The True Seeker—Ecclesiastes 5

Russ Ramsey

Guinness says of the true seeker: “On meeting them you feel their seriousness, their driven relentlessness. Something in life has awakened questions—perhaps something positive, like a sense of awe in the face of beauty; perhaps something negative, like a crisis or a collapsed confidence. They have been forced to reconsider. They must find answers outside their present answers.”

The true seeker is like the Japanese poet Issa, who was told by his philosopher and master that the world is dew and ought not be mourned for—and yet cannot help but grieve from the very depths of his being over the death of his wife and children. He needs an answer outside his present answer.

The true seeker is like van Gogh who put brush to canvas as a response to the marvel of deepening hope in the face of death—and how to reconcile that with a world that devalues and dismisses the worth of the poor and aged. The true seeker is like the author of Ecclesiastes—believed to be Solomon, the wisest man in history. In this book, which we’ll look at more in the next study, Solomon explores the question of the meaning of life and concludes that in a world without a God, there is no meaning.

Solomon, who believed in a God Who could be found, wrote Ecclesiastes to search for meaning and drew the conclusion that meaning is found in God. So what does this mean? Where is man to go with this knowledge? True seekers are looking for “something more.” The God of the Bible makes claims about reality that are either absolutely that “something more” or are out and out lies. The claims of Jesus Christ are either 100% true for everyone or true for no one. The nature of God’s relationship to people is at the heart of the issue. He is a God that can be found.