Ecclesiastes and The Pursuit of Happiness

Solomon wasn't around when the Declaration of Independence was written, but he spent most of his life pursuing happiness.  "Meaningless!  Meaningless!" says the Teacher.  "Utterly meaningless!  Everything is meaningless."

Finally, he figured it out: "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (12:13). 

In 1968, a year filled with unsettling events, Ira Stanphill wrote some soothing words: 

    Happiness is to know the Savior
    Living a life within His favor
    having a change in my behavior
    Happiness is the Lord

Proverbs - Common Sense For Those Born Without Any

I may have underlined more verses in Proverbs than in any other book, there's just so much good counsel here.  There's even counsel about counsel: Prov 11:14, 19:20, 20:18, and 24:16 all say pretty much the same thing--it's good to talk things over with others before making a decision--good advice!

Proverbs has a LOT to say about adultery: 2:16 & following, chapter 5, chapter 7, 9:13 & following.  Did Solomon struggle with sexual temptation--even with all those wives?  Or was he remembering his father's affair?

"It is honorable for a man to stop striving, since any fool can start a quarrel." - Prov. 20:3.  Prov. 31 concludes the book with counsel from a king's mother to her son to stay away from intoxicating substances (31:4) and praise to a wise, virtuous woman.

Since it has 31 chapters, some people read a chapter a day, along with 5 Psalms.  That way, they read both books through every month.

Psalms - A Serious Prayer Book

Some people think of Psalms as a book of songs, of poems.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Psalms - The Prayer Book of the Bible sees Psalms as a book that helps us learn to pray.  He says, "...it is a dangerous error ... to think that the heart can pray by itself..... Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one's heart.  It means rather to find the way to God and speak with him....  The child learns to speak because his father speaks to him....  So we learn to speak to God because God has spoken to us and speaks to us."


Deep and profound thoughts.  I am currently reading this book to learn how to pray, how to speak God's language.

There are a lot of great Psalms, Psalm 127:1-2 is one of my favorites.  The success of any endeavor depends on whether God wants it done.  It is useless to work long and hard unless we know that God is in, is leading, is present in the work that we are doing.