Three Danger Zones

By John Stallings


The Rolling Stone’s song “I can’t get no satisfaction” has been voted the number one Rock N Roll song of all time.

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, from what he wrote in his books could have easily related to the words of that song. Solomon reached a place where he felt life had no meaning. He hit a low point and was so disappointed with life he thought it was all vanity or meaningless.

Solomon is my kind of writer. In Ecclesiastes, he hangs the key to the whole book right on the front door, “Vanity of vanities [or meaningless] saith the preacher, vanity of vanity: all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?”

Just in case we missed it, he hangs the same key on the back door [12:8] “vanity/meaningless.” Other writers have even used the words “absurd” or “absurdity” to express meaninglessness. If you read Ecclesiastes, you will see that Solomon was writing to the whole world. His message has a universal, missionary appeal. We should have a keen listening ear.

We know much about the famous names in the Bible like Jesus, Moses, Elijah and David and a host of other renowned Bible heroes. But all most folk seem to remember about Solomon is that he wrote the book of Proverbs and several other books in the Bible. Let’s unpack Solomon’s luggage a little bit here and reacquaint ourselves with him.

Solomon sat on his Dad’s throne but unlike his dad king David he didn’t have to go out and kill a giant. As a matter of fact he never fought any big battles. Solomon grew up a little pampered but he was a good king in the beginning. He made Jerusalem shine like a diamond glistening between the shimmering blue waves of the Mediterranean and the glimmering salty waters of the Dead Sea.

At first, Solomon’s reign was Israel’s Camelot. Jerusalem was a crown jewel in Solomon’s day. Silver and gold were almost as common as dust. No wars were going on and everybody was safe, blessed with money and plenty to eat. The times were good. God was blessing the whole nation. It kind of sounds like America doesn’t it? God has blessed us tremendously but we are in need of a national revival.

The first thing Solomon did was put his enemies to death and bring Pharaoh’s daughter to the city of David and marry her. Not long after that God asked Solomon in a dream to ask of Him whatever he wanted and the request would be granted. Isn’t God good? God is so good to His people. Some people feel that we as the people of God are supposed to be poor and downtrodden and walk around like we’ve been baptized in pickle juice. But the Bible says in Psalm 144: 15, “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.”

If you could have your fondest wish fulfilled what would it be? Would you wish for riches, a long life, good health or spiritual understanding? Since Solomon asked God for wisdom, God told him He’d make him fabulously wealthy also.

Ask what I should give you! We’ve heard that opening line before haven’t we? A man finds a bottle and a genie comes out and gives him three wishes.

I heard about three men who were stranded on an island when a bottle washes up on shore. When they uncorked the bottle a genie came out and granted them three wishes. The first man wishes to go to Paris and he suddenly goes to Paris and stands in front of the Eiffel Tower. The second man wishes to go to Hollywood and suddenly finds himself on a movie set. The third man, now alone on the island looks around and says, “I wish my friends were back.”

Scholars agree that Ecclesiastes was written in the sunset years of Solomon’s life. He obviously had a hankering for beautiful women because he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, which means three hundred more wives. Solomon got many of these women from other nations and they brought their foreign Gods and idols with them. This man collected women the way some men collect antique cars. It was his hobby. Every day Solomon was surrounded by 1,000 stunningly beautiful women and he didn’t get junk. They had a demoralizing effect on Solomon because he constructed many alters to their Gods to try to please them. These women had the power to undo Solomon’s connection to God. These sensual sweethearts spoiled his spirituality. If you read 1 Kings 11:9 the fact is made crystal clear that God didn’t approve of the way Solomon did business.

Yes, Solomon tried laughter, leisure, licentiousness, labor, lucre, and lovely ladies. He tried it all. And he got bored. He wasn’t a “happy camper.” The problem was that-Solomon lost God. It all started with marrying the wrong woman- a heathen woman who worshipped false idols. This rubbed off on Solomon and for all his vaunted wisdom he turned out to be one of the most profligate and promiscuous kings who ever ruled over Israel. Probably quite imperceptibly at first Solomon got an infection because he gave sin a foothold in his life. This infection ultimately killed him spiritually.

The writer’s messages come through loud and clear in Ecclesiastes. One of them is-

THE WORLD AROUND US DOESN’T CHANGE THE WORLD WITHIN US.

In this little book, Solomon uses the term “life under the Sun” 29 times. He uses the phrase “chasing after the wind” 9 times and the word “time” 28 times.

Solomon seems to be greatly impacted with the fact that there just isn’t enough time and that he’s running out of time. If you’re over 50, you’ll be able to relate to that fact. If you’re over 65, you are getting this book in a profound way. By this time, we’ve learned along with Solomon, - there just isn’t any time.

The book of Ecclesiastes suggests to us three periods of time that I’m calling-Three Danger Zones. First are;

1. THE TEEN YEARS

Solomon tells us in 12;1-3—Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw night when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

The teen years are a real Danger Zone. Have you ever really considered the profoundly dramatic change a child goes through when they jump from adolescence to a teenager? As a child, everything was so simple. The child is playing in a sand-box and almost overnight they’re overtaken by puberty. Do you remember how overwhelming that experience was? With some of us we got a new voice about that time.

Now, not only is the newly-crowned teenager catapulted into a world of sexual awareness- the big questions of life start. Who am I? What am I doing here? What’s the meaning of life if there is one? They start to see the suffering, unfairness and injustices of the world. Teenagers will get in the streets and march over causes they’ve barely had time to know even exist.

To point out the obvious, it’s during the teen years that many times kids get into trouble. Some of them get into the “Goth” scene and wear all black clothing. Many young people get so confused that they take on a Gothic character to hide behind just so they can deal with daily life.
Teens typically feel they’re the first to discover the problems that have plagued mankind for centuries. Of course suicide is always something that parents have to be concerned about because suicide is the second cause of death among teenagers.

The next Danger Zone is;

2. MIDDLE AGE

If we make it through the teen years, we usually have smooth sailing for a number of years. During those years most people raise their children, if they have any. Then when middle age rolls around, the same old “meaninglessness” comes back to torment us again.

I’ve always thought it sort of funny to speak of middle age because we have to know how long a person’s life will be to know when middle age comes. Many men and women have what’s called a mid-life crisis.

Some have an easy transition through mid-life and others go nuts-o. The middle age years are often called the “so what” years. It’s during mid-life that people have affairs and many tear their lives all to pieces. As a general rule, if a married couple can make it through their middle years they won’t divorce. In mid-life there’s an instant replay of the craziness that plagued us as teenagers.

Jerry Lee Lewis had a song out several years ago called “Middle age crazy.” Old Jerry was pretty much right on target. Mid-life is when we start buying the CD and DVD disks that Time-Life offers on T.V. We can’t understand why the old songs we loved aren’t played on the radio anymore.

Many folk, especially women, I think, start having plastic surgery in middle age. I heard about one man whom the doctor told; “I can’t lift your face but I can lower your body.”

The story is told of a lady who was having quite a lot of plastic surgery done and during the process she prayed and asked God to let her live a very long life. God assured her that she could count on a life full of years. She continued to have more and more work done and after about the 15th surgery when she was released from the clinic, she was crossing the street and a car hit her, killing her instantly. When she got to heaven she asked God why he didn’t keep His promise to her of a long life. According to the story, God said, “I certainly had every intention of giving you a long life, the reason the car hit you was-I didn’t recognize you.”

Solomon tells us that he denied himself no pleasure but when he summed it all up, it was just a cosmic-joke. No pleasure at all. He learned the great mysteries of life but that just served to depress him more. He undertook great projects like building the Temple and building his own magnificent home but that wasn’t fulfilling either. In 2:17 Solomon actually said-I hate life.”

Again the truth comes through that-life around us can’t change the inner landscape of our lives. Solomon tells us that it’s all folly if we leave God out of our lives.

Adolph Menzel was a painter who lived in the 18th century. He undertook to paint a masterpiece featuring King Frederick the Great. The painting was to be of the King surrounded by beautiful scenery with a background of mountains and flowers. Menzel, wanting to get the scenery painted first, made a charcoal outline of where the King’s personage would be, intending to put that in last. Menzel inadvertently died before he could finish the painting so all that was visible was the surrounding trappings. The king was left out.

If we’re not careful, you and I can make this mistake. Well intentioned as we may be, we can, not really meaning to, leave God out of our lives, like Menzel, intending to come back to Him before we’re finished. This is a major part of what Solomon is saying to us. Remember God!

Certainly Solomon knew better than what he did throughout much of his life. But you and I do the same thing. We do things that we know in our heart isn’t right but somehow we just do them anyway. The last danger zone;

3. THE SENIOR YEARS

Some people say they won’t to ‘grow old gracefully,” and others plan to “fight it all the way.”

In the senior years the enemy comes to us again. Now we’re starting to get philosophical about our lives. After all, we were told as young people that we should get the best education possible and excel at some skill or in some profession. Now, in our sunset years, we’re told to retire. The person who’ll take our place will be maybe 25 years old and they’ll only have to pay him/her half what we were paid.

In our senior years we ask; what did I accomplish? Did my contribution make a difference? The thing that will make a difference in our senior years is do we have the inner spiritual resources to cope.

I read somewhere that studies have shown that older people tend to be less likely to experience persistent negative emotional states and have a greater capacity to experience poignancy.

I think that’s true because as a young man I traveled over much of the world and can remember being so tired I was hardly able to take in the unbelievable sights I was seeing. I walked through the catacombs in Rome and was so exhausted I could scarcely take in the importance of it. Today, I can see some of the places I’ve been to personally on TV and sit and marvel almost to the point of tears at the beauty my eyes behold.

Research finds that with aging comes deeper ways of relating to self, others and society and even the universe. These finding showed that:

*Older people tend to grow in their capacity for self-confrontation.
* Older people tend to move from self-centeredness to altruism.
* Older people tend to think of childhood more positively.
*Older people tend to find solitude less threatening.
* Older people tend to find more joy in social contact.
* Older people tend to have a renewed interest in nature.

MOCKING BIRDS

This might seem almost silly but it’s true. The other day I went out to the mailbox and as I walked I heard the most startling sound. I looked up in a small tree on our property and sitting at the very top like the star on a Christmas tree was a bird chirping out the most unbelievable sounds I’ve heard in a long time. I stood for a moment or two at rapt attention as the bird sang.

It was almost as if the bird was saying, “Look what I can do. I was just waiting for you to come out so I could audition for you.” To be frank, I wasn’t sure what kind of bird it was but this little guy was chirping away like his life depended on it, almost like a musician quickly going through his repertoire. I don’t know why I was so impressed but I was. This bird went through all sorts of sounds, swinging from sounds like a squirrel barking, to someone whistling for their dog. It was all over in less than a minute but I was so impressed I came back into the house and looked this bird up on Google.

It turns out that it was indeed a Mocking Bird, which explained why he knew so many sounds. They actually mock other birds and I suppose any noise that impresses them. I learned that these birds keep adding new sounds until the day they die. Isn’t that amazing? I may have learned some of this in school but had forgotten. More likely I just wasn’t paying attention. Now I listen for the mocking Bird’s song and wonder why it took me so long to see and hear the sounds all around me.

It’s not that growing older has left me with nothing to do-there don’t seem to be enough hours in a day, but at this point in my life, as the above study suggests, I have a “renewed interest in nature.”

IN OLD AGE, OUR PURPOSE MUST BE HIGHER THAN OUR POSSESSIONS.

Solomon should have been more solemn don’t you think? In him we see the restlessness of the young and the peevishness of the old. He had a steady diet of wicked women, food, frolic, and fame. Life has a way of decaying right under a person if they don’t take great care. Solomon’s downfall came in old age and its clear Solomon was led over “fool’s hill” by all the wicked influences in his life. As I’ve looked again at Solomon’s life, I’ve wondered if Elvis, Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods would have turned out differently if they’d read Solomon’s writings and taken them seriously.

It would be great if when a person grew old they’d be exempt from the decaying influences of sin but there’s no guarantee of smooth sailing into our sunset years. Rocky roads still await senior saints.

Do you think we’ll meet Solomon in heaven? Just a question. Listen to 1 Kings 11:4;

As Solomon grew old his wives turned his heart after other Gods and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely as David his father had done.

Ashtoreth was a sex goddess and sanctioned every sexual activity. Molech worship included child sacrifice. Solomon was into all of that. Heathen genes mixed with Hebrew genes and “all bets are off.”

Solomon’s son Rehoboam led Israel into deep sin and under him the kingdom was divided into ten tribes and the two tribes. War and bloodshed came and never left. It all started with Solomon.

DANGER

Friend, you and I can’t afford to slip into sin, no matter what stage of life we find ourselves in. If we do, generations who follow us will suffer for it. Hosea 8:7 says; They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

God wants you and me to have integrity. He wants us on our knees and He wants us feeding on His Word. If your father was immoral or maybe a drunkard, you can break that cycle. You can break it through the blood of Jesus Christ.

We can avoid each and every one of the danger zones but we can do it only through Him.


Blessings,


John