A few weeks ago I started a new sermon series I titled “Beautiful Collision.” The series examines the invasion of God’s grace and person in a broken and fallen world. More specifically I am looking at the mess God created in the lives of real people in scripture when He chose to enter their lives and, “Mix it up.”

We love the idea that God would choose to love us, befriend us, and know us, but for the characters in scripture that I am looking at, more often than not, their interactions with the God of the universe were anything but comforting. When a divine God comes into contact with sinful man, it is certain to be messy, ugly at times and even confusing, but at the same time it will always be marked by beautiful life change.

This week I am looking at King Solomon. 

King Solomon was the second son of King David and Bathsheba. Conceived by a relationship that began in sin, with adultery and murder as his legacy, along with redemption and forgiveness, King Solomon was chosen by God to not only sit on King David’s throne but to author scripture, to be the mouth of God himself.

Solomon is so interesting because he lived a life that all of us would probably sign up for in a heart beat. So many of the men and women I have been looking at had nothing but hard, their entire lives. Not so with King Solomon. God chose him for the opposite. 

Unmatched wisdom?

Riches?

Servants?

Power?

Glory, honor and fame?

yeah, sure, I’ll sign up for that. Where’s a pen? 

I’m sure there were times when even Solomon himself wondered how he got so lucky. He basked in his own glory, bathed in his immense power and marveled at his perfect wisdom. So much so that he ultimately forgot who gave it all to him and turned his back on God. 

But what is so fascinating about Solomon’s collision with God is what God wanted to teach all of us through his story. 

My truth for this Sunday, “It’s all gonna burn.”

Solomon had it all, and ultimately concluded that it was all worthless, without meaning, unable to satisfy.

There may not be another human being in a better position to draw a conclusion like this, because there is likely no one who has ever walked his shoes. For most of us there is always more to attain, for Solomon there was truly nothing. He saw it all, had it all, lived it all, and found it all entirely worthless. 

My prayer for this Sunday is that we would learn from this life. We would give up fighting to attain and achieve, have and hold, and we would surrender our lives to what is truly satisfying, what is truly worth living for. 

The King and His kingdom are the only things that will never end. That is the reason they are satisfying and worth pursuing in this life.

Thank you Solomon for your words in Ecclesiastes.