Master of none

I once listened to a podcast that was talking about the pursuit of productivity. The description of the pursuit of productivity by an individual was very like Solomon’s pursuit here to find satisfaction and contentment.  Neither seemed to be found. Solomon had all the time and resources to chase after contentment.  He jumped from the first thing to the second thing, to the next thing all in an attempt to “evaluate” or “experiment” with the achievement of contentment. This failed.

Then I took a good look at everything I’d done, looked at all the sweat and hard work. But when I looked, I saw nothing but smoke. Smoke and spitting into the wind. There was nothing to any of it. Nothing.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 MSG

I wonder though, what did Solomon master?  Yes God gave him supreme wisdom, but it wasn’t all wisdom.  The wisdom we receive must be given by God and more important we have to recognize that the wisdom isn’t our creation.  We are wisest when relying on God for direction, guidance, and decision making in our lives.  The lesson in these verses (Ecc 2:1-11) is that we shouldn’t just try everything in an attempt to be satisfied.  The wise king amounts that to a failure.  Instead, we should see in this the need to focus on the gifts that God has given us.  The only way we can be satisfied is to do His will.

My mind hurts just looking at all the things that Solomon experimented on.  That in itself seems rather foolish.  God has honed us over the course of time to become a masterpiece that has a very specific detailed function for His body and we just need to listen for what that is.  The talents that have been granted to us should not go to waste but instead be used for His glory.  Glory is the satisfaction that will feed our souls, because it is for our Savior.