June 1st Devotion

Wired to Know God – Greg Laurie

“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 NLT)

Solomon had tried it all. He was the hedonist extraordinaire, seeking pleasure at all costs. He went on unbelievable drinking binges and chased after women like there was no tomorrow.

At the same time, he was highly educated. An architectural genius, he masterminded the building of incredible structures. And by today’s standards, he was worth billions of dollars. Yet Solomon asked the same questions that many people are asking today.

Solomon wrote the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, and the first few verses introduce its theme: “These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. ‘Everything is meaningless,’ says the Teacher, ‘completely meaningless!’ What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?” (1:1–3 NLT).

Right away we know the writer is Solomon because he identified himself as “King David’s son.” Solomon was raised in a godly home. And though David’s sins were infamous, the Bible also describes him as a man after God’s own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14).

Despite his failures, David indeed was a man of God, and he wanted his son to walk with the Lord. Yet Solomon, like many young people, went on a search for himself. He went on a quest for the meaning of life.

However, we don’t have to wait for the last chapter of Solomon’s book to find out what his answer was. He brought it front and center in the beginning and went on to explain why and how he came to his conclusion.

In Ecclesiastes 1:2 he basically summed up what he discovered on his great search: “Everything is meaningless, . . . completely meaningless!”

The searcher is telling us there is nothing on this earth that will satisfy us completely. That is because God has designed us, has wired us, to know Him.