“WHOSOEVER drinketh of this water shall thirst again.”
THERE was once a rich king who was so very rich that he never refused himself anything. He said, “Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy.”
This king understood all about young men, for had he not been young himself? He knew all about their joys and their troubles, and he knew their temptations. He remembered how he himself had tried everything there was to try under the sun to bring happiness. He had given himself to wine; he had gathered together silver and gold and treasures; he had gotten him much cattle and forty thousand stalls of horses; he had built himself houses and planted beautiful gardens; he had tried music, the delights of the sons of men, musical instruments of all sorts. He tried laughter and mirth and singing, and he even tried folly and madness; and this is what he writes at the end of it all, "Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities; all is vanity," and again, "Behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
He was not only surpassingly rich, but he was a poet and a writer; he composed over a thousand songs and three thousand proverbs. He was a student too-a scientist; he searched out the reason of things. He could talk about trees, from the greatest to the least, about birds, beasts, insects, fishes. His riches were so astonishing, his wisdom so profound, that the fame of him spread among many nations, and all kings of the earth sought his presence to hear his wisdom that God had given him. Yet at the end of it all, as he considered the matter, his verdict was:
“Behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”
Why all this discontent, this dissatisfaction?
Why? Just this: all these pleasures, these riches, this knowledge, were things under the sun. His life had been filled with things that do not last, things that pass away; to-day they are, to-morrow they are gone. Hence this empty void, this dissatisfaction, this craving for something more, and yet more.
HE was like a thirsty man who drinks salt water, but the more he drinks the more thirsty he is. Is there no cure? no satisfaction to be found under the sun? Is there nothing that will quench this thirst?
This rich, wise king remembered so well all he passed through in the days of his youth, that he was much concerned for young men who should grow up after him. He sympathized with them and longed to help them, so he wrote down advice and instruction for them.
Here is one of the messages he wrote: "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow [or, anger] from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh.”
Ah, how well he knew that men cannot go on living just as they like, just as they choose. He says, "Know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.”
The wise king knew that young men are responsible to God. Their lives must come to an end some day, and they must answer to God for the way they have spent those lives, and the use they have made of the good things He has entrusted them with.
SO He says: "My son, be admonished."
"Remove sorrow from thy heart, and
put away evil from thy flesh.”