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In today's episode of The Dwelling Place, we continue our journey through Scripture by exploring the book of Ecclesiastes.

At first glance, Ecclesiastes can feel discouraging. Solomon repeatedly describes life "under the sun" as vanity, a chasing after the wind. He pursued pleasure, wealth, wisdom, achievement, and earthly success, only to discover that none of them could provide lasting satisfaction apart from God.

Yet through the lens of Jesus Christ, Ecclesiastes becomes a powerful reminder that our lives are not meaningless. While earthly accomplishments fade, a life lived in reverence for God has eternal significance.

Join Stephanie as she walks through key passages from Ecclesiastes, highlighting practical wisdom for daily living, the importance of applying knowledge rather than endlessly accumulating it, the gift of enjoying God's blessings, and the hope found in God's eternal purposes.

Together we'll reflect on some of the book's most well-known passages, including:

• "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
• "There is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
• "For everything there is a season" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
• "He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
• "Two are better than one" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
• "Fear God and keep His commandments" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why Ecclesiastes can seem hopeless apart from Christ

• The difference between gaining knowledge and applying wisdom

• How God's gifts are meant to be enjoyed with gratitude

• Why eternal perspective transforms everyday life

• What Scripture teaches about work, wealth, suffering, and joy

• How the fear of the Lord leads to purpose and obedience

• Why Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the true source of wisdom

Whether you're reading through the Bible for the first time or revisiting Ecclesiastes again, this study will encourage you to look beyond temporary pursuits and fix your eyes on the One who gives lasting meaning to every season of life.

Scriptures Referenced

• Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
• Ecclesiastes 1:13, 18
• Ecclesiastes 2:10, 18, 24-26
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
• Ecclesiastes 4:9-13
• Ecclesiastes 5:1-2, 10-12
• Ecclesiastes 7:4, 19-21
• Ecclesiastes 8:11-12
• Ecclesiastes 9:7-10, 16
• Ecclesiastes 10:12
• Ecclesiastes 11:1, 5
• Ecclesiastes 12:11, 13-14

Related Scriptures

• Genesis 3
• 1 Corinthians 3:11-15
• Matthew 25:40
• John 14:6

Connect with Entrusted Ministries

If this Bible reading podcast has encouraged you, please leave a review and share it with a friend. Your support helps more women stay rooted in God's Word and grow in their love for Christ.

Visit Entrusted Ministries for additional Bible study resources, Scripture-based parenting encouragement, and tools to help your family grow in faith.

Resources Mentioned

• Entrusted With a Child's Heart
• The Again Podcast episodes with Emily Schumann: Part 1 and Part 2

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary, Spurgeon's Treasury of David

Hi guys, this is The Drawing Place from Stephanie Hagueocks,

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and my mommy has been working really

hard, so please leave a review.

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Thank you

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Speaker 46: Aw, thank you, sweetheart.

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my daughter really wanted

to get behind the mic.

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today we'll continue the

Book of Ecclesiastes.

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Without Jesus, this book

can seem glum and hopeless.

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But because God's Word is a progressive

revelation, we can delight in the

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purpose that following Christ brings,

Not to build a platform or establish

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our own place in history, but to

bring glory to the King of Kings

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Ecclesiastes is wisdom literature

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and though there is a lot of the

book that's devoted to explaining

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how meaningless Solomon's pursuit

of pleasure was on this earth

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I'm gonna pull out a lot of

verses that are rich with

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wisdom to guide us in our lives.

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don't view this as a

checklist or a to-do list

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but as a reference that

you could go back to

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to remember what matters most in life,

and also for training up your kids.

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Let me read those opening

words of the book once again.

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" The words of the Preacher, 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 maintain that because of the Lord,

none of our toil is meaningless

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but if we're just looking out at

the world, that's not always clear.

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Chapter 1 verses 9 through 11 tell us,

"What has been is what will be, and

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what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

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is there a thing of which it

is said, ' See, this is new'?

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It has already been in the ages before us.

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There is no remembrance of former

things, nor will there be any

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remembrance of later things yet

to be among those who come after."

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There are so many phrases from

Ecclesiastes that are widespread,

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commonly quoted verses, and many people

probably don't even realize that they're

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quoting scripture when they say them.

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That phrase, nothing new under

the sun, is said all the time.

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And even though we live in an age of

technology where it seems things are

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constantly changing Bibletools.org

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would say that technology rarely

invents entirely original concepts.

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Instead, it endlessly remixes

and refines existing ideas.

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True creation is mostly a myth.

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the smartphone, for example, is a

combination of a telephone, a camera, and

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a computer As a teacher, Ecclesiastes

1:18 really perked my ears up.

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"For in much wisdom is much

vexation: and he who increases

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knowledge increases sorrow."

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Part of me wants to say, "I

absolutely disagree with that.

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Knowledge is power," and quote

some poster I'm sure was in one

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of my elementary classrooms.

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But Solomon is saying, that continually

increasing in the pursuit of wisdom

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without getting the peace that comes

from applying the wisdom brings sorrow.

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And to that, I will

say I absolutely agree.

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In fact, it seems to me that there's

never been a generation of moms with

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more wisdom and information and solutions

at their fingertips, and I don't think

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there's ever been a generation of more

overwhelmed moms We have millions of

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recipes at our fingertips, and we're

still asking, "What's for dinner?"

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There have been many times the Lord

has led me to take an information

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diet where I say, "Okay, I have

pursued enough information.

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I have to stop and take time to apply

what I already know And this word wisdom

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or wise appears 51 times in the book.

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It doesn't just refer to theological

or lofty wisdom, but includes practical

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wisdom that makes your life better In

1:13, Solomon says, "And I applied

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my heart to seek and to search out by

wisdom all that is done under heaven."

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It is an unhappy business that

God has given to the children

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of man to be busy with.

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And this is one of those areas where

I have to assert that Solomon is wrong

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because he doesn't have an eternal

perspective about these things.

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In fact, even though God is mentioned

about 40 times in Ecclesiastes,

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His covenant name, Lord, never is.

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When we read God, it's referring to

the Hebrew term for His sovereignty.

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So Solomon's not talking about

a personal relationship with

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God that transforms our living

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What do you think of when I

read chapter two, verse 10?

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" And whatever my eyes desired I did

not keep from them, I kept my heart

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from no pleasure, for my heart found

pleasure in all my toil, and this

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was my reward for all my toil."

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It makes me think about the Garden of

Eden and Adam and Eve eating the fruit

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because it was pleasing to the eyes.

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Solomon pursued wine, work, women,

wealth, and wisdom, and found

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that they were all meaningless.

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And I agree that without God, none

of these things has joy or purpose

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He continues on this rant in 2:18, " I

hated all my toil in which I toil under

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the sun, seeing that I must leave it

to the man who will come after me."

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As a mom, I'm like, "What?"

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I think it's awesome, and I'm so excited

to leave a spiritual inheritance to my

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kids And hopefully something material

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in two twenty-four, he tells us,

"There is nothing better for a person

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than that he should eat and drink

and find enjoyment in his toil.

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This also I saw is from the hand of God.

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For apart from Him, who can

eat or who can have enjoyment?

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For to the one who pleases Him, God

has given wisdom and knowledge and joy.

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But to the sinner, He has given the

business of gathering and collecting, only

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to give to one who pleases God Scripture

is full of references of non-believers

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blessing believers financially

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And one of the overarching

themes in Ecclesiastes is

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to eat, drink, and be merry.

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We can enjoy some of these basic

actions of what it means to be a human.

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Eating and drinking focuses on

our reliance upon the Lord, that

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He gives food to sustain us, and

He wanted us to have fellowship.

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In fact, we had some really

freeing episodes on the Again

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podcast with my friend Emily,

who's a nutritionist and dietician.

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In all of the information flooding

moms about food today, she wanted to

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help restore our joy I'll link that in

the show notes if you, like me, would

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appreciate hearing God's perspective

more than all the nutritional dos and

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don'ts that culture is pointing us toward

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You've undoubtedly heard these

verses from chapter three.

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For everything there is a season, and a

time for every matter under heaven: a

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time to be born, and a time to die; a

time to plant, and a time to pluck up

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what is planted; a time to kill, and

a time to heal; a time to break down,

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and a time to build up; a time to weep,

and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,

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and a time to dance; a time to cast

away stones, and a time to gather stones

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together; a time to embrace, and a time

to refrain from embracing; a time to

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seek, and a time to lose; a time to

keep, and a time to cast away; a time

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to tear, and a time to sew; a time to

keep silence, and a time to speak; a

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time to love, and a time to hate; a

time for war, and a time for peace.

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What gain has the worker from his toil?

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I have seen the business that

God has given to the children

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of man to be busy with.

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He has made everything

beautiful in its time.

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Also He has put eternity into man's heart

This would be an interesting passage

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to go through with kids that are a

little bit older to talk about what does

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scripture say about when it's acceptable

to engage in war or even to hate?

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And when does God call us to peace?

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Finally, Solomon mentions eternity and

that God has put eternity in our hearts.

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I agree.

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Many of us want to live forever,

and the pain and reality of

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death is throughout the book.

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Whether you're righteous or unrighteous,

wise or a fool, no matter what you

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accomplish in your life, you will die.

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But remember, it's the grace of

God that cast Adam and Eve out

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of the garden so they could no

longer eat from the tree of life.

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They were unable to continually feed their

fallen bodies that now had sinful natures.

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We were created to live forever, but when

sin entered the world, it tainted us.

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It's God's grace that we can die,

receive glorified bodies, and walk

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in perfect fellowship with Him again

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In 3:12 through 13, " I perceive

that there is nothing better for

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them than to be joyful and to

do good as long as they live.

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Also that everyone should eat and drink

and take pleasure in all his toil.

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This is God's gift to man."

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This summer when you're celebrating

the Fourth of July, having cookouts,

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enjoying a gooey s'more, and watching

sparklers light up the night sky, delight

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in it and know this is God's gift to you

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In chapter four, beginning at verse nine,

we find a commonly quoted wedding passage.

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Two are better than one because they

have a good reward for their toil.

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But if they fall, one

will lift up his fellow.

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But woe to him who is alone when he

falls and has not another to lift him up.

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Again, if two lie

together, they keep warm.

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But how can one keep warm alone?

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And though a man might prevail against

one who is alone, two will withstand him.

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A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

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the strongest our cord can be is when

in marriage we both cling to Christ.

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In chapter 4 verse 13, " Better

was a poor and wise youth than

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an old and foolish king who no

longer knew how to take advice."

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Wow, that's a powerful reflection

from a king abundant in wisdom.

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If we don't have humility, all of that

knowledge puffs up and it doesn't really

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matter chapter five begins, "Guard your

steps when you go to the house of God.

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to draw near to listen is better than to

offer the sacrifice of fools, for they

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do not know that they are doing evil.

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Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your

heart be hasty to utter a word before God,

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for God is in heaven and you are on earth.

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Therefore, let your words be few."

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Solomon goes on to warn us to be

careful when we make a vow before

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the Lord, and Jesus affirms the

severity of this in the New Testament.

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through 12: He who loves money

will not be satisfied with money,

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nor the one who loves wealth with

his income this also is vanity.

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When goods increase, they

increase who eat them.

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And what advantage has their owner

but to see them with his eyes?

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Sweet is the sleep of a laborer,

whether he eats little or much.

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But the full stomach of the

rich will not let him sleep.

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This is just a great perspective to

teach our kids, but also to remind

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ourselves of, especially when we're

hoping and having dreams for the future.

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That's fine, but we need to remind

ourselves and our families that

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money does not bring satisfaction

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Chapter 7:4 is

counterintuitive but powerful.

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Sorrow is better than laughter, for by

sadness of face the heart is made glad.

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This speaks to the power of lament,

which Mark Vroegop defines as a

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prayer of pain that leads to praise.

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Often, we must acknowledge the

difficulties of life before we can

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bring ourselves to surrender to

a perfect Savior It almost seems

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like Solomon is contradicting

himself now in 7:19 when he writes

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Wisdom gives strength to the wise,

more than ten rulers who are in a city

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But what he's saying is wisdom unapplied

brings anxiety, but wisdom lived out

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brings strength, purpose, and peace.

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In 7:20, " Surely there is

not a righteous man on earth

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who does good and never sins."

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And at that point he was

writing, that was true

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But not when Jesus walked this earth

And 7:21 is incredibly convicting.

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" Do not take to heart all the

things that people say, lest you

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hear your servant cursing you.

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Your heart knows that many times

you yourself have cursed others."

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I have to confess, I'm pretty

sensitive if I hear that someone

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said something negative about me

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And I have to go back to find my

identity in the Lord But how convicting

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it is to think of if everything

we said about people was known,

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would we be completely innocent?

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Chapter 8, verses 11 and 12

remind us of the patience of God

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and the effect of our reverence for Him.

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Because the sentence against an evil deed

is not executed speedily, the heart of the

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children of man is fully set to do evil.

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Though a sinner does evil one hundred

times and prolongs his life, yet I know

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that it will be well with those who

fear God, because they fear before Him.

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It's our reverence and love for

the Lord that keeps us from sin.

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When we know one day we'll stand

before Him, we're reminded

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to not live for ourselves.

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One of my pastors says, " For

the non-Christian, this

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life is the best it gets.

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But for the Christian,

this is the worst it gets."

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And that's why we can lament and

then have an eternal perspective that

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no matter what happens, and even in

death, we can rejoice because there's

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a better day to come As Spurgeon says,

"Coffins preach better than cribs."

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If you're prepared to die,

you're prepared to live well.

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So think with the end in mind so it can

guide your days Chapter eight concludes

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saying that God's ways are unsearchable,

And even the wise man cannot completely

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discern what God is doing 9:7 repeats,

" Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink

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your wine with a merry heart, for God

has already approved what you do."

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When we go back to finish off the

Book of Proverbs, we'll focus on

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some principles of how to honor Him

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if we do choose to drink wine or alcohol.

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So we need to make sure we interpret

these verses with the whole of scripture.

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And then 9:9 through 10, "Enjoy life

with the wife whom you love all the

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days of your vain life that He has

given you under the sun, because that

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is your portion in life and in your

toil at which you toil under the sun.

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Whatever your hand finds to

do, do it with all your might."

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And in 9:16, we read that

wisdom is better than might

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Chapter 10 includes some powerful

proverbs, such as, "The words of a

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wise man's mouth win him favor, but

the lips of a fool consume him."

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Chapter 11 begins, "Cast your

bread upon the waters, for you

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will find it after many days."

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I needed a little help interpreting

that one, but it's referring to a

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farmer Who would plant a seed on You're

taking a step to accomplish something,

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not sitting around and waiting,

and later you'll realize, "Wow, I'm

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so glad I took that step forward."

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is another sweet reference to God's work

in knitting a child together in the womb.

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As you do not know the way the spirit

comes to the bones of the womb of

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a woman with child, so you do not

know the work of God who makes

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everything In the final chapter,

we're pointed to Christ once again.

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12:11 reads, "The words of the wise

are like goads, and like nails firmly

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fixed are the collected sayings.

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They are given by one Shepherd.

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My son, beware of anything beyond these."

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Shepherd is capitalized here, and

Michael Rydelnik asserts that every

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reference to the Shepherd in scripture is

messianic Jesus is the source of wisdom.

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He is the way, the truth, and the life.

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And the final words of the book were meant

to come to a sudden ending in the Hebrew.

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After chapters of Solomon's meaningless

pursuit following worldly things, The

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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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And I like what Garrett says, " As

image-bearers, to fear and obey God is

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at the core of what it means to be human.

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This is what we were made for."

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When we honor, love, and respect

God, it leads us to obedience.

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Let's go to prayer that

that would be true of us.

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Heavenly Father, we thank You that

You are a God who draws near and

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that You are our dwelling place.

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But we also pray

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You would help us to walk in the fear

of you, and that this reverence would

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lead us to an obedience of your commands

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In thinking about the flood of

information that comes against us

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each day and how as moms we want to

steward our children well that you've

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blessed us with and our own bodies as

well, it's daunting and overwhelming.

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But God, I pray that you would

teach us how to apply the wisdom we

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already have and protect us from the

pursuit of the endless accumulation

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of knowledge that makes us anxious.

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Thank you that you long for us

to eat, drink, and be merry.

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as we enjoy summer with our kids,

I pray that the moments where we're

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experiencing the best that life has

to offer, that we would give you

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praise and point our kids to the

goodness that can only be found in you.

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Thank you, Jesus, that you

are the shepherd, the way,

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the truth, and the life.

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It's in your name we pray, amen.