Week #3 of Ecclesiastes is in the books, and if you missed the latest message, you can check that out here — CHASING BUBBLES.
I mentioned this in last week’s DEVOTIONAL, but I’m using this space to dig a little deeper into themes I couldn’t fully unpack on Sunday in hopes of giving a BIGGER and more BEAUTIFUL picture of God’s Word to ALL of us in Ecclesiastes.
This week, we finished chapter 1, and King Solomon ends this chapter with a sentence that feels a bit upside‑down…
“The greater my wisdom, the greater my sorrow.”
Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NLT)
The Hebrew words Solomon uses are powerful.
Hokmāh (wisdom) — more than intelligence, this is moral clarity. It’s the ability to see life as it truly is, coupled with an understanding of how things should be.
Kaʿas (sorrow) — this is the same word Scripture uses to describe God’s grief over human sin. It’s the ache of seeing what’s broken, paired with the frustration of knowing what should be but isn’t.
Solomon isn’t saying wisdom makes life a little sad… so much more than that. Solomon is saying that wisdom gives you a GOD-LIKE AWARENESS of brokenness without the GOD-LIKE ABILITY to fix it.
And that gap between what you see and what you can change, well, this is where sorrow exists and grows.
NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN…
King Solomon lived in Israel’s golden age. Meaning, he had wealth, power, influence, resources, and opportunity. If anyone should have been able to repair what was broken, it was Solomon.
But he couldn’t.
He could see the world’s pain… but he couldn’t fix it.
He could see injustice… but he couldn’t stop it.
He could understand human sin and selfishness… but he couldn’t change it.
This is WHY Hokmāh increased his Kaʿas.
And just so you know, this theme runs throughout God’s Word…
Moses sees Israel’s rebellion and weeps…
Deuteronomy 9:18.
Jeremiah sees Judah’s sin and becomes the “weeping prophet”…
Jeremiah 14:17.
Daniel sees visions of future kingdoms and collapses in grief…
Daniel 10:8.
Paul sees Israel’s lostness and feels “unceasing anguish”…
Romans 9:2–3.
Jesus sees Jerusalem and breaks down in tears…
Luke 19:41.
A super short sampling of what we see throughout God’s Word…
The greater the Hokmāh… the greater the Kaʿas.
SO… WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS?
Get depressed, discouraged, and lose heart?
Just give up and live with a laissez‑faire attitude?
Well… you could do that, but I think there’s a better path to take:
UNSHAKABLE HOPE.
Jesus stepped into the same world Solomon lived in and He witnessed firsthand even more brokenness than Solomon ever did.
He saw every injustice.
He saw every wound.
He saw every sin.
He saw every sorrow.
He saw every ache.
But unlike Solomon, Jesus didn’t just see the brokenness —
He came to redeem and restore it.
And this is where UNSHAKABLE HOPE comes alive.
When Jesus heals what we cannot, we are freed to live differently.
His hope doesn’t make us passive… it makes us purposeful.
His hope doesn’t make us numb… it makes us compassionate.
His hope doesn’t make us withdraw… it sends us into the world with courage.
UNSHAKABLE HOPE means we can love boldly, serve sacrificially, and act faithfully.
Hokmāh may increase Kaʿas…
BUT JESUS INCREASES HOPE… and His HOPE sends you and I into the world with a love that looks like His.
