Wasn’t Solomon a believer in God?  How could he say that this life is meaningless?

1. Well it all comes down to the perspective from which he writes this book of Ecclesiastes.  --Solomon’s perspective is purely an earthly perspective.
2.  if learning and knowledge was the path to purpose then the most fulfilled people in the world ought to be the most intelligent people, right?

1. This wealthy, intelligent, prestigious and by now extremely frustrated party animal finally attempted to find his purpose through…. 
2. Power.
   1. He was not just the most interesting man in the world…he was the most powerful man in the world.
   2. even after all these accomplishments it didn’t give him a sense of purpose.

1. (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 NIV): “What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? (Remember that phrase “under the sun” because we’re going to come back to it.) All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest.” 
2. So what’s his analysis about all this stuff on earth? About all this stuff “under the sun”?
3. when you live life with strictly an “under the sun”/earthly kind of perspective, without any thought of heaven, without any thought of life or meaning beyond, there is no meaning, there is no significance, there is no purpose
4. You see, Solomon’s bottom line is this--if the person who had everything, if the person who investigated everything visible in this world found that it was meaningless, then the one thing that we really need to find significance and meaning and purpose must be invisible....it must be above the sun.

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.