You.

For without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? Ecclesiastes 225 there's nothing more frustrating than putting a jigsaw puzzle together and discovering that there's one piece missing. You'll tear the house upside down trying to find that one missing piece, and you won't sleep at night until you do. If you don't find it, your frustration multiplies because you feel like you've just spent who knows how many hours on something you can't finish. A close second is having that little taste for something that you can't identify. Everyone knows how dangerous that is. You're not really hungry, but you just need that little something that will satisfy your taste buds. Unsure of what that might be, you could end up eating a little bit of everything in the cupboard or refrigerator, and even then, you aren't really satisfied. When something is missing in life, satisfaction is impossible to find. That may well have been on Solomon's mind when he wrote the little verse in ecclesiastes. Despite the ebb and flow and rhythm of life, satisfaction is impossible without something higher, something bigger, and something better than man himself. So the wise king wrote, without him, that is, without God, who can eat or find enjoyment? According to Solomon, without the Lord, nothing else in life matters. This accounts for the boredom and lack of joy that so many people experience. Think of it this way. If our life's pursuit is limited to accomplishments, wealth, pleasure, or the accumulation of things, at the end of our days, we will find ourselves very disappointed and disillusioned by the realization that all we did and accomplished and gained hasn't really given us the satisfaction we sought. Something is missing. That something is actually a someone, God himself, without whom nothing on earth or in life is big enough or good enough to give real and lasting joy and satisfaction. That doesn't mean that it's wrong to apply ourselves to what we do, or that there is no joy or pleasure in what life has to offer. It's just that we need to understand that all of our pursuits must be subservient to our primary objective, which is the pursuit of God and all that pleases him. Anything less falls miserably short of providing the meaning and satisfaction we crave.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected] have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.