What a disappointment.

[VictoryinJesus]

Vanity

Hebrew: הבל הבל
Transliteration: hebel hăbêl
Pronunciation: {heh'-bel} hab-ale'
Definition: From H1891; emptiness or vanity; figuratively something transitory and unsatisfactory; often used as an adverb: - X {altogether} {vain} vanity.

Emptiness is a good word for vanity. Vanity is not a popular topic but one we all have in common at some point.

Romans 8:20
[20] For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Who made the creature "subject" to vanity?
Subjected: to put under, obedience.
"by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,"

(Genesis 3)
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Vanity)
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, (Vanity) she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

I have heard others say Ecclesiastes is a mistake and never should have been included in God's Word. Ecclesiastes is a Revelation given to Solomon by God. Ecclesiastes is seeing the world for what it truly is...Vanity.

Ecclesiastes 4: 7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.

We are instructed to set our sights higher. (Philippians 3: 20) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Kings 17:15
[15] And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.

We are instructed to be "in the world" but not "of the world".

Job :

Job 7:2-3
[2] As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work: [3] So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

Desireth the shadow which is this world.

"appointed to me" by whom? Who appoints?

Job 15:31-35
[31] Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. [32] It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. [33] He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. [34] For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. [35] They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

The world says "get more of the world, more stuff and you will be satisfied."
Vanity, What a disappointment.
The world says we should love ourselves more.Vanity, What a disappointment that never goes anywhere or accomplishes anything lasting. When I look at the model of Jesus Christ: Son of God, King: "Who being the brightness of his glory, and express image of his person," ...God in the flesh of a man, took the lowly position as servant even though He possessed all titles and power and authority over man. Instead, the Lord came underneath to lift others up.

Wells without water:

The woman by the well is constructed around the truth. Jesus sits with her and tells her truth. Truth so many of us struggle with. Wells that never quench our thirst. We may try, with relationships, addictions, power, success, validation from other men, money...nothing satisfies the thirst. "You are empty. You keep going to a well that doesn't satisfy. You keep looking for a different husband thinking this one will fix you, but they never do. You keep dipping from the same well but you still ache from thirst. You keep taking from a well of stagnate water."

Not a literal well but the well of life. Every day. Taking that same walk as the woman by the well with her "many husbands", still thirsty and on empty. Vanity: emptiness, unsatisfactory.


2 Peter 2:17-19
[17] These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. [18] For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. [19] While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

There is HOPE.

The Lord gives living water flowing...

Isaiah 58:9-11
[9] Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am . If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; [10] And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: [11] And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.


Proverbs 30:8-9
[8] Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: [9] Lest I be full, and deny thee , and say, Who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain .

Do YOU want the "shadow of" or the real, unperishable riches of the Living God? Water that quenches.

Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

 

[amadeus]

@VictoryinJesus

All of this, which you describe and quote in your OP is why we need God. What we need is Love or Charity as per I Cor 13:4-7. God is love.

As a mother, if you have had children, if it were not for a kind of love in you, you could have done like some animals and simply have left the new born infant to fend for itself. Human mothers don't do that because they already have something in them that some of those lower animals do not. Is it vanity? No, it is love and God is Love, is He not?

He gives us some of these little glimpses, like the infant to mother relationship, to give a clue of how good things can be. Are they good when you first see the new born that is your own? Can God improve on that? I believe that He can.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

@VictoryinJesus

All of this, which you describe and quote in your OP is why we need God. What we need is Love or Charity as per I Cor 13:4-7. God is love.

As a mother, if you have had children, if it were not for a kind of love in you, you could have done like some animals and simply have left the new born infant to fend for itself. Human mothers don't do that because they already have something in them that some of those lower animals do not. Is it vanity? No, it is love and God is Love, is He not?

He gives us some of these little glimpses, like the infant to mother relationship, to give a clue of how good things can be. Are they good when you first see the new born that is your own? Can God improve on that? I believe that He can.

Like the woman by the well, it seems so many are waiting for someone to sit with them and say: I see your emptiness. Not in an ugly, demeaning way, but in acknowledgement of: we have all felt that emptiness. Yes, that is why we need Him.

This is the first scripture that ever spoke to me. Job 38:25-27 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; [26] To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; [27] To satisfy the desolate and waste ground ; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

Those verses have significantly changed in meaning since that day. But it was the first time I believed God can do anything.

 

[amadeus]

Like the woman by the well, it seems so many are waiting for someone to sit with them and say: I see your emptiness. Not in an ugly, demeaning way, but in acknowledgement of: we have all felt that emptiness. Yes, that is why we need Him.

This is the first scripture that ever spoke to me. Job 38:25-27 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; [26] To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; [27] To satisfy the desolate and waste ground ; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

Those verses have significantly changed in meaning since that day. But it was the first time I believed God can do anything.

Yes, it is very easy to see as we grow older and deeper in God just how seeming useless so many things in this world seem to be. Yet, people hold onto them and when I was younger so did I. When I've had my down times from God, He let me realize why people who do not know God want to die. They have nothing and they have not even hope of something in this world alone.

When my son calls me on the phone now I am able to talk to him about God because I know that He is the only real thing we have, if only people could understand it.

Solomon had in the flesh everything a person might desire but he came to understand just how vain it all was. So then I will frequently simply say:

Give God the glory! He really does make it all worthwhile.

 

[DPMartin]

Who made the creature "subject" to vanity?
Subjected: to put under, obedience.
"by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,"

.

vanity was used by the translators of KJV because it means :
OED 1. a. That which is vain, futile, or worthless; that which is of no value or profit. b. Vain and unprofitable conduct or employment of time.
2. a. The quality of being vain or worthless; the futility or worthlessness of something.


hence the theme of "all is vanity" in the case of under the sun.

simple you are subjected to toil to sustain that which will return to the earth anyway, namely your body. which is the result of Adam and Eve's own judgment of what is good and evil, hence like gods because to judge what is good and evil in God's creation is God's job to do. and when God left them with dust to dust and sweat of the brow for bread. it was God that made man subject to vanity "but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope"

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

and hope being expectation as Paul goes on later in the chapter. for example Abraham's hope, or faith if you like. not only do we toil, but we are also subjected to hope. the Hope in Christ. and we come to the realization that this is God's Judgement which is good, bring us the knowledge that what is to be valued is of God.

 

[bbyrd009]

realize why people who do not know God want to die

imo this is a good standard for a believer to use, also; if you currently want to die, say, to be with Jesus or whatever, doesn't matter, then this should be admitted, and dealt with; this is by definition not "life, more abundantly," right.

i see the weirdest reflection of (not) "knowing God" in our denial/destruction of our "mutual" gut bacteria, which make up about 90% of our DNA; and we are now discovering that candida overgrowths often make one suicidal. I'm a sugar freak, so i dealt with this for years, myself. Correcting a bad gut has profound consequences on your outlook on life.

 

[bbyrd009]

simple you are subjected to toil to sustain that which will return to the earth anyway, namely your body.

this is the perception, of those who perceive the bed to be too narrow or whatever, certainly. But God promises to feed and clothe you regardless, if you have faith, so it becomes a matter of which perspective one decides to practice imo. To put that another way, beans are great for you, and virtually free; steak costs money, and requires more commitment to obtain. The Salvation Army will give you a set of clothes; Bill Blass costs money

 

[bbyrd009]

not only do we toil

"consider the lillies"

and toil as long as you feel led to, ok

 

[amadeus]

imo this is a good standard for a believer to use, also; if you currently want to die, say, to be with Jesus or whatever, doesn't matter, then this should be admitted, and dealt with; this is by definition not "life, more abundantly," right.

Right it is. Now is the time. If a person is impatient for tomorrow alone, he has missed the Way. We are already in the abundant Life if we know the Lord Jesus. He came for today. Tomorrow is simply an extra reward if one is doing it right now [today].

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Phil 4:11

When I am complaining or I see a supposedly born again Christian complaining one thing I remember is the attitude of Betsie ten Boom the sister of Corrie in "The Hiding Place". Once while in a Nazi concentration camp Corrie and Betsie, her sister, were praying for the victims of harsh treatment in the camp. Corrie was shocked when she realized that Betsie was praying for the cruel, seemingly inhuman, guards who inflicted the punishments as well as the ones who were being beaten physically. Corrie watched her sister die in that camp without ever failing to love everyone, including those guards, until the day of her own death by their hands. Consider what Jesus said from the cross:

"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34

i see the weirdest reflection of (not) "knowing God" in our denial/destruction of our "mutual" gut bacteria, which make up about 90% of our DNA; and we are now discovering that candida overgrowths often make one suicidal. I'm a sugar freak, so i dealt with this for years, myself. Correcting a bad gut has profound consequences on your outlook on life.

I have my own besetting sins, but each day I talk to God and strive to surrender again to His will. Some of those sins are gone [at least for the moment] and others reach to me again periodically. I don't always win every battle, but whenever I surrender again to Him, He does...

People, I believe, sin after having known Jesus because they go into a delusion again, if only for a moment. We must learn to turn it all over to him in every moment.

This comes back to that love of truth. When we lie to ourselves and/or to God to walk in our own way we are leaving that Love and in comes the delusion. God understands our frailties and will not leave us there [in the delusion] if we keep on humbling ourselves to Him. How much patience does God have? More than we do.

 

[bbyrd009]

nice, yes. It might be seen that a little kid has humility simply because they do not know anything, and they have not learned yet how to pretend that they do know anything; they have not learned logic yet, iow, they are dialectic thinkers without even meaning to be; at least until their parents get to them...

 

[amadeus]

nice, yes. It might be seen that a little kid has humility simply because they do not know anything, and they have not learned yet how to pretend that they do know anything; they have not learned logic yet, iow, they are dialectic thinkers without even meaning to be; at least until their parents get to them...

On another thread I compared the attempted homicide by a two year old with the same attempt by a 20 year to get a point across. If you read that thread you understand how well the point was understood or NOT.