Echoes From the Campfire

[Don Adkisson]

      “A man gets to thinking and fears about tomorrow and most of the time that's all it amounted to—fear.”

                         --D.C. Adkisson  (Mal de Ojo)

       "You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

                         --Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)
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Ecclesiastes 6:7, comes right and tells us our problem.  "All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied." (NKJV)  Man is hungry; it may be for food, or pleasure, or fame, or self-satisfaction.  He may feed it in different ways, but the end is the same--his soul is not satisfied.
       When troubles arise, man attempts to find a solution.  He seeks the answers to his dilemma when the best source would be to seek God.  In that crazy, insane time of the COVID virus, man thought he could solve the problems.  Man-made solutions and they didn't work.  Did you know that in the midst of all the commotion and fear that the Throne of God was calm.  God is never taken by surprise nor does He ever get anxious.
       Much of man's hunger, which will lead to his lack of satisfaction, is that he always wants what he wants, and he wants it his way.  He would rather fight with God, or maybe more today, ignore that God exists, than to find satisfaction in his soul.  I had to chuckle a little when I read something from C.S. Lewis, "To argue with God is to argue with the very power that makes it possible to argue at all."
       Man might pray, but he wants God to answer his prayers, his way.  He is telling God that he has a better answer, but God has the power.  Part of the problem with man is that without God he is lost.  He doesn't know his way.  Oh, he might think he does, but after he has tried everything he will come to the same conclusion that Solomon did, "all is vanity."
Try this, try that--still no satisfaction.  Eat this, eat that, oh, try some of that fancy gourmet food--still no satisfaction.  Try Buddhism, Hinduism, Isalm, or any of the other "isms" out there and the answer in the heart will still be the same--it will be void and there will be no satisfaction.
       I have heard many, many times, "I hope they will be happy," or "I just want to be happy."  A couple gets married, out of the faith, and the mother says, "I just want for my baby to be happy."  Happiness is not fulfillment.  Happiness depends on something happening, an object.  People strive to be happy and guess what?  The soul is not satisfied.  "If you devote your life only to the pursuit of happiness, you will be miserable; however, if you devote your life to doing God's will, you will find happiness as well." (Warren W. Wiersbe)
       After so long seeking after happiness, seeking after a full stomach, seeking for pleasure and trying to get ahead all you will find might be some pleasure in the seeking but the final product brings no soul satisfaction.  Trying to start at the top without paying your dues will eventually bring you exhaustion, frustration, and a longing for something to satisfy your soul.  Solomon writes, "Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better?" (Ecclesiastes 6:11, NKJV)  He continues in the first part of verse 12, "For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow?"  Man certainly doesn't know.  Everything he tries is futile, what hope does he have?  Turn to God, only He can satisfy your soul.  He knows what is good for man in life.  In fact, He is saying, "I'm working on your life.  Don't fight Me."
       Let me enlighten you with one more thing.  There are some things in life that nobody can answer.  Simple fact.  When those times come, and they will, you must learn then to have faith and trust in the Master.  He knows the answers when man or you cannot find an answer.  FAITH---TRUST!

               "I don't know about tomorrow,
               I just live from day to day.
               I don't borrow from its sunshine,
               For its skies may turn to gray.
               I don't worry o'er the future,
               For I know what Jesus said,
               And today I'll walk beside Him,
               For He knows what is a head.

                    Many things about tomorrow,
                    I don't seem to understand;
                    But I know who holds tomorrow,
                    And I know who holds my hand."
                           --Ira Stanphill

D.C. Adkisson