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Day 332: Ecclesiastes 1-3 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study & Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

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  1. 0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
  2. 0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
  3. 0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
  4. 0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
  5. 0:10can go to the description or the bible
  6. 0:13department.com to download a reading
  7. 0:15plan and join the journey.
  8. 0:24Family, welcome to day 332 here on the
  9. 0:28Bible department. I'm super excited.
  10. 0:29We're jumping into a brand new book of
  11. 0:32the Bible. One of my favorite books of
  12. 0:34the Bible. Ecclesiastes.
  13. 0:37Ecclesiastes. I'm super super excited.
  14. 0:40Today we've got Ecclesiastes chapters 1,
  15. 0:44two, and three on the docket. If you've
  16. 0:47done the reading, then everything I'm
  17. 0:49going to talk about is going to make
  18. 0:50perfect sense. If you haven't done the
  19. 0:51reading, then you're probably going to
  20. 0:53be a little lost while I'm teaching
  21. 0:56through context clues, nerdy nuggets,
  22. 0:58and our Thomas Truth for the day. My job
  23. 1:02in this first uh episode uh is to kind
  24. 1:06of wrap our minds around not just the
  25. 1:08context of chapters 1, 2, and 3, but the
  26. 1:10context of the book of Ecclesiastes. Uh
  27. 1:14we've got Ecclesiastes for the next four
  28. 1:17days. Okay? uh today, the next day, the
  29. 1:20next day, the next day. 12 chapters
  30. 1:22total, four days in the book of
  31. 1:24Ecclesiastes. And so, uh let's dive in.
  32. 1:28There's some big big big piece of
  33. 1:30context that uh are really, really
  34. 1:33important. Um two contextual ideas,
  35. 1:38maybe even three, uh three contextual
  36. 1:40ideas that I think are going to really,
  37. 1:42really help us. Oh, I want us to think
  38. 1:44about uh three wisdom books as holding
  39. 1:48each other in tension. And those three
  40. 1:50wisdom books are Proverbs, Job, and
  41. 1:53Ecclesiastes. Okay? Proverbs, Job, and
  42. 1:55Ecclesiastes. So, Proverbs is
  43. 1:58essentially saying, "Hey, if you are a
  44. 2:02righteous person, you'll be blessed. And
  45. 2:04if you are a foolish person or wicked
  46. 2:06person, you're going to experience the
  47. 2:08consequences of your foolishness." Okay?
  48. 2:10And then Job is insanely righteous. I
  49. 2:14would say Job, you know, the the Bible
  50. 2:17is going to describe Job as blameless,
  51. 2:19as upright, as a righteous person. And
  52. 2:22like I mean the crappiest situation is
  53. 2:25going to happen to him. Okay. So Job's
  54. 2:28life uh we get to see through like
  55. 2:32actual life activity that he is battling
  56. 2:35through his theology. He's trying to
  57. 2:39reconcile the life that he's living with
  58. 2:43a very proverbs-based worldview. And
  59. 2:47then we have Ecclesiastes and we have a
  60. 2:51leader in the in the person of Solomon
  61. 2:54who almost is experiencing the opposite
  62. 2:57reality as Job. Solomon is wealthy
  63. 3:01enough and powerful enough to
  64. 3:04essentially experiment with the most
  65. 3:06pleasurable things in life. And so he's
  66. 3:10at the height of heights. uh probably
  67. 3:13living a pretty debauched lifestyle,
  68. 3:16experimenting with pleasure and with
  69. 3:18alcohol and with a harm of women and all
  70. 3:20that and coming to the conclusion that
  71. 3:23hey this stuff doesn't bring joy or
  72. 3:26fulfillment and despairing of life
  73. 3:29because success doesn't bring uh value
  74. 3:34and then Job is desparing of life
  75. 3:35because he lived upright and uh his life
  76. 3:39kind of came to calamity. So uh these
  77. 3:43three books of wisdom literature are
  78. 3:45actually designed to function as a
  79. 3:46whole. Okay. And Ecclesiastes is holding
  80. 3:49Job and Proverbs in tension. So that's
  81. 3:53just the first big picture 30,000 foot
  82. 3:56idea that we need. The second idea is
  83. 3:59that Ecclesiastes has two voices. And if
  84. 4:04you can't delineate between those two
  85. 4:06voices or you don't even know that there
  86. 4:09are two people talking, then you're not
  87. 4:12going to be able to really understand
  88. 4:14just like what's going on. So there's an
  89. 4:17author or or a narrator, if you will.
  90. 4:20Okay? There's an author and then there's
  91. 4:22a teacher. Okay? And the author is
  92. 4:25sometimes going to respond to what the
  93. 4:27teacher has taught. So I could give you
  94. 4:30an example, but if you've read
  95. 4:32Ecclesiastes 1, 2, and 3, then you 100%
  96. 4:35know what I'm talking about. So
  97. 4:37literally the book starts chapter 1
  98. 4:39verse 1 with the words of the teacher,
  99. 4:43son of David, king in Jerusalem. Okay?
  100. 4:45So those words right there are the words
  101. 4:48of the author, not the teacher. So, the
  102. 4:50author is like using the teacher as a
  103. 4:54voice, but then they're going to be
  104. 4:56spots in the book where this author is
  105. 4:59going to respond to what the teacher is
  106. 5:01saying. And it's going to be really
  107. 5:03important to know their two voices. If
  108. 5:05you don't know their two voices, that
  109. 5:07could lead to some confusion. And here's
  110. 5:09the third piece of context that I
  111. 5:11actually think is the most helpful. This
  112. 5:13was the most helpful piece of context
  113. 5:16for me. And honestly, shout out to uh
  114. 5:20Tim and John over at the Bible project.
  115. 5:22People end up calling the Bible
  116. 5:23department the Bible project to me by
  117. 5:25mistake a lot, which is a fantastic
  118. 5:27compliment. Um, but their explanation,
  119. 5:30Tam Mackey's explanation on this
  120. 5:32honestly unlocked Ecclesiastes for me in
  121. 5:35a way that it had just never been uh
  122. 5:38open for me or clear to me. Okay. The
  123. 5:41next is the word meaningless. Okay. So
  124. 5:45verse two is gonna chapter one verse
  125. 5:48two. Meaningless. Meaningless says the
  126. 5:50teacher. Utterly meaningless. Everything
  127. 5:52is meaningless. Um and other
  128. 5:55translations are going to use other
  129. 5:57words, right? Like vanity. Vanity.
  130. 6:00Vanity says the teacher. You know
  131. 6:02everything is vanity. And then the
  132. 6:05Hebrew word here is he. Okay. So we have
  133. 6:08to actually ask ourselves the question,
  134. 6:11what does he mean? Because if he doesn't
  135. 6:14actually mean meaningless, then that
  136. 6:18could lead to tons of misinterpretations
  137. 6:20of the book of Ecclesiastes. And
  138. 6:23probably the biggest interpretive or
  139. 6:25exogetical key that I've gotten as it
  140. 6:28relates to Ecclesiastes like in the past
  141. 6:30like three, four years has been Tim
  142. 6:33Mackey really challenging the thought
  143. 6:35that like meaningless is a bad
  144. 6:38translation of the word he. SO WHAT does
  145. 6:42the word he mean in Hebrew? He means
  146. 6:46fog, vapor, smoke. Fog, vapor, or smoke.
  147. 6:51That's what the word hell means. So
  148. 6:54instead of meaningless, meaningless as a
  149. 6:57teacher, utterly meaningless. Everything
  150. 6:58is meaningless. Which is like a sad
  151. 7:01thing to be saying. Like that doesn't
  152. 7:03sound like it should be in the Bible.
  153. 7:05Really, what it's saying is vapor.
  154. 7:07Vapor, says the teacher. Utterly vapor.
  155. 7:10Everything's vapor. Okay. Everything's
  156. 7:12smoke. Everything's vapor. Everything's
  157. 7:14fog. Oh man, that's life. You want to
  158. 7:17understand life, understand fog. YOU
  159. 7:19WANT TO UNDERSTAND LIFE, understand
  160. 7:21smoke. You want to understand life, man,
  161. 7:24understand
  162. 7:25vapor. Okay? So then we have to ask
  163. 7:28ourselves a question. What is it about
  164. 7:30vapor that seems to describe life? Okay.
  165. 7:36And so the teacher is going to give
  166. 7:37three things. You're going to say, "Yep,
  167. 7:39I hear all the stuff that you know,
  168. 7:41Proverbs has to say. However, nobody can
  169. 7:44beat time. No one can beat death. And
  170. 7:48life has this thing called chance. I'm
  171. 7:50sorry, but there is an element of chance
  172. 7:54to life. There's an element of
  173. 7:57coincidence. Chance. Like, like you
  174. 8:01could just BE UNLUCKY. LIKE CRAP happens
  175. 8:05and like good stuff happens whether for
  176. 8:08the good or the bad. Hey, time. Look,
  177. 8:10man. Look at this mountain. You're going
  178. 8:13to live. You're going to die. That
  179. 8:14mountain's still going to be there. Time
  180. 8:16is You're never going to beat time. And
  181. 8:18then number two, never going to beat
  182. 8:20death. You could live. You could play by
  183. 8:22the rules. You could do everything that
  184. 8:24Proverbs is telling you to do. And then
  185. 8:27you die and your son's a freaking idiot.
  186. 8:29And he takes all your money and blows
  187. 8:31it. So, you lived your whole life to
  188. 8:33save up a fortune only for your son or
  189. 8:36your daughter to get an inheritance and
  190. 8:39totally ruin your work, your life's
  191. 8:41work. Death. Everybody dies. And guess
  192. 8:44what? Foolish people die, wise people
  193. 8:46die, rich people die, POOR PEOPLE DIE.
  194. 8:48EVERYBODY DIES. SO, it's vapor. And then
  195. 8:52chance. So, time, death, and chance. You
  196. 8:55cannot factor out chance. Chance.
  197. 8:59There's an element to life that is just
  198. 9:02random. You can just put stuff in the
  199. 9:05randomizer that is life and you're going
  200. 9:07to get stuff out. So this is hevel.
  201. 9:10What is it about time, death, and chance
  202. 9:13that's he? Well, it's that he looks
  203. 9:18solid, but when you go to grasp it, it's
  204. 9:22gone. It can't be grasped. It can't be
  205. 9:27held on to. It can't be here's a key
  206. 9:30word controlled. So what is the
  207. 9:33solution? The actual wise solution that
  208. 9:36the book of Ecclesiastes is offering is
  209. 9:39don't try to grasp he. You cannot try to
  210. 9:45control or manipulate he life's he. Life
  211. 9:51is cruel. Life's unfair.
  212. 9:56All kinds of things happen in life. And
  213. 10:01if you are constantly trying to control
  214. 10:04the future or control outcomes or
  215. 10:07control other people or control
  216. 10:10anything, you're going to be living in a
  217. 10:13sad reality. You are constantly going to
  218. 10:15be depressed because what you're going
  219. 10:17to realize is life can't be controlled.
  220. 10:21Life's it's hell. And you know what? For
  221. 10:24some of us right now, if you're
  222. 10:26unhealthy, that freaks you out that life
  223. 10:29can't be controlled. But there's some of
  224. 10:31us, if you actually like unlock the
  225. 10:34wisdom that this book has to offer,
  226. 10:36you'll rest and go, I can't control
  227. 10:38outcomes. I can't control whether I'm
  228. 10:41rich or poor. I can't control anything.
  229. 10:43I can't control whether or not my kids
  230. 10:45love God or don't. I can't control other
  231. 10:48people. I can't control whether or not
  232. 10:50my spouse walks out on me. I can't
  233. 10:52control anything. I can influence
  234. 10:54things. I can be responsible for my
  235. 10:58part, but I can't control any outcomes.
  236. 11:02I can't control whether or not our
  237. 11:04church is 500 people or a thousand
  238. 11:06people or 200 people. I can't control
  239. 11:09whether or not people tithe. I can't
  240. 11:11control whether or not people complain.
  241. 11:13I can't control whether or not the stock
  242. 11:15market crashes. I can't control whether
  243. 11:17or not there's a pandemic. I can't
  244. 11:19control whether or not I like my job or
  245. 11:22I have a job that I'm prone to. I can't
  246. 11:24control it. I can't control the season.
  247. 11:27I can't control my age. I can't control
  248. 11:30anything. And there's a lot of us, we
  249. 11:33think we're upset because of whatever's
  250. 11:36happening in life. So, there's a couple
  251. 11:39of guys on our launch team and I have
  252. 11:41told them I've I used to deal with anger
  253. 11:43a lot. Like I used to be a very angry
  254. 11:46person and my anger was rooted in a
  255. 11:49dissatisfaction with life and a fear of
  256. 11:52failure. Just always felt like I was
  257. 11:54failing. Why did I feel like I was
  258. 11:56failing? This is going to sound odd, but
  259. 11:58the reason I always felt like I was
  260. 11:59failing is because the enemy was using
  261. 12:02my faith against me. I had so much faith
  262. 12:05for what the future was going to be that
  263. 12:07I was constantly disappointed. So, I had
  264. 12:09so much faith for where I was going to
  265. 12:10be by 30 that 30 was a disappointment to
  266. 12:13me when I finally got there. I had so
  267. 12:15much faith for what life was going to be
  268. 12:17like at 35 that when I finally got to
  269. 12:2035, 35 disappointed me. I had so much
  270. 12:23faith for what my life was going to be
  271. 12:25like at whatever age that then when I
  272. 12:28experienced it, it was nothing like the
  273. 12:32fantasy that I had in my head. And then
  274. 12:34I had to begin to realize that God gave
  275. 12:37me faith as a gift, not a curse. And the
  276. 12:41reason that I was constantly angry and
  277. 12:44constantly feeling like a failure is
  278. 12:47because I should be happy that there's a
  279. 12:50hundred people that showed up to a
  280. 12:52launch party, but I expected a thousand
  281. 12:55people. And you know how hard it is to
  282. 12:58be excited about a 100 people when
  283. 12:59you're expecting a thousand. And then
  284. 13:02you get to a book like Ecclesiastes, and
  285. 13:03I got here a couple years ago where I
  286. 13:06began to realize life's he
  287. 13:09would allow my mood or my feelings or my
  288. 13:14emotions to be based on how much money's
  289. 13:16in the bank account or how many people
  290. 13:19showed up to this event or to whether or
  291. 13:22not I got a book deal or to how many
  292. 13:24speaking engagements I could get. Man,
  293. 13:26life's he
  294. 13:29and the way that Job So, the the goal of
  295. 13:32the book of Job is to get you to realize
  296. 13:35God is a freaking untamed
  297. 13:38lion. You can't control God. Guess what
  298. 13:41Ecclesiastes is here to do? Get you to
  299. 13:43realize you can't control life. Not only
  300. 13:45can you not control God, you can't
  301. 13:46control life. Which means you can only
  302. 13:49control what you actually have control
  303. 13:51under over. And guess what? you can
  304. 13:53control your feelings, your mindset, and
  305. 13:58your response to whatever's happening in
  306. 14:01life. And I decided a long time ago,
  307. 14:04maybe like two to three years ago, I'm
  308. 14:06tired of being angry. I'm tired of being
  309. 14:08frustrated. I'm tired of being
  310. 14:10dissatisfied. Tired of being
  311. 14:11disappointed. Wait a second. Wait,
  312. 14:14[laughter] wait, wait. My joy is my
  313. 14:17decision. So, you know what? I'm going
  314. 14:20to wake up every day and I'm going to be
  315. 14:21happy. I'm happy whether there's 50
  316. 14:24people, 100 people, 500 people on this
  317. 14:27launch stream. I'm happy whether I'm
  318. 14:30broke or whether I'm wealthy. I'm happy
  319. 14:33whether, like Job, all my kids die or
  320. 14:36whether they live. I'm happy. And what
  321. 14:38does the author of Ecclesiastes get to?
  322. 14:40He says, "The only thing you have is to
  323. 14:42enjoy this moment right now." So go
  324. 14:46ahead. You could waste your life being
  325. 14:48so upset that you're not where you want
  326. 14:51to be that you could just or you could
  327. 14:54rejoice in the fact that you're exactly
  328. 14:56where God wants you to be. You're the
  329. 14:58job that you're at. And so many of us,
  330. 15:02we're mad at the lives we have because
  331. 15:04they're not the lives we want. That if
  332. 15:07you could grasp that, that's not he.
  333. 15:10That's a solid foundation to build your
  334. 15:12life on. that no one controls me and
  335. 15:15nothing controls me. Seriously, I've
  336. 15:17been trying to get this into this one
  337. 15:19guy head on our launch team. I won't say
  338. 15:21his name. Uh, I love him to death. I've
  339. 15:24been trying to tell him your job is not
  340. 15:26the reason you're upset. Your marriage
  341. 15:28is not the reason you're upset. The
  342. 15:30money in your bank account is not the
  343. 15:31reason you're upset. None of those
  344. 15:32things have anything to do with whether
  345. 15:33or not you're upset. Your feelings about
  346. 15:36your own self is why you're upset.
  347. 15:38You're upset because you're upset. And
  348. 15:40it took me years to realize. I thought
  349. 15:42to myself, man, if there was more kids
  350. 15:44in this youth group, I'd be happy. Man,
  351. 15:46if my wife would fill in the blank, I'd
  352. 15:48be happy. Man, if we had a kid, I'd be
  353. 15:53happy. And I kept just being like, I'd
  354. 15:55be happy if I'd be happy if I'd be happy
  355. 15:57if. And then you read Ecclesiastes and
  356. 16:00you realize, I am trying to grasp vapor
  357. 16:03he I'm chasing after the wind. This is
  358. 16:06silly. Or I could wake up today and make
  359. 16:09a decision. I'm happy. I am going to be
  360. 16:12a happy person. And you know what? This
  361. 16:15is what the author of Ecclesiastes is
  362. 16:16saying. The sun shining on your face
  363. 16:18should make you happy. Taking a deep
  364. 16:20breath should make you happy. That you
  365. 16:22should find contentment. Contentment not
  366. 16:26in trying to build your life on things
  367. 16:27that you can't control, but by building
  368. 16:29your life on the stuff that you actually
  369. 16:31can't control. You know what you can
  370. 16:32control? You control how happy you are
  371. 16:35right now. You can control your mood
  372. 16:37right now. You can control your mindset
  373. 16:39right now. you control you because the
  374. 16:41best control is self-control. And that's
  375. 16:44the mindset that I want us to have as we
  376. 16:45move into the rest of Ecclesiastes. All
  377. 16:48right, family. The wait is over. My
  378. 16:51brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out
  379. 16:53[music]
  380. 16:54now and available everywhere books are
  381. 16:57sold literally today. I walked into a
  382. 17:01Barnes & Noble and I signed a bunch of
  383. 17:03copies at a physical location. So, you
  384. 17:06can grab this book at a physical Barnes
  385. 17:08& Noble or you can go to a Books a
  386. 17:10Million [music] or Amazon or anywhere
  387. 17:13books are sold and grab a copy. If you
  388. 17:16enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient
  389. 17:19perspective, if you understand that the
  390. 17:22beauty of scripture is actually knowing
  391. 17:23it in context, then you'll love this
  392. 17:26book. And if there's any chaos in your
  393. 17:29personal life, [music] I think that
  394. 17:31reading the Bible from an ancient
  395. 17:33perspective can actually help to crush
  396. 17:35the chaos in your life. I think this
  397. 17:37book is going to be a New York Times
  398. 17:38bestseller. I really do. I think we
  399. 17:40wrote a good one. I think you should get
  400. 17:43a copy today. All right, back to the
  401. 17:46episode. All my nerdy nuggets were mixed
  402. 17:48in there. I'm sorry. Time, death,
  403. 17:50chance. That's what I wrote down as my
  404. 17:52nerdy nuggets. So, he is our big
  405. 17:55context. And then the author is going to
  406. 17:57use time, death, and chance just as
  407. 17:59examples of how vapor, how smoke, how
  408. 18:05foggy the nature of life is. So here's
  409. 18:08my Thomas truth. I remember the day that
  410. 18:10my pastor really genuinely asked me a
  411. 18:12question that changed my life. My pastor
  412. 18:14asked me, "Why don't you and your dad
  413. 18:16have a good relationship?" And I was
  414. 18:17like, "Cuz he took me to a crack house
  415. 18:19when I was five. Duh. CUZ HE'S ON CRACK.
  416. 18:22WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? THE MAN'S ON
  417. 18:24DRUGS. THAT'S WHY WE DON'T HAVE A GOOD
  418. 18:26RELATIONSHIP. AND MY PASTOR WENT, "That
  419. 18:28ain't the reason you don't have a good
  420. 18:29relationship." He said, "The reason that
  421. 18:31you don't have a good relationship is
  422. 18:32because you are trying to get him to be
  423. 18:35someone he's not." Do you enjoy the dad
  424. 18:37that you actually have? You spent so
  425. 18:39much time using faith to believe that he
  426. 18:43would be someone that he's not that you
  427. 18:46have not operated in wisdom, which is to
  428. 18:50accept the person that he is. Stop
  429. 18:53living in faith. I want you to live in
  430. 18:56reality. Have you ever asked your dad
  431. 18:58about any of his crazy drug binges? Have
  432. 19:01you ever asked your dad about any of his
  433. 19:03wild stories? And I was like, "No." And
  434. 19:06I was all defensive like, "No." And he
  435. 19:08was like, "Yeah, that's your loss.
  436. 19:11That's your loss. You know how many
  437. 19:12freaking crazy stories your dad probably
  438. 19:14has? He was locked up for 18 years. He
  439. 19:16took you to a crack house when you were
  440. 19:17five. That dude's nuts, bro. If you sat
  441. 19:21down with him and just stopped being so
  442. 19:23freaking uptight and just relaxed and
  443. 19:26just like let him tell you some crazy
  444. 19:28stories, you'd laugh. If you actually
  445. 19:31accepted the dad you have instead of
  446. 19:35trying to use faith to control him and
  447. 19:37manipulate him into being someone he's
  448. 19:39not. See, this is faith working against
  449. 19:41me. I can be honest. I have a gift of
  450. 19:44faith, but if I'm not careful, that gift
  451. 19:46of faith will make me such an an
  452. 19:50unhappy, dissatisfied person. And I'll
  453. 19:53use faith to try to manipulate somebody
  454. 19:56into being someone that honestly they're
  455. 19:59not going to be. Now, on the flip side,
  456. 20:01that same faith gift has helped many
  457. 20:05people become the best versions of
  458. 20:07themselves, but it's not based on
  459. 20:09control. It's based on me just letting
  460. 20:13telling them who I think they can be and
  461. 20:16then letting it be up to them. With my
  462. 20:18dad, I was so close to the situation. I
  463. 20:21cared so much that I couldn't just speak
  464. 20:24life and then just let him, you know,
  465. 20:27hey, I'm responsible for speaking the
  466. 20:30truth. And the truth is, I believe you
  467. 20:32can be healed. I think you could be
  468. 20:34sober. I think you could be free. Trying
  469. 20:36to control an outcome is going beyond
  470. 20:40just telling you what the Lord told me
  471. 20:42to say, but then trying to make you
  472. 20:44become that person. You want to know
  473. 20:46that conversation with Pastor Matt
  474. 20:48changed my life. I stopped trying to get
  475. 20:50my dad to become someone. I just started
  476. 20:53asking him questions and man, talk about
  477. 20:56let the good times roll. MY DAD WAS
  478. 20:59LIKE, "OH, I CAN BE MYSELF AROUND YOU.
  479. 21:01OH, YOU'RE SAFE. OH, LET ME TELL YOU
  480. 21:04SOME CRAZY STORIES." AND GUESS WHAT? I
  481. 21:06FINALLY STARTED TO LAUGH, JOKE, have a
  482. 21:08good time with my dad because it went
  483. 21:11from a pressure to conform to freedom to
  484. 21:16just be. And I went from chasing after
  485. 21:19the wind, trying to control he to just
  486. 21:22going, "Let the smoke be what it is,
  487. 21:24man. You can't control smoke. Let the
  488. 21:26fog be what it is, man. You can't
  489. 21:28manipulate fog.
  490. 21:30Shoot, man. Man, you better just let the
  491. 21:33vapor be what it be. Just let it do what
  492. 21:36it do. You cannot build your life on
  493. 21:39vapor. Life's vapor. It's he. It's
  494. 21:43smoke. People who are obsessed
  495. 21:47with what their life is going to be,
  496. 21:49they're going to hate Ecclesiastes.
  497. 21:51People who are just like, "No, my life
  498. 21:53has to turn out this way." All right.
  499. 21:56You know, I don't like this book because
  500. 21:57this book is going to require you to die
  501. 22:02to all the dreams you have for the
  502. 22:03future. This book is going to require
  503. 22:06you to stop living based on some vision
  504. 22:10you have for your future and to actually
  505. 22:13freef fall and accept not the life that
  506. 22:17you want, but the life that you have.
  507. 22:20Actually accept what you have. And when
  508. 22:24you realize what you got, guess what
  509. 22:26happens? You get happy. And a lot of
  510. 22:29people are dissatisfied because instead
  511. 22:31of being married to reality, they're
  512. 22:34married to some vision that they have
  513. 22:36for the future. And not to say that a
  514. 22:39vision for the future's bad, but if a
  515. 22:41vision for the future is making you
  516. 22:43angry and dissatisfied today, then that
  517. 22:47means that that vision for the future is
  518. 22:48actually not serving you. You're serving
  519. 22:51it. And that is toxic. And that's not
  520. 22:54just time. That's not just true for
  521. 22:57Solomon and Ecclesiastes and the context
  522. 23:00that he's in in like 900 950 BC. That's
  523. 23:04true for you and that's true for me. So
  524. 23:07let's he let's not try to control the
  525. 23:10fog, the wind, or the vapor. How about
  526. 23:12you just let the game happen? Don't try
  527. 23:14to control the game. Let the game come.
  528. 23:17Score when the ball's in your hands.
  529. 23:20Don't try to manipulate life or control
  530. 23:22life because if Job taught us anything,
  531. 23:25it's that God cannot be controlled. And
  532. 23:27if Ecclesiastes has anything to teach
  533. 23:29us, it's that life cannot be controlled.
  534. 23:31All right, tomorrow we're going to be in
  535. 23:34Ecclesiastes chapters 4, 5, and 6. We're
  536. 23:37going to knock out day 333. I cannot
  537. 23:40believe that it's about to be day 365.
  538. 23:43This is nuts. I'm so proud of you,
  539. 23:44especially if you're on a streak. I'll
  540. 23:46see you right here tomorrow, same time,
  541. 23:48same place. Love you. Peace. Thanks so
  542. 23:51much for joining us on the Bible
  543. 23:52department podcast. If this episode was
  544. 23:55helpful, how about you leave a comment,
  545. 23:57share with a friend, and subscribe so
  546. 23:59that you never miss an episode. To learn
  547. 24:01more about the show, head to the bible
  548. 24:03department.com. We'll see you right back
  549. 24:05here tomorrow.

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