Day 8/27 – A Life of Vanity

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
A Life of Vanity
Day Two Hundred Thirty-nine

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 1:2

God endowed King Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, with what most people covet. He was rich, smart, and he was king. From this favored position he ran an experiment to see if all of this could give him a sense of purpose and fulfillment. He gives his conclusion at the beginning of the book: “All is vanity.” The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Solomon tells us what it is not; it is not the pursuit of wisdom, pleasure, honor, or riches.

Solomon does not spend much effort telling us how to avoid a life of vanity. He closes Ecclesiastes with the admonition that knowing that we must face God in judgment for all we do on earth, we should fear God and keep His commandments.315 Woven through the book he tells us that there are two things we cannot know apart from God revealing them to us. First, that history is linear rather than cyclical. Reincarnation comes from a cyclical view of history, ensuring the absence of any meaningful judgment, for in what you fail in this life you can make up the next time through. Second, that there is purpose in travail and sorrow. A personal God who controls all ensures that this is so. Since these two truths are sure, you should order your life accordingly, rather than pursue vanity.

315 cf. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

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Psalm 120-122 1 Corinthians 9 (New King James Version)

Psalm 120-122
Plea for Relief from Bitter Foes
A Song of Ascents.
120
In my distress I cried to the Lord,
And He heard me.
2
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips
And from a deceitful tongue.
3
What shall be given to you,
Or what shall be done to you,
You false tongue?
4
Sharp arrows of the [a]warrior,
With coals of the broom tree!
5
Woe is me, that I dwell in Meshech,
That I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6
My soul has dwelt too long
With one who hates peace.
7
I am for peace;
But when I speak, they are for war.
God the Help of Those Who Seek Him
A Song of Ascents.
121
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
2
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3
He will not allow your foot to [b]be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5
The Lord is your [c]keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7
The Lord shall [d]preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
8
The Lord shall preserve[e] your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.
The Joy of Going to the House of the Lord
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
122
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
2
Our feet have been standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem!
3
Jerusalem is built
As a city that is compact together,
4
Where the tribes go up,
The tribes of the Lord,
[f]To the Testimony of Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5
For thrones are set there for judgment,
The thrones of the house of David.
6
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7
Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.”
8
For the sake of my brethren and companions,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
9
Because of the house of the Lord our God
I will seek your good.
Footnotes:
• Psalm 120:4 mighty one
• Psalm 121:3 slip
• Psalm 121:5 protector
• Psalm 121:7 keep
• Psalm 121:8 keep
• Psalm 122:4 Or As a testimony to

1 Corinthians 9
A Pattern of Self-Denial
9 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the [a]seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Do we have no [b]right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along [c]a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?
Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
15 But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel [d]of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.
Serving All Men
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the [e]law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without [f]law toward God, but under [g]law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became [h]as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
Striving for a Crown
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may [i]obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize [j]is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Footnotes:
• 1 Corinthians 9:2 certification
• 1 Corinthians 9:4 authority
• 1 Corinthians 9:5 Lit. a sister, a wife
• 1 Corinthians 9:18 NU omits of Christ
• 1 Corinthians 9:20 NU adds though not being myself under the law
• 1 Corinthians 9:21 NU God’s law
• 1 Corinthians 9:21 NU Christ’s law
• 1 Corinthians 9:22 NU omits as
• 1 Corinthians 9:24 win
• 1 Corinthians 9:25 exercises self-control