Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, Psalm 46:1-11, Proverbs 22:15
Today is the 2nd day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian. It’s awesome to be here with you today as we gather and find our place around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together and we’ve just stepped into a new month, but we are also stepping into a brand-new book in the Bible today. The book of Ecclesiastes, having finished the book of Job yesterday and Job and Ecclesiastes, as well as Proverbs and Song of Solomon and some of the Psalms, these are part of a grouping of books in the Scriptures known as wisdom literature. That’s where we are camping out of this portion of the year as we move through. And this new book. Ecclesiastes, traditionally is ascribed to Solomon. But that’s like so many other things in the Scriptures have been debated. A likely scenario is that this work did originate with Solomon and was updated and modified and translated and brought forward and modernized through time as…as the Scriptures have been, as they’ve been ported into new languages and all of the different meanings of different words have been debated and wrestled with, Ecclesiastes would be no different. So, Solomon we remember…remember King David and then his son Solomon, and he led ancient Israel to its greatest hour: the building of the temple, peace and prosperity on all sides, wisdom flowing among the people. So, we’ll notice that getting into Ecclesiastes is very different than what we might expect from one of the greatest people who ever lived, because in some ways it’s like depressing rant. But if we have a little bit of context, it’s really a deeply penetrating look into the human heart, into our own hearts because everybody has goals and dreams, right, aspirations, things we would like to achieve. And, we even have kind of far-fetched like oh pie-in-the-sky kind of stuff that we probably will never do. But Solomon didn’t have that issue. Solomon had the opposite. He had everything, everything he could possibly imagine or think of he could have. So, we get this perspective from a person who has essentially done it all and seen it all, nothing was off-limits, anything he wanted to pursue he could pursue. And, Ecclesiastes is kind of a look back over it all. And the person who’s done and seen it all, concludes that all of it can be completely meaningless. It can be chasing the wind, it can be something that you, can never be full, that there can never be enough and when you’ve accumulated it all then what do you have? Most people would be like yeah, I would like to have that problem. I would like to find out for myself. But few people ever achieve that, Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes gives us a perspective from that place, and ironically, it’s not a bunch of self-worship and look how great I am and look at all of my stuff and glory over all of my achievements. It’s just a very, very different perspective than that and so this does come at a good time for us after the book of Job, after we’ve wrestled with suffering and moved through that territory to now come into some territory where we consider what would it be like if everything I ever wanted, what if I got everything I ever wanted. Would I be full? Would I be whole? Would I be complete? And so, let’s drink in together the book of Ecclesiastes. Today we will read chapters 1, 2 and 3; we’re reading from the New International Version this week.
Prayer:
Father,
we thank You for Your word. Thank You for this new territory that we’re moving
into not only in the new month but in this new book Ecclesiastes. We invite Your
Holy Spirit into our time interacting with Ecclesiastes and also looking at
what is driving us, what is motivating us in different we get everything that
is driving and motivating us, what do have will, will we be full, how can we
appreciate the journey, paying attention to it as the days go by, appreciating
what You have given us, appreciating what we have. Holy Spirit, we invite You
to come into the questions that arise and the postures of our hearts,
motivations of our actions and our thoughts and words. Come Jesus we pray in
your mighty name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com
is home base. It is, well, it’s our website, it’s where the Global Campfire is
in a virtual world, so be sure to check it out. If you’re using the Daily Audio
Bible app you can check it all out from within the app, so check out the Resources
that are in the Shop. Check out the Prayer Wall which is in the Community
section. Stay connected in any way that you can or that you want to. As we
continue to navigate our journey through this year and through the Bible.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you humbly, thank you, if this mission to continue to read the word of God and speak it out fresh every day and offer it to whoever will listen to it wherever they may be in this world, and wherever they may be in their life journey and to build community around that rhythm, that day-by-day step-by-step rhythm. If that has been meaningful than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com, if you you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.
And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app that’s the little red button that looks kind of like hotline button up the top and you can use that from wherever you may be in the world or there are a number of numbers depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas you can dial 877-942-4253. If you are in the UK or Europe, you can dial 44 2036 088078 and if you are in Australia or the Lands Down Under 61 38820 54 59 is the number to call.
And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hey
Daily Audio Bible family, this is Kat in Texas. I’ve been listening since
January of 2013. I’m a Double DABer. I don’t call in very often but I pray along
with the Prayer Requests everyday and whether you call in or not, I lift you up
in prayer. I don’t know your names but God always knows our names. I’m sitting
in a hospital parking lot in Austin, Texas. My husband’s inside the hospital
with his mom and his sister and it looks like his dad is gonna pass away. So,
can you please put them and our family up in prayers. Thank you so much. I love
you all.
Hi
DAB friends, hope ya’ll are having a great day. I wanted to reach out and ask
you if you would pray for my sister. I want to remain anonymous but I still
wanted to reach out and ask for prayer. She’s been really battling with her
mental health over the last year. She’s a wonderful believer and she actually is
the first person that shared about Jesus with me and prayed for me to become a
Christian also. So, she’s just got a huge place in my heart and it’s so hard to
see her struggling the way she is and she’s gotten help over the last year but
it’s been a bit up and down. We thought that she was doing better but her
husband and I are getting a bit concerned. She seems likes she’s going downhill
again but isn’t really aware of it and we’re just not really sure what to do.
So, if you could please pray with us for her to have, for Jesus to give her a
sound mind for Him to heal her depression and anxiety. For her to have peaceful
sleep and just for her to be healed in the name of Jesus. So, thank you so much
for praying with us, love you all. Bye.
Hello,
Daily Audio Bible family I’m a first-time caller, Lou from Utah and I just need
your prayers. A little over a week ago my sweetheart of 38 years took his own
life. And he had been suffering with nerve pain and terrible panic attacks for
a long, long time. He had a industrial accident 24 years ago and he has had
pain ever since. Well, he just reached the point where he was just so done with
pain. The kids and I, three kids, grown with their own kids. Their all trying
to grapple with this and it’s hard. One minute you’re feeling one way and the
next minute you feel another way and you wonder if you’re ever gonna feel kind
of normal again. Just need your prayers for my family to find peace from this
traumatic shock. And to be able to go on and serve our Lord without having a big
wound. And I know you’ll pray for me cause I’ve been listening to you guys pray
for others forever and your so faithful. I would appreciate it. God bless this
Daily Audio Bible. Bye Bye.
Hi,
this is GoldBerry from Sequwuachi County, Tennessee and I’m calling for Carmen.
I’m so sorry for the lose of your son. I wanted to encourage you with a
scripture from Psalm 27 I will remain confident of this I will see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. My daughter had a baby in February of 2020 and he died
about 30 minutes after he was born and she lost another baby to miscarriage
almost exactly a year later. And so I understand the grief and I know that it
can be ongoing but I just wanted to encourage you that the Lord’s presence is
with us even if our questions aren’t answered not so unlike Job. We can have
his presence but we don’t always get the answer to the why. But stay with Him
and walk with Him in your pain. And don’t
listen to the people around you who think you should be over it. I think it
takes a lifetime to grieve something like that. Thank you to Renzo for your
continued calls and prayers on the behalf of other DABers. And Jonathan, who
called requesting for prayer, you are not disgusting, you have a beautiful
vulnerable heart and your request for prayers will not go unheard. May God
Bless you and keep you as you aspire to walk with Him and may God give you
peace and mercy and grace without shame. God Bless you.
Hello
DAB this is People on the Water from Indiana. Just wanted to call in really
fast and just mention some people. There was a women who was waking up early to
help her brothers take care of her parents, quick story short, come on, she was
trying to help her dad and really see if he knew who Christ was and just share
the Gospel with him. She’s been waking up early for work so she has a lot on
her plate Lord. I’m not praying that you would take that away but I’m praying
that you would give her wisdom in order to deal with that. Secondly, Jonathan
from Denver, he stayed away from porn for a good amount of time. Dude, let’s go
man, come on, come and he was praying for someone else. You know, I was
thinking, you know, God very well may and is in the position to use that last
time that you viewed pornography, that that may very well be your last time,
just kind of encouraging on that. Okay, a man called him about his friend of 20
years and he was 82 years old and he was just praying for him and COVID and
what not. Then the Harvey family whose also been introduced to this COVID and
that was Terry the Trucker. I’m just praying for them; I’m lifting you up.
Slave of Jesus in NC, I realize that you are the person that say’s “all right
Holy Spirit let’s roll” and I just really like that. Okay, I got like 20
seconds left, okay, new people who are coming on DAB, thank you for coming on,
welcome. I hope that me talking fast isn’t like anything bad to you, and lastly
there was this person Dave from Pennsylvania sang a song and I just want to say
that was cool okay bye.