For the next four weeks we turn our attention to the Old Testament (the story of God at work in this world before the arrival of Jesus). Our particular focus, the book of Ecclesiastes. This Old Testament book puts into words the sense I have that all I have, all I could have, is not, would not be, enough. No matter what I achieve, how much I am loved, all the pleasure I experience, something is still missing.

The writer is a person of incredible wisdom, wealth, position, and power. He did not hold back in his pursuit of pleasure. Still, he found hollowness not wholeness, longing rather than satisfaction. How can that be? He’s done everything that promised him happiness, everything, and still there was an emptiness in his heart and soul.

What if nothing in this world can fill our deepest longings? That’s what Christian faith claims. That’s why Jesus came. That’s what the writer of Ecclesiastes discovered. We can discover that too.