Personal relationship with God offers true satisfaction

Isn’t the Northwest an amazing place to live?

I’m born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, and save for a short stint living and working in New Hampshire, I have spent my entire life living in either Washington, Oregon, or Idaho. I love it here. And when we are talking about Sandpoint, Idaho, well, that takes it to another level. Hiking, biking, berry picking, hunting, fishing, skiing, and any water activity you can name on Lake Pend Oreille has Sandpoint becoming a destination.

Living up here in this corner of the Pacific Northwest can feel a bit like paradise at times. We have four seasons, great community, and we are just close enough to Spokane and Canada to go there on a whim. When you consider our geographic location combined with the material abundance we enjoy in our nation, we can easily be led into thinking that we have all that we need.

However, wisdom implores us to think deeper. The Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament is a book about gaining wisdom. The author of this book is most likely King Solomon, and if you don’t know much about Solomon, let me fill you in. The Bible refers to King Solomon as the wisest and wealthiest king who ever was, so that there were none like him before or since. People came from far and wide to hear his great wisdom. Solomon was the man who had it all: wealth, prestige, pleasure, wisdom, fame, and anything else “under the sun.” To put just his wealth in perspective, he received as an annual tribute to his kingdom 50,000 pounds of gold each year! We’re talking about wealth beyond numeration.

This is why the Book of Ecclesiastes is such a wonderful part of the Scriptures. Solomon, the possessor of fame, wisdom and wealth unlike anything people have ever seen, opens the book of Ecclesiastes with these inspiring words, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Another translation says, “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” Now, if that doesn’t encourage you to face the day, I don’t know what will!

So why talk about Solomon, his prestige, and his cynical attitude in a Friday morning newspaper article? I’m glad you asked. Solomon is an example for every person to consider, and especially us in the affluent West. You see, Solomon had it all. From a material and social perspective, he lacked nothing. Listen to his own words on the matter, “So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure,” (Ecclesiastes 2:9-10a). But strangely, Solomon goes on, and only a few verses later, he shocks us by saying, “So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind,” (Ecclesiastes 2:17).

Wow! How could this man, who had affluence and wisdom and power unlike anything we will ever experience claim that “he hated life?” Simple. Solomon came to the point where he realized that his temporal pursuits weren’t enough to satisfy his eternal longings. He was trying anything and everything to find satisfaction but in the end, it was all vanity, a striving after the wind.

I’m reminded of another passage of Scripture that speaks to our topic as well - it’s 1st John 2:15-17, which says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Solomon, for his part, figured this truth out by the end of Ecclesiastes, and I would wholly recommend you read it to see what he says. But I want to leave you with this thought. Will you learn from Solomon’s experience? There is nothing that you can try that he didn’t do 10 times crazier than you ever could, and he said, “None of it satisfies.”

Scripture is abundantly clear that the only thing that really will satisfy us is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that is forged through the repentance of our sin and faith in Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross in our place. Jesus is the one who offers water that quenches our deepest thirsts and life that is never ending. He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28). It is my prayer that you would meet and trust the Lord Jesus today, enter into his rest, and follow him joyfully.

Brandon Herron is pastor of student and family ministries at First Baptist Church in Sandpoint.