Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
One gets the impression that Solomon looks back over the years and his reign with a less than positive opinion. How many people in their youth enter their career or adulthood with high expectations and dreams but get caught up in the process and come to an end and say it's “meaningless”? In the first part of chapter 8, we see that Solomon was aware that his high expectation for his rule may have been polluted. As his edicts were filtered through members of his court with less noble goals, they were corrupted. His dreams of a golden age of justice got lost between his youthful heart and the street-level reality near the end of his reign.
Verses 10 and 14 asked the question, “Why did bad things happen to good people and vice versa?” Verses 16-17 offer the conclusion that no one, not even the wisest king in all the world, can find the answer to that question. Verse 15 seems to be a concession to the enigma of life. Enjoy while you can the life God gives you. Aspirational goals and dreams tend not to end up as our legacy. Our legacy is in the sum total of the joy in the moments we live.
“Lord, help me hold every moment as precious. AMEN.”
