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09/02/2019 DAB Transcript

Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, Psalms 46:1-11, Proverbs 22:15

Today is the 2nd day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it's great to be here with you as we just kind of move in…move into this new month. And it’s been a great beginning to this new month here that at the Family Reunion in the rolling hills of Tennessee. We’ve had a blast. So, Godspeed. Safe travels to everyone heading back to their neck of the woods. It was a joy to spend some time with you and let's spend some more time together right now by taking the next step forward in the Scriptures. So, yesterday we concluded the book of Job and, of course, Job took us into some new territory to explore and apply to our lives. Today…today we’re going to begin one of my favorite books of the Bible, Ecclesiastes.

Introduction to the book of Ecclesiastes:

I used to not even enjoy the book of Ecclesiastes because it's kind of cynical and it kind of makes you feel like…like what's the point of it all, but I have found so much richness in those thoughts. Like, yeah, what's the point of it all without God? Like, what's…we’re running around chasing the wind and never really actually enjoying where we are, which is one of the things that Solomon who wrote this book really tries to stress. Like you need to appreciate what's happening right now and what you have right now. So, Job, as well as Ecclesiastes, which we’re about to read as well as the book of Proverbs and the book of song of Solomon and some of the Psalms, these are all part of the grouping of books that is known as wisdom literature. So, as we went through Job and as we go through Ecclesiastes, we are learning of the wisdom tradition in the Scripture. So, like I just send Ecclesiastes has traditionally been ascribed to the Solomon and that's been up for debate like most everything else in the Bible among biblical scholars over centuries, even millennia. And that's…so…Solomon's been debated for different reasons, but the book probably did originate with Solomon. And then maybe was translated and updated just like translations are modernized even today. Solomon was known to be the wisest man in the world. It's what he prayed for and he was the most powerful and wealthy man of his time. And…I mean…his father, King David set him up so that he was able to pursue whatever his heart desired no matter what he dreamed up. Like, he could do anything. And as the successor to King David on the throne. He had all of the resources at his disposal, he had a thousand of the most beautiful women in all of the world as wives and concubines. He had royalty. He had the wisdom of God. Like, this is a guy that pretty much has everything a person would aspire to. And, so, it becomes interesting because for somebody who has it all Ecclesiastes can be way out of character. Like, we would…we would expect, like some kind of memoir of greatness from a man like Solomon. Like…just…you can only imagine, we just have a glimpse into this great King's life. So, you can only imagine the things he saw and did. But he writes Ecclesiastes, which, you know, we can read like a depressing rent but if we start looking below the surface, this book is a truly deep look into our own hearts. We’re all pursuing something, dreams, goals, things that we are aspiring to, but not very many of us, if any, really ever just get to do whatever they want whenever they want. Like, we always have some kinda carrot hanging out in front of us that gets us up out of bed in the morning and keeps us moving. We can always say, “if I had that, life would be better, right? If I could do this thing than my life would be better.” There's always something new that we can find to chase but what if there weren't anything new to chase? Like, what if we actually did have it all? I realize most of us are like, “I would like to have that problem. I would like to see how I would deal with that problem, that I have all of the resources at my disposal that I can imagine, and I can do whatever I want whenever I want. I would love to have that problem.” The interesting thing is, where hearing what it's like to have that problem in the book of Ecclesiastes because Solomon, he did pursue, and he did achieve everything he wanted to do but later in his life all these beautiful wives that he had began to seduce him into idolatry. And, so, what we see in Ecclesiastes is one of the musings of a very wise older man looking back over all of his endeavors and finding his life meaningless without God, which is a perfect next step following all that…that we began to consider in the book of Job. And, so, having said all that, we begin today the book of Ecclesiastes. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we will read the first three chapters of Ecclesiastes today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for your word and once again, we thank You for bringing us safely into this new month. And as we continue through this month and into all of the territory that You will bring us into we’re definitely encountering rubbing up against things that we haven't encountered thus far in the Bible. And, so, our hearts are open because we've seen what You can do through your word. We’ve seen how You reach us where we are and continually remind us. We feel like we are being pulled forward. You are pulling us forward because You are maturing us, fathering us as your sons and daughters. And, so, in the book of Ecclesiastes we’re learning that there is a place for everything. And, so, much of the time of our lives we spend chasing the wind. We have an ideal, we’re chasing an ideal and missing the fact that we are here right now and have so much. So, help us Holy Spirit as we continue forward to contemplate these things. We invite your Holy Spirit to give us a contented heart as we take the next steps forward. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, and its home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

It's a holiday here in the United States today, it’s called Labor Day and a national holiday. So, day off. And man, we had a great time last night at the family reunion. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful time together. And I kind of officially closed our family reunion. Many stayed over today and will be together for part of the day today and then starting the migration back toward our homes. And, so, all of you who were here, thank you for coming. It does our hearts good to see you. It does our hearts a tremendous amount of…well…it brings our hearts a tremendous amount of happiness, just to be able to make those connections and know like, this labor is not in vain, it's not just solitary, it’s not just, you know, us, me behind a mic and us doing our thing. Like, on the other side of this are brothers and sisters that we’re sharing the world with and we’re sharing mission with. And, so, thank you for coming and the until we meet again…until we meet again. And, so, for those of you who weren’t able to make it or whatever, I feel the same way. Somewhere down the road I hope that our paths cross. I hope that in this life we can shake hands and hug necks and tell stories. And I realize that's probably not possible, at least 100%, but I do believe that we will one day meet and that the labor that we shared, this labor of the rhythm of the Bible in our lives every day, that it will have mattered and that it will have instructed and informed us on the roads that we should choose. And those roads all lead to the same place. And we will one day be together for eternity, I believe that. So, not to get overly sentimental, but it was good. It was good to have this family reunion and I’m excited about the road ahead.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you humbly and deeply for your partnership. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174. And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can press the Hotline button right next to the Give button in the app, little red circle is your hotline, or you dial 877-942-4253. And that is it for today. I'm Brian. I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

And as always if you have a prayer request or comment you can press the hotline on the app, little red button up at the top of the app, you can press that button and start talking or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

This message is for Jesse, Jesse from Washington. Today is August 27th. I listened to your prayer request and your…you were actually praying and stating the truck driver now all of a sudden, his name escapes my memory, but I wanted to pray for you. It sounded like your life, you are gardening, and you are attending so many different things with your daughter having her tonsillectomy and adenoids and getting married and your wedding invitations going out and a new building and you were having to stay up until 1 o’clock in the morning for your business. I’m actually gardening right now in the fall in Nebraska and it just it came across me. Like sometimes we garden in too many places. Sometimes we don’t fertilize correctly. Sometimes we need more water, which sometimes happens when it gets close to the fall. So, Father I just lift up Jesse to You. I pray for he and his wife to be as…he said he was a month behind Father, but I pray by the time that he listens to this Father, I pray that he is doing well. I pray that his daughter has recovered from surgeries. I pray that his business is prospering. I pray that the fertilizer in the water and the plants that they have planted are in the right places with the right sunshine, with the best nutrient rich ground that is there. And Father, I pray that You would give him guidance that if those plants are in the wrong place or if that fig tree isn’t producing fruit as You say in Luke 14, I believe it’s Luke 14, it’s either Luke 14 or Luke 12 where You say cut it down…

Hello Daily Audio Bible, I ask that you pray with me from Ephesians chapters 1 and chapter 3 for all believers everywhere. Dear God please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know You better. Enlighten the eyes of our heart so that we may know the hope to which You’ve called us and so we may know the riches of the glorious inheritance we have coming to us and so that we may know the incomparably great power for us who believe, the same power that You used to raise Jesus from the dead. And Lord out of your glorious riches strengthen us with might through our spirit in our inner being so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through us and we may each be rooted and established in love and we may have power together with all believers to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge so that we may each be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Glory to him who is able to do more than all we ask or imagine. In Jesus precious name. Amen. And I agree with Jane from Nebraska whose prayer was played on August 17th. Lord, fill us like water. Fill every void in us. Fill every inch of us. Fill us up Lord with your living water so that none of us are lonely but we always walk with You. And Lord let that light through…through us shine for a world who needs You and bring each person on this planet to You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Good morning family, this is for all of you, Brian, Jill, China, Ben, the staff, SarahJane and my fellow DABbers. You know I…I just want to call and say I love you guys. You guys get me through every single day. I’m not going to name names because we’re all important, we’re all important and this is just me telling you that I need you guys. I love you guys. You know, I pray for you guys. I don’t call as often as I should, and I know that. You know, I too have been going through some challenges but I’m okay. I’m okay because I know I’m not alone, I know I’m not alone. And, you know the joy of the Lord just dwells in my heart and I’m just learning to just go through these challenges knowing that God is there before me, beside me, behind me, above me, below me. So, I just want to let you all know how much you mean to me, that each and every day that I listen, and I pray alongside you. The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. May the Lord continue to bless all of your loved ones and may He do what only He can do within each and every one of you and provide for all of your needs. In Jesus’ name. Esther from Flushing Queens.

Hello DAB family this is Paula the child advocate from the LA area calling. I haven’t called in a while, but I did want to call today and wish all of you who are going on the family gathering a blessed time together in community. I’m sorry I won’t be there to join you, maybe one of these years, but you’ll all certainly be in my prayers. Also, I wanted to give a shout out to two first-time callers, Samantha and Bobby. It was wonderful to hear your voices and to all of you first timers. It’s great to hear you. Thank you for calling in. I know sometimes that’s a little hard. I have trouble myself. I wanted to give you a little update family. My son Tyler and his wife Areli have been living in Tijuana waiting for almost 2 years for her visa to come through so they can move to Los Angeles where he has a job waiting. It’s still taking time family, so please keep them in your prayers. They get discouraged at times, so they really need your prayers. And a quick update about myself. You know, we lost our home to the wildfires in California last November and I’ve had some health problems and I recently fell and broke my arm. So, it’s been a tough time and I hear a lot of you saying how tough it’s been for you too and I want to tell you we can all get through this together. I see God at work in all these trials I’ve been put through. I see the silver lining because I know everything that’s happened, it could have been a lot worse. So, I am hoping you too when you going through these trials that you can see that God is still there with us. And even though it looks really bad and you’re in pain and your crushed and depressed, please remember we’re praying for you and God is there by your side. I love you family. God bless you all. Bye for now. Paula from LA.

Hi DAB family this is Shel from Arkansas and today is Wednesday, August 28th and I just ask for prayers for me and my family please. My 62-year-old brother was bludgeoned to death by his son on Saturday and my family and I were having a hard time and I just ask that you pray for us. I ask also that you pray for me because although I don’t question God on any of this, I’m just finding it hard to pray. And, so, I ask that you pray for me until I get the strength to pray. Thank you so much.

Hello DAB family members this is Ruth calling from the natural state, beautiful natural state of Arkansas. I have a prayer request for…well I’m praying a prayer for falling away Christians. Mainly, I’m praying for the young people. There’s so many of them nowadays that have fallen away. One is in my family, well I have a couple of them in my family, my grandsons, they’re in their 20s and 30s. They’re not little guys they’re adult men and they have fallen away. And I have a prayer and I want to give you it very quickly before my time is up. So, Lord I am praying for those who have walked away and turned to the world, may they do like the prodigal son and come to their senses coming back to You with repentance in their heart before it’s too late. I pray this prayer in the precious name of Jesus. Lord, I know You are concerned about everything that concerns your children just like we are concerned about things that concern our children. Now, I know that You are going to answer this prayer because You are already said in your word that You __ all to be saved who come to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, I know this prayer is going to be answered but only in your time. And I pray that they will have the mind to do this, to come back to you, and I will be calling again with another prayer for our fallen away, mainly our young people, but actually all of our people, fallen away family members come to the Lord and the ones that never accepted you, my prayers are even stronger for those that have never accepted you before it’s too late Lord before it’s too late. God bless you I love you all.

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coreymichaelsmithson · 7 years

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A Shadow Over Liberty

Solar eclipses, as everybody knows, are things that occur pretty frequently, but they don't necessarily happen right where you live, and they're not always so hotly anticipated. This particular eclipse, in August of 2017, promised to be kind of a big deal; the shadow's path would cross our entire country, from Oregon to South Carolina, passing near many major population centers and providing optimal viewing opportunities for much of the continent. The resulting hullabaloo created one of the largest temporary migrations in American history … hotels were sold out months in advance, airfares skyrocketed, cell towers and data networks became completely overwhelmed, and small towns in fourteen states braced themselves as millions of people flocked to the narrow band of totality. The big day found us all gazing skyward, goofy-looking and expectant, some hopefuls squinting through crappy sunglasses and playing Pink Floyd, others praying for The Rapture or another kind of spiritual deliverance. But all of us were waiting to witness something special. Something that comes maybe once in a lifetime. We all wanted a miracle.

It was almost a bust here in Missouri, though. I was back in Kansas City for a short stop, visiting my former partner, Max, and tying up some loose ends. All morning, heavy thunderstorms had been rolling through Kansas City, one right after another, a relentless chain of heavy-duty party poopers. Max's basement flooded, as it always does whenever it rains hard. The skies had been so gloomy, so grey for so long, that I'd pretty much given up all hope of watching this business go down, and I was getting pretty petulant about it. After all, I was scheduled to leave Missouri very soon, and I'd been looking forward to this event as a suitably flashy send-off. But about one hour before the big show, just as my lower lip reached maximum quiver, I caught a glimpse of blue sky peeping out from beneath a departing thunderhead. Maybe we had a chance, after all? Just maybe? No time to waste! Let's go! Into Pamela we jumped, and off we went, hot as a rocket, up into the northland!

Kansas City, Missouri, sat on the very cusp of totality, but not exactly in the sweet spot. The band was only seventy miles wide, and downtown KCMO was a little too close to the "Gosh, So Sorry, You're Almost There But Just A Wee Bit Off, Better Luck Next Time" zone. No, I wanted to be right in middle of things, smack-dab in the path of the moon's shadow. It was all or nothing; I had to be certain that we were getting the full effect … and, more importantly, I didn't want us to fry out our retinas while staring at 98% solar coverage.

So I chose Liberty, Missouri, roughly fifteen miles to the north, as our target for interception. In fact, I had already scoped out a particular park several weeks ago, and was pretty confident that I'd picked a place that wouldn't be too terribly packed. But on this day, especially given the weather, getting to Liberty proved to be a serious challenge. We tried first to take my favorite top-secret route across the river … a little-used trafficway that winds below the bluffs and into the riverfront industrial district … but, naturally, the recent deluge had completely swamped its lowest points. We watched a few pickups try to push their way through the muck, making big dirty bow waves before their bumpers, but I didn't want to risk grinding Pamela's undercarriage against hidden debris. So we swallowed up precious time racing to a larger highway, one that more people were likely to use. And it was, of course, the one highway that every slowpoke, granny, and texting asshole needed to be on right at that moment. By the time we rolled into the outskirts of Liberty, we had only fifteen minutes to go before the final huzzah, and I was starting to sweat it. Already, the cornfields were taking on an oddly fuzzy look, like the wavering aura that precedes a migraine. Were we going to miss this? Had I completely screwed this up? Poor Max had to put up with an unceasing torrent of curses, complaints, and self-excoriations … I was certain that we were doomed to be stuck somewhere on the road and would miss the whole shebang. I'd never forgive myself for leaving too late.

After several more delays, including an abortive attempt to find a suitable backup location, we finally pulled up to the park … and were dismayed to see that it was already jammed with cars, portable grills, coolers, and people ogling in slack-jawed amazement at our sun. I resumed all the swearing and gnashing of teeth. I lashed myself up one side and down the other for not having left earlier, drenching thunderstorms be damned. But Max, blessedly cool and rational, wouldn't let me give up.

A second pass through the park revealed an unexpected point of access. Hooray! Within a few minutes we were safely parked on a grassy hilltop, situated near a pretty little pond and dozens of locust trees, ready to witness this celestial wonder with countless grasshoppers and hundreds of other cheering American yahoos.

Miraculously, we'd managed to find the one patch of clear blue sky in this area of Missouri. We were surrounded on all sides by thunderstorms, almost like the eye of a hurricane; the cumulonimbi loomed in every direction, but it was as if the gods were showing a special mercy towards the occupants of this one park. We were treated to a marvelous view, perfectly framed and completely unobstructed. It seemed like our own private affair, like something happening just for us.

I set up my camera on a tripod, tilted it upwards. The crowd nearby sounded boisterous, happy, possibly drunk. I could hear aluminum cans being opened, shutters clicking. Anybody wearing those stupid-looking opaque glasses grew more excited as the moment approached. We didn't have any eclipse glasses of our own, so we used both my phone and my camera's LCD monitor to watch as the moon slid before the sun. More than that, though, we concentrated on the eerie lighting effects on the grassy slopes surrounding us.

While we still had a few minutes to spare, Max sauntered off to use the latrine. In the brief time he was gone, the light changed … slowly at first, and then quite dramatically. It was more than just dimness, though. It was the strange kind of light you see in your dreams, somewhere between day and night. A half-night. A few minutes later, as Max walked back across the green field towards me, his red shirt and red baseball cap vibrated with a strange intensity. All around us, the rainclouds changed from grey to violet, their undersides tinged with an odd salmon-orange. It was a 360-degree sunset. Ducks on the pond quacked in confusion. Crickets started to sing. An expectant burble rose among all the tailgaters.

Finally, the moment had arrived. Everyone shouted and tore off their glasses. Somewhere in the distance, somebody fired what sounded like a cannon. But even without these cues, we would have known that the sun had been completely obscured, for the landscape around us grew dark, quite abruptly, and the air chilled by several degrees. But this was not the inky darkness of night, nor the bluish depth of dawn. No … this was more like the long and slow dusks of late summer, when the twilights seem to last forever, and a soft rosy haze lingers around the horizon. I could clearly see some other stars appearing in the blue. It was safe to look up now. And so we did.

We looked directly at our sun.

One of the strangest illusions to occur during a total solar eclipse is that the sun appears to be very close to the earth. Rather than a giant fiery ball 93,000,000 miles away, our star seems instead like a small glowing ornament suspended in our troposphere. It seemed to shimmer nearby, very low in the sky … not as close as a police helicopter, but not as far away as an airplane, either. This effect was greatly heightened by the surrounding walls of clouds, which made our small patch of sky seem like the aperture of a camera, or the opening of a well.

I hurriedly tried to take some photographs, but gave up when I realized that it would be no use. Some events just need to be experienced with the mind and body. So I stared instead at the corona, unfurling its diaphanous white ribbons in every direction. The flares didn't look like massive bursts of radiation …they looked as wispy and delightful and harmless as cotton candy.

I kept reminding Max to only glance at it briefly, not to fix his gaze upon it, but this was really more a warning to myself; he's not an idiot, but I certainly am. The sight was so captivating, so bizarre, that I could hardly tear my eyes away. All around us, people clapped and cheered and gasped and hollered, but they were all millions of miles away from my attention. I stopped fiddling with my camera. I spoke to Max only a little longer, and then we were silent. My entire being became fixed on what was happening. For one moment, one solitary second in this entire Quixotic enterprise, I just looked at the star. All else faded away.

I was alone with the sun.

"That's our star," I thought to myself. "Right there."

Totality in Liberty lasted two minutes and five seconds, far longer than most places in America got. Still, it was too short a phenomenon, so teasingly ephemeral, there and gone again in an instant. Just as we got our minds around what was happening, it was over. A pinprick of sunlight became visible on the edge of the moon, and we had to look away again, and everybody put their dumb cheap glasses back on, and people cracked open more cans. Engines revved up, and drivers started the slow waltz of cars across the grass and gravel. We hurried back into Pamela, hoping to beat traffic onto the highway.

It was finished. The clouds closed over again, thick as lead, and it became just another rainy day in Missouri. Everything became ordinary, ordinary and grey and anticlimactic and decidedly free of wonder. Max and I chatted about what we had seen, drove through Independence, drank some sodas, and went browsing for antiques in a maddening little joint full of cuckoo clocks. Our lives just continued, same as before, with no further celestial show to look forward to. I felt a sinking kind of withdrawal … that peculiar kind of disappointment you feel after something you've been looking forward to has come and gone. Like when the circus is over and you find yourself back in the same sad grey parking lot as before, facing the remainder of your humdrum quotidian existence, a life devoid of spangles and elephants.

But long after the eclipse itself, I started to really consider what I had seen. And for years to come, I'll keep returning to that one shimmering moment in Liberty, and I'll feel grateful to have attended such an event. I'll remember when I stood in the shadow of the moon, and gazed directly into the heavens, and saw the blazing corona of the sun for the first … and perhaps, last … time in my life. I will remember how the ring hung so low in the sky, like a jewel being gifted to each one of us, individually, alone. And so it might be for all of us, the lucky witnesses, the millions who struggled to reach totality … each of us will recall the exact moment when our star was obscured, through miraculous circumstances of distance and trajectory, by our moon, when the sun could at last be seen for what it really is: the fiery and miraculous engine of life, the indisputable author of our fates, the source of all things.

If you enjoy my writing, and want to come with me as I search for beauty and meaning in America, please consider chipping in towards my ongoing travel project:

https://www.gofundme.com/insearchofspaciousskies

As always, thank you for your support and encouragement!

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