Ecclesiastes 2:4 says, I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:  Solomon thought using his riches for his own benefit would bring him a sense of purpose.  He had first built a great Temple to God, but now he was building for himself.  We must be careful that we don't start building for God's glory and then get sidetracked to build only for ourselves.  Often today, people feel that if they can get a bigger, or better, house, or just more of them, it is going to bring happiness and purpose to life, but nothing is ever quite enough.  I am not sure how God feels about homes sitting empty for our occasional use while many people, even children, are homeless, but I cannot believe that He is pleased with His followers when we live this way.  If Solomon could not find purpose in building homes for himself, we should realize that we have little hope of doing it.  Verse five says, I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:  In verse four Solomon said he had planted vineyards and here he continues with gardens and orchards.  There is certainly nothing wrong with doing these things, but they are not going to bring us to the purpose of our existence.  I think Solomon actually had I others do these things for Him, and they likely didn't enjoy the majority of the fruit of their labor.  Solomon continues in verse six, I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: Again, the works that Solomon was doing were good, but they were being done for the wrong reason.  We certainly need to do good works today, but if they are done for simply to bring satisfaction in life, ultimately we are going to find ourselves dissatisfied.  We may do good things for the environment, but if we are only doing it for purpose in life, ultimately we will be disappointed.  We will find like Solomon, that good works alone are never enough if they are done for selfish reasons.

Ecclesiastes 2:14 says, The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.  I believe Solomon was saying that a wise person looks where they are going and lives life with purpose, but the fool just stumbles through life.  We today as followers of Christ need to live our with purpose.  That purpose needs to be to go where God leads us.  Still, even when we live life with a purpose, we like the fool are subjected to sickness, and ultimately death.  Solomon continued in verse fifteen, Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.  Again, Solomon was looking for purpose in life, and he was seemingly questioning what advantage there was to being wise.  There are people today who believe that what we do doesn't matter.  They believe that everything is already mapped out, so we might as well do anything we want to do.  They really see no advantage to living life wisely.  They seem to feel the same as Solomon was saying, and that is that the wise and the foolish end up at the same place.  They both die, and it all amounts to nothing in everlasting terms.  Verse sixteen says, For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.  Solomon was looking for purpose in life, and he wasn't finding it in the things of this world.  We may remember some people today because of what they did in a historical perspective, but most, whether wise or foolish, pass into oblivion, which is why we must look at life from our relationship with God.  If we are His, we will never be forgotten.

Ecclesiastes 2:1 says, I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.  Solomon moved from an intellectual pursuit for happiness to becoming a party animal, so to speak.  When we are seemingly unable to find happiness in our lives today, we are often told we just need to get out and party with others more.  We need to laugh and enjoy life.  Now, there is nothing wrong with going out with friends and having a good time laughing, but if this becomes our soul purpose in life, it is going to leave us feeling that life is nothing of value.  We today start at a very young age looking for things to bring us pleasure and happiness and often spend most of our lives doing the same.  Solomon with all his riches couldn't find value in chasing happiness.  Verse two says, I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?  Trying to live in a world that is all laughter is indeed mad.  As a matter of fact, if we go through life laughing at everything, or in spite of everything, people will indeed call us mad.  Verse three says, I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.  Though Solomon sought to give himself to wine, he did it with wisdom.  Even when using wine to find answers to see what was good for mankind, he did it with wisdom.  Too often, when we are using wine, or any other mind altering substance, we leave wisdom out of the equation.  We use these things as a means of escape from reality, not to understand the world better.  Even though some drugs are professed to be mind expanding, they simply remove a person from reality.  Solomon, though King of God's people, was still looking to himself for answers about man's purpose.  We will never find God's answer by our own abilities.

Ecclesiastes 1:15 says, That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.  Solomon discovered that all his knowledge could not make human nature straight.  Humanity without God is indeed crooked.  He could not make himself acceptable to God through knowledge, and neither can we .  He lacked the ability to fill the want in his life.  We today will find that the more we know, the more we realize that we do not know that much.  What we should be wanting is a right relationship with God, and nothing material can satisfy this wanting.  We still realize our lack of ability to understand all the workings of the world.  Likewise, the more we have of the things of the world, the more we want as a rule.  Verse sixteen says, I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.  Solomon looked inside himself and did a self evaluation of his estate and his wisdom compared to others.  I don't believe he was doing this to brag, but simply to compare himself to the rulers before him.  We today need to look to our own heart, to examine our innermost being, to see if we have been looking for purpose in the things of this world instead of our relationship to God.  If Solomon, with all his knowledge and riches couldn't find it, neither will we .  Verse seventeen says, And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.  Solomon looked for the answers not only in wisdom, but also in madness and folly.  People today look for happiness in many things that are foolish, such as excessive use of alcohol and drugs, but they soon find these do not satisfy.  Verse eighteen says,  For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.  Solomon warns us that if we are looking to our wisdom alone for happiness and purpose, we are only going to increase our sorrow.  We will never gain enough knowledge or wealth to be satisfied without God.

 Ecclesiastes 1:12 says, I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.  Solomon had been speaking in generalities, and now he was going to share his own experiences.  We can talk about the world today and how bad it is in general terms, but the most effective witness we can share is what God has done in our life.  Until we accept God as Lord of our life through Jesus Christ, we will continue to see the world as a futile, hopeless place.  Solomon was king of Israel, but now he was speaking to the people as a spokesman for God.  No matter how important we may be in the world, ultimately it is our relationship with God that matters.  Verse thirteen says, And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.  People today are seeking to understand everything done in the world.  We here in America are much more educated in general than ever before, but most still do not even know enough to acknowledge that God created and sustains the world.  Solomon was not condemning learning, but only saying that all his learning took a lot of effort and did not bring satisfaction to his life.  No matter how much worldly wisdom we gain, we will never find satisfaction outside the understanding of Who God is.  Verse fourteen says, I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.  Again, Solomon was not condemning work or saying that we shouldn't do our best in everything that we do.  He was saying ultimately that our works on earth will pass away.  We may believe that we are so important in our job that if we leave everything will fall apart, but once we leave, we are surprised at how quickly we are forgotten.  Everything we do in this world is temporary, but as God's followers that shouldn't cause us to feel defeated, because we are working to serve God and not the world.

Ecclesiastes 1:10 says, Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.  This is a continuation of what was last said.  We may think we have come a long way since Solomon's time, but we still chase the vanities of the world.  Those things that we felt were such great inventions twenty years ago are now outdated, but the new things are still just rearrangements of what God gives us.  We cannot look to our own knowledge and understanding to find purpose in life, and that has always been and always will be the case.  Verse eleven says, There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.  A few people are remembered today for things done in the past, but most are completely forgotten by nearly the whole world.  Whole civilizations disappeared from the world and were forgotten.  If this life on earth and our achievements here are where we place all our time and hope, we need only to look to how quickly nearly all people are forgotten to realize how vain that hope is.  Again, this is not to say that we are to feel hopeless or worthless, but we are to put our hope and faith in God.  He will never forget us.  Many people have been attempting to make themselves smarter and greater than God since the beginning of the world.  Adam and Eve sinned because they thought the could know more on their own than by following God, and that has been the same for everyone, except Jesus, ever since.  Today, there are people who think they have so much knowledge that they disprove the existence of and need for God.  Just as Solomon said those centuries ago though, it is all based on vanities, on nothingness.

Ecclesiastes 1:7 says, All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.  Rivers have been emptying into the seas since the beginning of time, but the rivers still flow and the seas don't overflow.  We can believe that a cosmic accident caused this to continue, or we can believe this phenomenon is the result of an intelligent design.  We, as followers of Christ, have to acknowledge it as the creation of the only true God.  Verse eight says, All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.  Most things that we want reguire labor to achieve.  We often call everyday life the art race.  We are busy attempting to get the things we see or the things we hear about, but we are seldom satisfied very long once we have them.  We are not satisfied with just seeing and hearing about things, but feel we must have them.  It becomes a vicious cycle of vanity, or notingness.  If we are never satisfied with what we have, or even the things we do, then we are always wanting more, more, more.  Yet, nothing ever satisfies.  As followers of Christ, we need to learn to be thankful for what God blesses us with and realize that the things of this world are all temporary, but our relationship with God is everlasting.  If we are truly following God's will for our lives, we will not see life as a continual working to satisfy our senses.  Verse nine says, The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.  We are always hearing about something new, but the laws of nature never change.  We may feel that we are the smartest, most advanced people in the world, but so have many, many other generations that have gone before us.  God set the world, the universe, in motion, and no matter how smart we feel, it is still the same world and universe.  Even with all the technology of today, there really is nothing new under the sun.  We either accept that God created it all and placed us in the midst of it, or we deny Him and feel that we don't need God.  Whatever new that comes along, it is built from what God created and relies on His laws of the world.