Solomon begins to explain his search for meaning in chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes. He begins by talking about wisdom. He thought if he just learned enough and understood the world, it would be enough to make his life meaningful. But that didn’t work. He says in Ecclesiastes 1:18, “I found out that I may as well be chasing the wind. The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts.” God had once offered Solomon riches, pleasure, and glory, but instead, he asked for wisdom. God was pleased with his request and granted him wisdom. There is little disagreement that Solomon, even today, is regarded as the wisest man ever. He knew that if he were to succeed as King over Israel, he would need wisdom. God blessed him with it.
Reading through the book of Proverbs, you find true wisdom on how to live a perfectly balanced life. It deals with lust, gluttony, greed, anger, and a plethora of other relationship issues of life. It teaches us how to manage finances, deal with credit, and manage our households to glean the absolute best from each dimension of our lives. It’s truly a book of wisdom. Wisdom is more than knowledge. It’s the application of knowledge to our lives. It’s instructions on how to live a disciplined and controlled life. No one did it better than Solomon did, but this wise living left him empty when it was all said and done! The more he learned, the less satisfied he became. The more he learned, the more struggles he had in life. He got tired of living the “ought to” and the “have to” and really “should” do kind of life. It left him empty. It brought no satisfaction.
I see this frustration in T. S. Elliot’s character, J. Alfred Prufrock. This character spent his whole life balancing his finances, keeping his emotions in check, never taking a chance, or entering into potential situations that might lead to failure. He was a “proof rock.” He kept a perfect daily schedule. He was a responsible, contributing citizen. He never ate too much. He had absolutely no indulgences of any kind. Yet at the end of his life, he looked back with remorse and exasperation at the wisdom and discipline he’d practiced, much like Solomon, and knew that every joyless, disciplined way that lay ahead of him would look exactly the same. The days held no promise, no hope, for him. He sighed, “I’ve known them all before. I’ve known the mornings and the evenings and the afternoons. I’ve measured out my life in coffee spoons.” He was never willing to take a chance! He was never willing to see beyond the life he was living “under the sun.” He is just like the religious leaders that Jesus encountered. They thought fulfillment would be theirs if they just kept the law. But Jesus said, “You search the law (scriptures) because you think in them you will find eternal (a meaningful) life. But it’s these very scriptures that speak of me.” In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I have come that you might experience life, and life in all its fullness.”