Life Lab Rat
The writer of Ecclesiastes undertook a hugely ambitious life experiment and he made himself the guinea pig, the lab rat. King Solomon had the time, money, and power to pretty much pursue any avenue of life he thought would bring pleasure or satisfaction. Solomon decided to conduct a massive experiment in human happiness and meaning. He became his own test subject, his own lab rat. “I know there is a God, but I’m going to live as if there isn’t and see what that’s like.” At the root of this question is a core belief: “God doesn’t really make much of a difference in life.” Have you ever decided to be your own life lab rat? That’s what King Solomon decided to do. “Why make your own mistakes,” the Preacher is saying to us, “when you can learn from an expert like me instead?”
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“What will fill this hollow place inside of me?” And so, he searches for the Next Thing. He didn’t’ just dabble into stuff – he went all in. The phrase “I applied myself to / tried / tested…” pops up in his book. He threw lavish parties. He surrounded himself with parks, gardens, vineyards, art collections, comedy routines. He had a palace built that took thousands of workers thirteen years to build. He acquired hundreds of tons of gold. He didn’t have Spotify, so he drafted an orchestra to entertain him at mealtimes. He had 700 wives and 300 girlfriends. He indulged every appetite, chased every pleasure – wealth, women, and wisdom. The intellectual. The sensual. The carnal. He became this mad scientist in search of serum, an antidote to fix him. But nothing was ever enough. He lost sight of the Giver of the Gifts.
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Been There, Done That
After Solomon spent a long season of his life “wanting” things or people, he could say to almost everything: “I’ve been there, done that, but I’m still empty.” “Been there, done that!” Meaning the thrill is gone. Solomon found himself asking: “Is life worth living?” Now that he was older and looking at life through the rear-view mirror, he wanted to caution his own sons and anyone else who would listen about going down this path. That essentially is the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is his memoir—an autobiographical account of what he learned from his futile attempt to live without God; a diary of all the ways we can lose our life by trying to save it on our own. If Solomon can’t find meaning without God; if he can’t find happiness, then it can’t be done.
