#122: Is Motherhood Vanity? NO!!! Finding Purpose in Our Unseen Moments in Ecclesiastes | Bible Study for Christian Moms

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This is The Dwelling Place.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox from Entrusted

Ministries, and for years we've been

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telling moms that what you do over and

over matters to God, And that those little

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things that you do to serve your family,

when you're building upon the foundation

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of Jesus Christ, nothing is vanity.

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Today we begin the Book of Ecclesiastes.

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We'll be diving into this

book's author and intent

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And I'll be explaining why I've

been wrestling with this book of

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the Bible so much I think there's

some crucial understanding we need

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to have before we move forward.

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So this episode will be a little bit

longer, and then in the next episode

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We'll cover the key

scriptures from the whole book

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I know I'm telling you over and over

what my favorite scriptures are,

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but today I thought, you know what?

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You might appreciate me being really

honest and saying that when I turned

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the page of my notebook and realized

that the next book of the Bible

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we were studying was Ecclesiastes,

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I literally groaned.

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And I've seriously been more angry than

I've ever been at a Bible character.

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I've been wrestling with this book,

and I had to set it aside and ask

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the Lord to reveal to me more of

why it's in the Bible and how Jesus

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Christ is glorified through it

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Even though I'm still very frustrated

at how Solomon fell into deceptions,

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I will tell you, indeed, Jesus is

glorified, and I'm so thankful to serve

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Him rather than submit to an earthly king

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Of course, the first thing we

have to address is who wrote

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the Book of Ecclesiastes.

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For years and years, it was widely

accepted by the Jewish and Christian

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communities that Solomon was the author.

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It's a more modern thing that

people would question it.

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See, it doesn't claim to be

written by Solomon, it claims

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to be written by Kohelet.

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This isn't a name, but a

title meaning the preacher

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And it refers to someone who is imparting

wisdom From most sources I look to, they

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concluded it makes so much sense that it's

Solomon, so let's just assume it's him

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But I want to explain why

so you feel confident.

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The MacArthur commentary says, "The

autobiographical profile of the book's

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writer unmistakably points to Solomon.

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Evidence abounds, such as the titles fit

Solomon, Son of David, King of Jerusalem,

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and King over Israel and Jerusalem.

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Number two, the author's moral

odyssey chronicles Solomon's life.

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And number three, the role

of one who taught the people

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knowledge and wrote many proverbs

corresponds to his accomplishments.

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All these features point to Solomon,

the son of David, as the author

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David Finkbeiner gives a more nuanced

explanation in the Moody Commentary.

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He says some have argued recently that

there's unusual grammar in Ecclesiastes

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that may reflect a different time period

than when Solomon wrote But those who have

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studied that have extinguished that idea.

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And then there are moments where it

doesn't seem to quite fit Solomon, like

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when the book says there were many rulers

in Jerusalem before him, when really

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only David would've been before Solomon.

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Finkbonner writes, "A solution here is not

easy since there are solid arguments on

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both sides, and Ecclesiastes is anonymous,

so it is possible that Qohelet was a

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wise man well after Solomon's time who

took on a persona reminiscent of Solomon.

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Still, it seems more likely

that Qohelet's words reflect

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the words of Solomon himself."

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So you and I are going to move on assuming

that Solomon is the author because that

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is the longstanding view once we can

figure that out, we can tell that he

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was probably writing at the end of his

reign, maybe around 930 and his goal was

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to warn others To avoid chasing after

the pleasures of life, and instead to

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walk in the wisdom and fear of the Lord.

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A major theme in Ecclesiastes

is that all is vanity.

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38 times the book says Vain life,

vanities or vanity Solomon claims

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that human wisdom, effort, achievement

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human accumulation, and even

human religion are all vanity

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This reminds me of a day when

my kids were really little

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Our living room needed to be painted,

so I kept them in the basement playing

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all day while my husband painted.

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I made sure everyone was fed.

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I did laundry, and I remember standing

in that living room at the end of

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the day after putting my kids to bed.

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I had worked hard and was exhausted.

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But as I looked at my freshly painted

walls, I thought, " What is it like that

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so often for a man at the end of the

day, what they build actually lasts?"

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This paint color is going to stay on

this wall for years to come, but all

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of my work, my diaper changes, the food

I made, and the laundry I did is gone.

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But when I've pressed into the Lord, he's

led me to a very different conclusion.

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In fact, for the past three years, I've

been telling moms on the Again podcast

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that what they do over and over matters to

God William Tyndale, one of my favorite

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heroes of the faith, agrees with me.

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He maintained that all honorable

daily labor done to the glory of God

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holds the same value as religious work

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he believed that doing dishes was of

the same importance as preaching a

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sermon if we do it unto our Savior.

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And that's why I believe Jesus shines

so brightly in the Book of Ecclesiastes,

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because He is the firm foundation

we can build upon But we have to be

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careful because what we're doing is

not building a platform for ourselves.

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Because Solomon is right.

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In terms of the grand scheme of

human history, you and I are dust.

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We are a fleeting vapor.

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But we have a window of opportunity

to bring glory to the King of the

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universe, and that is not vanity.

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Corinthians 3 charges us, " Let no

one lay a foundation other than that

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which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

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Now, if anyone builds on the foundation

with gold, silver, precious stones,

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wood, hay, straw, each one's work

will become manifest, for the day

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will disclose it, because it will be

revealed by fire, and the fire will test

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what sort of work each one has done."

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And in Matthew 25, Jesus told

us, " Whatever you do unto the

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least of these, you do unto me.

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Whether you feed them or clothe them

or take care of them when they're

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sick, you do it all unto me."

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, This has been one of the

banners over my motherhood.

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It is vanity to do anything for

our own glory or our own elevation

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but it's the definition of

purpose when we do it unto Christ

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In studying Ecclesiastes, sometimes it's

difficult to wrestle through with what

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he's saying until he reaches his rightful

conclusion at the end of the book.

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We can't possibly study it

without having that end in mind.

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Ecclesiastes 12:13 and 14 tells us, " The

end of the matter, all has been heard.

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Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man.

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For God will bring every deed

into judgment, with every secret

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thing, whether good or evil."

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Sounds a lot like that 1

Corinthians 3 passage, doesn't it?

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but let me read that aim again.

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" Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man."

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You know when you have a friend or a woman

at your Bible study going through a really

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hard time of life and she's pouring her

heart out And you're kind of glancing

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around the table at everyone else because

the things she's saying aren't true.

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She feels cast off and abandoned by

God, and what she's feeling in her

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experience doesn't agree with His Word.

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You know that as time passes, she'll

come to a better understanding

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and you're debating whether correcting

her theology will make you like Job's

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friends That's kind of what the

Book of Ecclesiastes feels like to

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me, ' cause you're hearing Solomon say

things that sound really skeptical and

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disheartening, and it takes some true

patience to get to the parts where

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he is set straight in his perspective

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Now, I read the whole book of Ecclesiastes

in one sitting because I really wanted

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to look at it in context, and I'm

amazed at how many portions of this book

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are so quotable and have become very

well-known, even in popular culture.

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So in God's grace, there's a lot of

wisdom in this book, but that's precisely

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why I'm so frustrated with Solomon.

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He was given an abundance of wisdom,

more than any other human had been

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given, and what did he do with it?

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he squandered much of it and it makes me

angry, yes, I'm using that word again,

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that he could have been given such a

gift from the Lord, and that it didn't

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actually lead him to righteous living.

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I was starting to feel convicted for

my strong feelings against Solomon's

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disobedience toward the Lord.

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But then I came across 1 Kings 11:9-10

again, which tell us, " And the Lord was

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angry with Solomon because his heart had

turned away from the Lord, the God of

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Israel who appeared to him twice and had

commanded him concerning this thing that

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he should not go after other gods, but

he did not keep what the Lord commanded."

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I felt very vindicated because

I felt angry for the Lord

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He gave Solomon the wisdom and he warned

him multiple times exactly what not to do.

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In Deuteronomy 17, we read the guidelines

for a king And it warned to not acquire

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three things: horses, wives, or wealth.

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and Solomon has been accumulating

all three And then I loved this

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part of Deuteronomy 17 so much.

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" And when he sits on the throne of

his kingdom, he shall write for

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himself in a book a copy of this law."

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I'm pretty sure that the man who had

such wisdom and could quote all of

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these Proverbs had a great memory.

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He knew exactly what God had

commanded And though David sinned

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and had seven wives, Solomon had 700.

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This wasn't a man who made a

mistake and woke up the next

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morning repenting before the Lord.

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He did it over and over and over.

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I found myself wrestling so much that

I needed to stop studying Ecclesiastes

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and to read exactly what God's Word

said about the end of Solomon's life

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Because the end of Ecclesiastes ends

the way it does, many Bible teachers

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are hopeful that he repented at

the end and turned back to the Lord

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I mean, he does say that the goal of

our lives is to fear God and obey Him.

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But if you study Chronicles

and Kings, Scripture doesn't

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give us that clarity there.

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And if I have learned anything from the

life of Solomon, it's this: At the end

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of my life, I don't want anyone to be

unsure of who I served and who I loved.

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I want every person I encounter

to say of me, "She loved Jesus."

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And I'm grieved over the lack

of clarity that we have on this

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for Solomon and his legacy.

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I'm sorry if I'm being too

feisty, but as you can tell

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This has really stirred up a lot in me

Got Questions is a great website for Bible

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questions, and they had an entire article

on whether or not Solomon was saved.

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Of course, they clarify that saved and

born again are New Testament terms that

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we don't use about Old Testament saints.

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But if we're asking if Solomon was

justified by God and if he's in the

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presence of God today, they would conclude

that they believe yes, First, they

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talk about how he was used in incredible

ways by the Lord to build the temple

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and to write the Book of Proverbs.

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And side note, I will give Solomon

mad props for Proverbs because it is

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masterful and contains an abundance

of wisdom, which I am grateful for

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God Questions goes on to say that

the Book of Ecclesiastes is a dark

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study on a life lived apart from God.

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Solomon looks back over his wasted

years and finds no joy in them, only

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futility, vanity, and a chasing after

the wind But he had learned his lesson,

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albeit the hard way, and he wraps

up the book with this advice, " fear

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God and keep his commandments, for

this is the duty of all mankind."

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This surely sounds like a

man who has returned to the

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Lord and is trusting in Him.

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They conclude That Solomon indeed

trusted in God and understood

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the folly of living without him.

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And they assume that upon his death,

Solomon went to paradise I could find

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no more beautiful words than Matthew

Henry's on why the grace of Jesus

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is elevated in the life of Solomon.

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He says Ecclesiastes is a recantation

sermon in which the preacher sadly

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laments his own folly and mistake in

promising himself satisfaction in the

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things of this world, and even in the

forbidden pleasures of sense, which

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now he finds more bitter than death.

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His fall is a proof of the

weakness of man's nature.

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His recovery is a proof of the power

of God's grace in bringing one back

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to God that had gone so far from Him.

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It is a proof, too, of the riches of God's

mercy and accepting him, notwithstanding

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the many aggravations of his sin

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The fact that someone could be warned of

sin, have all the wisdom in the world to

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avoid it, and still repeatedly fall, but

then that God would receive them back,

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is a beautiful testimony to the grace

that can be extended because of Jesus,

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and the fact that our God is slow to

anger and abounding in steadfast love

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At the very beginning of Ecclesiastes,

we read, " The words of the preacher,

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the son of David, king of Jerusalem.

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' Vanity of vanities,' says the

preacher, ' Vanity of vanities.

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All is vanity.'

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What does man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

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A generation goes and a generation

comes, but the earth remains forever."

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I've written in my margin, " A mother

gains much from her toil and labor

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And as I think about my husband

painting the living room I'm

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wondering if men can understand

Solomon's wrestling a little bit more.

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because while this is probably the book

of the Bible I struggle with most, it's

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been one of my husband's favorite books.

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So yesterday I had to ask him why.

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He grew up having a very specific

plan of how to build wealth.

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He decided he wouldn't be content until

he had $10 million in his bank account

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And as he's grown in his faith

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He's thankfully surrendered those goals

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And knows that that's not God's

will for him, but he finds great

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reassurance that even though Solomon

had all the wealth one could imagine,

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that it didn't bring him happiness

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This reminds me of an interview

years ago with Tom Brady.

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He had won three Super Bowls and

was being interviewed on 60 Minutes,

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and he said, "This is supposed

to be the peak of existence.

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I've accomplished all I set out

to do, but I'm asking, is this

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really all there is to life?

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There's gotta be more."

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He went on to say that what

fulfilled him most were his

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relationships, his family and friends

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We can work and work and work, but at the

end of our lives, if we don't focus on

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Christ It's vanity But I think you and

I have been spared from that temptation.

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From the beginning of motherhood, from

loving someone we couldn't see and daily

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sacrificing for them in pregnancy, and

then bringing forth a child in such

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pain and toil, whether it was through

adoption paperwork, a foster care process,

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through natural birth or a C-section.

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It's painful.

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There is toil in bringing a child into

our families But we've already sacrificed

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so much to love someone that God

blesses us with a deep supernatural love

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That a mother couldn't possibly say,

"What does man gain by all the toil

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at which he toils under the sun?"

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For from the very beginning, when

you and I held that baby in our arms,

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we could say it was so worth it.

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And even though every meal you

and I make, every time we nurse

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or do a load of laundry or scrub a

bathroom or wipe up a spill, it may

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not seem to matter in the moment.

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But through it all, if we can

look to the Lord Jesus Christ

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What could be more meaningful than

to daily take these children by the

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hand and bring them to our Savior?

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Yes, worldly accomplishments are vanity.

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But you and I have been given

a lot in life that will protect

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us from that perspective.

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So we can confidently proclaim,

"Fear God and keep His commandments,

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for this is the whole duty of man."

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When God brings every deed into judgment,

every secret thing, whether good or evil,

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may our hearts be found pure before Him.

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Heavenly Father, I am in awe of the mercy

and patience that you extended Solomon.

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My heart is grieved for

the ways he rejected you.

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And yet, as I think about my own sinful

heart and the sins that I wrestle with

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and battle I acknowledge how far I am from

your perfection, and I repent before you

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Lord, we're so grateful for your

Word and the hope that it brings us.

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Thank you that we have the

revelation of the New Testament

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and Jesus' words guiding us

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telling us that what we do for your

glory matters we humbly plead before

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you to prevent us from building

on any foundation other than you

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I pray that at the end of our

lives, everyone would know that we

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delighted to serve you, and that

you were our greatest treasure

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And we beg that you would let us pass

that inheritance onto our children.

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Prevent them from pursuing

the pleasures of this world.

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May they realize you alone are worthy.

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And we pray that any wisdom you impart

to us would produce an increased fear

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of you and holiness in our lives.

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We thank you that our

toil need not be in vain

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Jesus, be lifted high in our

hearts and in our lives today.

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It's in your name we pray, amen