their own way, they would get goaded, feel pain, and get the point. The second part is nails. Solomon is not referring to nails as we know today but nails as the huge stakes that hold up huge tents so that fierce winds could not shake the tent. They are the foundation and are powerful. Solomon is saying, if you understand what goads and nails are, you will understand my book. Solomon is going to bring something to your attention so that way you get the point! He is going to goad us, which is showing us disturbing reflections of life and the point is not to run from them, but to learn from them. Then Solomon is going to show us nails which are stabilizing truths for the Christian life or Divine revelations.

Solomon presents many goads throughout his book so that way we will get the point. For example, in chapter 1, Solomon talks about the rain cycle. The water in the ocean is evaporated and goes into the air, which gathers together and then showers bring the water back down, and the process is endless! And then the wind cycle as wind just travels along the earth is endless! Just as your life goes round and round, there is no point. Even worse, when you are done with your life, no one remembers you are here! What’s the point? That is the point. That sting what the sharp end of the goad. Do you see the point? The point is that without something to transcend the pointlessness of life, life is pointless.

In chapter 2 we have another goad. Solomon seems to ask, What if you get rich and leave all your wealth to a jerk? Then what? What is the point of your labor if it is lost? The point is without God in the picture, there is no point in life.

In chapter 3, if you and your dog die and you both go to dust. What’s the difference between you and your dog? What is the point? With God in the picture, there is no point. Solomon is lobbing these philosophical grenades into the air and is saying, “THINK! Get the point!”

Chapter 3 has a lot of presentations of goads and nails. 

I.                    The Limitations of Man

First of all, I want us to see the limitations of man. Everyone detests limitations. Why do you think we hate speed limits, or deadlines to turn in papers, limits to how much we can spend, limit in the authority that we have, or limitations that the government on our freedom, or even the limitations of our own bodies when we get up in age. We are finite people and that have inherit limitations. Besides that, we are fallen people and we must be limited or we self-destruct. A person who says I don’t like or want limitations is living outside of touch of reality. He must be limited as a finite and fallen creature. If we don’t learn how to respond to limitations, we will never learn how to have satisfaction in life.

A.      God Limits Man’s Control of Life (First goad) v1-11a

This is the first goad that I want us to look at. God indeed limit man’s control of life. Chapter 3 starts out rather interesting. Verses 2 through 8 list a lot of good times and bad times. Solomon seems to be saying, 14 good times + 14 bad times on a philosophical calculator = 0. . . What is the point?! That is what Solomon asks in verse 9 when he asks, “What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?”Solomon wants us to feel his point and think!

How much control do we really have do we have? We can’t control when we are born or even when we die. We don’t have much control! If you think you have control, just try to get your cat to come inside at night. Something as small as a cat can show you that you have no control. It is one of the limitations of life. We lie to ourselves when we tell ourselves that we will be satisfied if we can bring life under control. God will purposely throw things into our lives, just to show us that we really don’t have control of life.

In America, as a teen, if you are struggling to want control, we call it a struggle for independence. If you are in your 40s and thinking that way, than it’s a mid-life crisis. The real issue is that in both cases and everyone in-between, we are being goaded by God. When life gets out of control, that is God trying to get us to see his point. We try to muscle life under control or manipulate it, but God is saying, NO! I just want you to think! Don’t miss my point! Think! And God is goading us to something He wants us to look at, and that is a nail. The solution is not to exert more power and control, that is how the world sees it, not how God instructs.

B.      God Limits Man’s Comprehension of Life (Second goad) v11b

God has put a desire in us to try to understand the end from the beginning, the eternity of all things—God has put this great desire in us to try to understand the answers to life, but God has not given us the ability to understand it. There is a reason for that. He doesn't let us see the whole picture, because we are finite and fallen creatures. When we respond to this goad incorrectly, we will think that knowing answers to life will satisfy us.

You might feel like you are on one side of the Grand Canyon, trying to get the whole picture while looking through binoculars. YOU CAN’T! It’s impossible! That is what life is like because God limits man’s comprehension of life. We often understand this concept, maybe in different words, but a lot of times we respond incorrectly. Think with me of this hypothetical situation.

There is this little girl who is in elementary school and she is struggling with her math homework. Let’s say that one night while she is working on her homework, that she slams her workbook down and yells, “Who needs numbers?!” Well, there are several things you can do when you struggle with homework. One, you can attack the teacher. “No teacher ought to be giving us this stuff because we haven’t had that and we haven’t had this and this isn't fair.” And this is attacking the teacher. Secondly, when you have an unsolvable problem in your homework is that you attack the subject. That is what the girl did when she asked, “Who needs numbers?!” Pretend with me that the father comes up to the daughter and he asks her, “Sweetheart, what do you want to be when you grow up?” And the girl responds, “I just want to be a mommy.” And the father walks over to the counter top and pulls out a cookbook. He asks her, “Sweetheart, do you see any numbers on this page?”  And she said yes. “What are you going to buy all this food with?” “And she responds, “Money. . .” “Well then I guess you need numbers,” says the dad.

If God has given us a problem, than we need that problem to grow. Philippians says that God will supply all your needs and that means he will give us everything we need and that also means that everything we have is what we need, and that includes problems. “I don’t need this problem, or I don’t need this trial. “OH yes you do! Why do you say that? Because that is what you have! You have that problem because God promised to supply all your needs, and you need that. And for us to say, “Who needs numbers?!” And attack the problem, or God, is missing the point of that goad from God.

Another thing you can do when you don’t like a problem is to avoid the problem. When you are a little kid, you can play sick, say you have a stomach ache and so you don’t have to go to school.  But avoiding the problem is not the solution either!

You know what the best thing to do is when you don’t understand the problem? You raise your hand and you ask for help. And that is exactly what God is trying to teach us, but we are so reluctant to raise our hand and ask for help. And that is a nail that we are going to come to soon. We don’t attack the teacher, we don’t attack the subject, we don’t avoid the problem—we ask for help in the problem. If you choose to live life not dependent on God, you will live with lots of goads.

“Well, I don’t like living at home, or I don’t like these people, or I don’t like this situation, or this room, or whatever!” That means you are being goaded! If you are detecting a point in your flank, God wants you to get the point and do something else other than what you have been doing.

C.      God Limits Man’s enjoyment of Life (Third goad) v13-14

God limits our enjoyment of life. God is not against enjoyment and Solomon isn't either, but enjoyment is a gift from God! God wants us to enjoy the fruits of our labor. God wants to give you the gift of enjoyment. “Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.” This is a gift from God! God gives enjoyment!

God is saying you might have lots of toys, but I may or may not give you the batteries. And if you don’t have God’s batteries, your toys won’t work. Solomon, here is a man with all the toys, but with no batteries. Without the batteries, he can’t enjoy the toys. On the flip side, that is why there are people who have almost nothing in life, but they are the happiest people in life, because God has given them the gift of enjoyment. They don’t need any more toys or anything else. They are absolutely happy with what God has given them. They have satisfaction.

How do you get that gift of enjoyment? Ecclesiastes 2:26 says, “For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.” The gift of enjoyment is a byproduct of fellowship with God. We find that theme all the way through the scriptures.

This is what a lot of Christians are doing:
It’s like visiting a store, let’s call it Empty Mart. And you go this store and you read an advertisement on the front of the store that reads, “Satisfaction guaranteed.” So you go in and you look for satisfaction in the materialism department. You run around the aisles and a clerk notices you are running around and he stops you and asks you if he can help. You say, yes, I’m looking for satisfaction. The clerk says, well we don’t have satisfaction in the materialism department, in fact we don’t have satisfaction in this store at all. And you say, but I say in an add that you have satisfaction guaranteed! And the clerk says, ya, well, that got you into the store, didn't it? And you’re a little ticked off that he just said that, but you are not going to leave that store without satisfaction, so you go to next department which is the Adventure and Entertainment department. You wonder around the aisles looking for satisfaction and again, another clerk comes up to you and asks if he can help you. You say yes, I’m looking for satisfaction and he says, well we don’t have satisfaction in the adventure and entertainment department, in fact we don’t have satisfaction in this store at all. And you’re thinking to yourself, I've heard that line before, but you are determined not to leave until you have satisfaction! So you head to the next department which is the power and prestige department. So you look around and another clerk approaches you and asks if he can help you and you say, Yes, I’m looking for satisfaction. The clerk looks at you and says, well we don’t have satisfaction in the power and prestige department . . . and then you interrupt him and say with him, “in fact we don’t have satisfaction in this store at all.” And you are getting really mad at this point, so you head to the Lust and Sensuality department. So you go looking for satisfaction and the clerk comes up to you and asks if he can help you and you just say, no, I don’t think so. You head to the last department, which is Friend and Relationship. You head there to look for satisfaction and before the clerk even comes to you, you turn around and walk out. You couldn't find satisfaction in Empty Mart.

This sounds corny, I know, but that is what we are doing! We try to find our satisfaction in the components of life, when satisfaction is with the creator of life, not in any of its components. And we deceive ourselves into thinking, “If I could just have this or that, or if my marriage will just work out, or if I act nicer to people, or if I have this GPA, then I would be satisfied!” And all of that is chasing after wind! That is not where satisfaction is found! It is found in a loving relationship with the God of life. Not in anything He gives. You can pursue all of these things, and He might even let you have some of them, but if God doesn't give you the batteries, you will never be satisfied.

II.                  The Lessons for Man v14-15

A.      God Limits us to Teach us Eternity (First nail)

We are so easily duped into thinking that the answers lie in the temporal. This is a false nail. The real nail, stabilizing truth, is that God limits us to teach us of eternity, the answer is not in the present, but in the future.

During the summer of 2012, while I was counseling at The WILDS, one of my campers blew up at one of his fellow campers over one of the smallest things. I saw his reaction and thought that was way too much of a reaction for as small as what happened. I took my camper outside my cabin and I told him, you’re not in trouble, I want to help you. Your reaction is screaming that something else bigger is up, so can you tell me what’s up? He looked at me and said, “My uncle is 88 years old! (I believe the age was 88, I could be possibly misquoting, but the concept is the same.) I quickly stated, Praise God, but then he said very adamantly, “NO! He’s mean! He’s a sinner! He hates me. And he is 88 years old. Then he looked at me and said, And God took my mom at age 40.” And then the real situation started to dawn on me. I asked him, how old is your uncle going to live? He responded with, I don’t know. I looked at him and I said, yes you do. How long will his soul live? And where? My camper looked at me and said, “Forever . . . and there.” I looked at him and asked, how long is your mom going to live? And where? “Forever . . . in Heaven.” Exactly.

The answers to these limitations are in eternity, it’s not now. And when we do that, God goads us, to teach us eternity. Without those goads, we would be obsessed with the present.

B.      God Limits us to Teach us Humility (Second nail)

“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.”  Why does God do this? SO THAT WE WILL BOW BEFORE HIM! This goes back to the fear of the Lord! The answer is in God. He limits us to put us in our place and to swat our pride and to unravel our self-confidence. A person who is sees God in the picture, doesn't get in people’s face when a problem comes, he gets on his face. He raises his hand, and asks for help.

“That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.” There is coming a time that we will be required to bow. Our past will be brought up and we will have to answer for it.

God limits our Control of Life, our Compression of Life, and our Enjoyment of Life to teach us the eternity and humility!

One of the greatest testimonies of that in our country were the African American slaves. They didn't know a lot of the Bible, they didn't know a lot of theology, BUT THEY KNEW THEIR GOD! They understand the answer was in the future, NOT THE PRESENT! They sang songs like, “ I've got shoes, you've got shoes, it’s not just the masta who has shoes, we have shoes, but we won’t get them till we get to Heaven, and when we get to Heaven, we’re gonna walk all over God’s Heaven with our shoes.” They understood EXACTLY where the answer lied . . . in eternity. The satisfaction came when they understood that! Most of us are too American to see this. We have to have everything NOW. When that doesn't happen, we despair.

If you turn your face towards Heaven, God will give you satisfaction when you turn it over to God.

III.                The Secret to Satisfaction is Joy and Peace.

Isaiah 55:1-3

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Isaiah 55:6-11

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

God will satisfy your soul! And look at the result! Verse 12 says that you will go out with JOY and you shall be led forth with PEACE! If you take joy and peace and put them in a blender and mix them up, you get a whole lot of satisfaction. Look at this! The hills are alive with the sound of music! "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." The grass is greener green and the sky is bluer blue! That happens when God gives you satisfaction! Nothing has changed about your circumstances besides that God has shown up on the picture. Instead of the thorn of a life you have, a tree shall come forth. That’s the satisfaction: the living God. And He offers himself in fellowship for that satisfaction.