Ecclesiastes is written by Solomon. God gave him wisdom, and it served many purposes. God’s never just up to one thing. We tend to look at things in a singular way. We want to see God’s reason for something, but He’s up to a lot. We’re looking at our little situation in front of us, and God is looking at all of redemptive history.

God gave Solomon wisdom to rule wisely over the people of Israel. That’s what Solomon was looking at. But God also gave Solomon wisdom to elevate Solomon and Israel in the sight of all the nations. God gave Solomon rest on all sides so that the temple could be built and to bring honor to His own name and to His nation and to the place where He chose to put His name.

There was more, though, and we see it in Ecclesiastes. God gave wisdom to Solomon to teach him an important lesson that he could pass on to the rest of us. Nothing we can gain in this life is worth anything.

Solomon had more wisdom than anyone in the world. It ended up being meaningless to him. We’ll see more of this as the book progresses. There’s no amount of wisdom you can gain, that will satisfy. Nothing in this world is ever enough.

Solomon comes to the conclusion that, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

People still search and search and strive and strive to gain things in this world, things they think will bring happiness and satisfaction.

They may or may not get them, but it doesn’t matter either way. It won’t satisfy. It’s all “vanity and a striving after the wind.”

You are looking at yourself and will wind up with nothing. The only thing worth our pursuit is God Himself.