Contentness - Ecclesiastes Study

I was talking with a friend two days ago. We talked about how we can't wait to take more walks outside when it gets warmer. I thought about that. Come warmer weather I'm sure I will complain about it being too hot and how I will take more walks when the weather cools down. Now, I'm not suggesting I go walking when it is -0 nor when it is above 100 degrees. But when the time comes for the weather that is just right, do I really take advantage of it? Or do I complain because I am too busy, too tired, etc.

Lord, forgive me for my complaints about the beauty You have surrounded me with at ALL times. Snow is beautiful. Ice is beautiful. The sun is beautiful. Green grass is beautiful. Lord, You have made all things beautiful. May my eyes continually look for the beauty that You have created. Lord, when it comes to Your Word may I also not take it for granted. Many of times I read a verse and almost have the attitude of rolling my eyes, because "I've heard that before." I don't want to ever lose the beauty You have given us in giving us Your Word. Seasons come, seasons change, but Your Word stands forever! Amen.

Ecclesiastes 1:3-8
"What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, and comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, there they return again. All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing."

A. "What profit"

1. Ecclesiastes 2:22 "For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?"
2. Ecclesiastes 3:9 "What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?"

B. "But the earth abides forever."

1. Psalm 104:5 "You who laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever"
2. Psalm 119:90 "Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides."

C. "The sun also rises"

1. Psalm 19:4-6 "Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat."

D. "The wind goes toward the south"

1. Ecclesiastes 11:5 "As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything."
2. John 3:8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sounds of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

E. "All the rivers run into the sea"

1. Psalm 104:8-9 "They went up over the mountains; They went down into the valleys, to the place which You founded for them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they may not return to cover the earth."
2. Jeremiah 5:22 "'Do you not fear Me?' says the Lord. 'Will you not tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it."

F. "The eye is not satisfied"

1. Proverbs 27:20 "Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied."

Lord, Your Word tells us that our eyes will never be satisfied and our ears will never be full with things of this earth. A non-Christian or a Christian not looking from Your standpoint will look at the water and see it as water. They may occasionally see what You have created as beautiful, but never will Your creations satisfy man's heart. It is only You who can satisfy what our hearts long for. As Christians, looking from Your standpoint, we don't just see the creation. We see You, the Creator. Only when we see the Creator when we look at Your creation can we be truly satisfied. May I truly look to You, my Creator, when I see the beauty You have created. Amen.