VANITY OF VANITIES
Ecclesiastes Chapter 8
“Who
is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man’s
wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be
changed.” (Verse 1)
Lord Jehovah God in Heaven, please save me from the vanity
of failing to be a wise person. Please perfect Thy Divine Wisdom in me. Please
make me truly wise in Thy Sight. Please give me a desire to read all Thy
Holy Bible and give me the wisdom to properly and correctly interpret the
meaning of Thy Holy Scriptures. Please stir up my heart to seek Thy Wisdom.
Cause my face to shine with Thy Radiant Wisdom. Please change the boldness of
my face to make my countenance pleasing unto Thee and to make it greatly glorify
Almighty God in Heaven. I now open my heart, life, and my entire being fully
to God on High, for the purposing of Thee working these things into my life and
being. I pray these things for all other people also.
“I
counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of
God.” (Verse 2)
Almighty
God, please convince me that The Lord Jesus Christ is The King of kings and The
Lord of lords, and that He rules over all of mankind. Please cause me to
serve The Lord Jesus Christ with fear and trembling. Help me to fully
keep all of Christ’s Commandments. Please teach me the meaning of the oath of God. Help me to regard the oath of
God, as I should. I pray
these things for all other people also.
“Be
not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth
whatsoever pleaseth him.” (Verse 3)
Lord
Jesus, please save me from the vain desire to try to shun Thee, avoid
Thee, hide from Thee, and run away from Thee. Please draw me unto Thee, and
give me an earnest desire to come to Thee for forgiveness of sin,
cleansing and salvation from sin, and for eternal life. Please save me from
the fatal vanity of running from God. Save me from standing in an
evil thing. Convince me that Thou art Almighty God Who does whatsoever Thou
desirest to do, and that it is impossible for me to escape from Thee. Please
change and correct my sinful heart to cause me to do what is pleasing to Thee
during all my life under the sun. I pray these things for all
other people also.
“Where
the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest
thou?” (Verse 4)
Almighty
God in Heaven, please convince me that all the words in Thy Holy Bible
are the words of the King of kings and Lord of lords, Who is Almighty God
Himself. By Thy Holy Spirit, please reveal unto me the Ultimate Power
that is contained in the words of Thy Holy Bible. Please give me strong,
unwavering faith to fully believe all Thy Words, Lord God. Please help me
to put all Thy Words to work in my life by fully believing them and
fully obeying them, and thus have the Great Power of the Words of the King of
kings and Lord of lords manifested in my life. Please convince me of the complete
futility of attempting to talk back to a king, trying to refute and to oppose his
words. Have mercy on me and save me from the vanity of ever committing
such a horrible sin against Almighty God Who is King over all. Convince
me of Thy Absolute Power over me as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Please bring me into absolute submission to Thee, my Creator God, Ruler
of the universe, and the King of kings. Help me to ever be most alert to Thy
Voice speaking to me, and to always earnestly reply, “Yes, Lord” to Thee from
my very heart. I pray these most important things for all other people
on this earth. Please have great mercy on all those who speak against
Thy Words and Thy Marvelous Doings, and bring them all to repentance
unto Thee.
“Whoso
keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart
discerneth both time and judgment.” (Verse
5)
Father
God in Heaven, please work powerfully in this sinful heart of mine and
create within me a heart desirous to keep all Thy commandments. Help me
to yield myself fully to Thee, for the purpose of Thee guarding my heart
to prevent me from sinning against Thee. Thank Thee for this wonderful promise
of feeling no evil thing when one keeps Thy commandment. Please help me to
be such a person. Please save me from the vanity of breaking Thy
commandments. Please fill me with Almighty God’s Pure Wisdom, thus giving me a
wise man’s heart. Help me to clearly discern both time and judgment. I pray
these things for all other people also.
“Because
to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is
great upon him.” (Verse 6)
Almighty God in Heaven, please save me from and deliver me from
all misery. Please be my Divine Comforter when
I need comfort. Cause me to truly believe that mankind’s help is in the Name of
our Lord, our Creator God, and help me to always seek Thy Help in every time of
need. Save me from the vanity of wallowing in misery when I can come to
Thee for Help and Comfort. Please lead me into a life that is victorious over
misery. Please give me great compassion for all peoples under the sun
who are in misery, and guide me to do whatever I can to alleviate their misery
and to be a comfort to them. Make me totally unselfish and guide me to
live for God and other people. Please teach me the importance of the Truth that
there is time and judgment to every purpose, and cause me to
guard myself concerning the things I purpose in my heart. Make all my
purposes and motives pure in the Sight of Thy Pure Eyes. I pray these things
for all other people also.
“For
he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?” (Verse 7)
Lord
Jesus, please help me to commit my life fully into Thy Omnipotent Hands
for Thee to keep me safely forever. Tho I know not the future, I know I
will be totally safe by fully trusting my life into Thy Loving
Care. Please save me from the fatal vanity of not doing that.
Prevent me from holding back any part of my life from Thee, but rather enable
me to truly fully surrender my all to Thee. Make me fully aware of just
what a frail creature I am, and therefore am unable to rule my own life apart
from Thee. Impress strongly upon my mind, my need of my Creator God’s Help,
Salvation, and Eternal Life. Please cause me to seek Thee with all my
heart. I pray these things for all other people also.
“There
is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he
power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall
wickedness deliver those that are given to it.” (Verse
8)
Lord
God on High, please convince me of how utterly powerless I am within my
own self. Help me to honestly face the reality that death is coming to me, and
that it could come now, or at any time. Help me to admit to myself that there
is no way I can postpone the day of my death nor keep death at a stay in any
way at all. Save me from the vanity of trusting in wickedness to deliver
me. Please help me to be prepared for my physical death by now fully
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, please become my Eternal Life. I
pray that all other people will also trust in Thee for eternal life. Let
the wickedness of the wicked come to an end.
“All
this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the
sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.” (Verse 9)
Almighty
Jehovah God, please have mercy on me and save me from the vanity of
exceeding the authority Thou hast ordained that I have. Save me from the vanity
of exercising authority and rule over other human creatures that Thou hast not
ordained for me to exercise over other people. Please have great mercy upon me
and save me from the terribly selfish sinful vanity of desiring to rule
and reign over other people. Please create within me the heart of a servant,
because that is Christ-like. Please make me ever so spiritually alert to
diligently observe every work that is done under the sun in order to gain
Divine Wisdom from Thee, my Creator God, for the purpose of restraining myself
from exercising undue authority and undue rule over other people to my own
hurt. I pray these things for all other people also. Save us all
from the vanity of attempting to rise up out of our ordained estate and
striving to be great like God.
“And
so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy,
and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.”
(Verse 10)
Lord
God in Heaven, please save me from the vanity of being wicked. Cause me
to think on how soon death overtakes each wicked person on earth, and then Thou
doest cast them into an eternal Hell to forever weep, wail, and gnash their
teeth in the lake of fire that burns without end. Please create within me an intensely
passionate desire to repent of my sins and wickedness to Almighty God, and
to wholly trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. Please
lead me into Thy Holy Place and cause me to abide there with Thee forever.
Please save me from the fatal vanity of dying lost and undone without
the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore perishing in an eternal Hell of fire and
brimstone. I pray these things for all other people also.
“Because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of
the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” (Verse 11)
Almighty
Lord God, please save me from the vanity of tempting the Lord my God.
Save me from the vanity of tempting Thee by procrastinating in regard to
seeking the Lord while Thou mayst be found and calling on Thee while Thou art
near and while it is the day of salvation in which I have the opportunity to be
saved. Save me from the destructive vanity of setting my heart to do
evil. Cause me to hate the evil and to love the good. Cause me to flee from
evil. Create within me a heart that is earnestly desirous to fully obey Thee,
my Creator God. Remind me that Thou art a most gracious and merciful God, and thus
Thou doest patiently call on evil and wicked men and women all
throughout their life time, to cease from their sin, repent, and to turn to
Thee. Cause me to constantly bear in mind that judgment and payday come of a certainty
to us all, and that it behooves each of us human creatures to daily pass
our sojourn here on earth, serving Thee with fear and trembling. Convince me
that my life under the sun could end right now, and thus now may
be my last chance to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ to save me. Please help all
us people under the sun to get our hearts right with Almighty Jehovah God now,
I pray.
“Though
a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know
that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:” (Verse 12)
Lord
God our Heavenly Father, please do whatever it takes to convince me of the
eternal truth of this verse of Scripture. Convince me that it will never
be well with sinners who repeatedly do evil against Thee. Reveal to me just how
exceedingly devastating is the eternal retribution that awaits such evil
sinners after this life. Give me strong faith to believe that it shall surely
be well with the people that fear Almighty God during this life under the sun.
Please help me to fear before Thee daily, as I pass my short sojourn on this
earth under the sun. Save me from the fatal vanity of not doing such. I
pray these things for all other people also.
“But
it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which
are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.” (Verse 13)
Almighty
Jehovah God in Heaven, I now stand in the gap and intercede in prayer for all
the wicked people now living on this earth. Please have great mercy upon them
all. Please turn them from all their vanity of wickedness and turn them
to their Creator God. Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end. Send Thy
Holy Spirit upon each of them mightily to smite them with the fear of
the Lord. Reveal to each rebellious sinner, just what a fearful thing it is to
fall into the Hands of a Living God. Please grant all wicked people a repentant
heart and faith to trust in the Saviour of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Please fight from Heaven against all the evil and sinful forces that keep lost
souls from coming to The Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Please save each lost
sinner from the vanity of perishing in an eternal Hell. Please have
great mercy upon us all, Lord Jesus, I most earnestly and humbly pray.
“There
is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto
whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked
men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that
this also is vanity.” (Verse 14)
Lord
God on High, please make me into a perfectly just person. Please save me
from being wicked, and teach and guide me to be just in all my ways and
dealings with other people. Please make me just in Thy Divine Sight. Help me to
never forget that calamities and adversities fall upon just people. Save me
from being shaken by such when they come my way. Help me to never forget the
example of Job, how that Thou didst allow severe calamities to come his way,
tho he was just and upright. Please help me to make The Lord Jesus Christ my
Help, my Refuge, my Shield, my Buckler, my Protector, my Fortress, my
Comforter, my All, in order for me to safely endure any and all
affliction that comes my way all during my life under the sun. Also,
when I see wicked people prospering and in safety, convince me that it will not
be well with them when they face Thee in Judgment. Convince me that there is
eternal and glorious reward for the person who is just, upright, and righteous
during this life under the sun. Please help me to determine, with Almighty
God’s Help, to live such a life and to never waver from that
determination. I pray these things for all other people also.
“Then
I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to
eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour
the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.” (Verse 15)
Lord
Jesus, please give me keen spiritual vision to behold the many spiritual and
physical realities, which are presently unseen to me in this life under the
sun. Save me from the vanity of letting the visual sights I behold in
this life under the sun become my rule and guide for this short life Thou hast
given me on this earth. Please help me to totally yield my life to Thee, My
Creator God, for the purpose of living in obedience to Thy Holy Bible and
Thy Holy Spirit’s Guidance. Save me from the fleshly vanity of
living only to eat, drink, and to be merry. Cause me to think upon Thy Divine
Displeasure at the sight of much intemperate earthly and worldly joy, gladness,
eating, and drinking (Isaiah 22:13), at a time Thou wast calling Thy people to
weeping, mourning, baldness, and girding with sackcloth (verse 12). I pray
these things for all other people also. Please help all Christian
believers to crucify their flesh with Christ on the cross, thereby ceasing to
walk in the flesh and to live in the flesh. Please help all Christian
believers to live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit. Save us from the vanity
of being fleshly and carnal Christians.
“When
I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon
the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his
eyes:) (Verse 16)
Almighty
Lord God, please cause me to apply my heart to know Thy True Wisdom which
cometh from above, and to use that Wisdom as I regularly observe all the
business that is done upon the earth under the sun. Save me from the vanity
of being deceived by the appearances of things, but rather give me keen
spiritual discernment to perceive the exact nature and condition of each
matter of business done upon the earth and please give me the spiritual
knowledge as to exactly how each of those matters is regarded in Thy Divine
Sight. I pray that Thou wouldest give all other people such spiritual
perception also. Lord God, exactly what is that which neither day nor night
seeth sleep with his eyes?
“Then
I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done
under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not
find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able
to find it.” (Verse 17)
Heavenly
Father, please cause me to behold all Thy Works and to learn everything
I should learn from Thy Works. Please help me to be fully satisfied and content
with knowing only the things that Thou hast ordained that I know during this
life under the sun. Save me from the vanity of being nosey and thus
struggling to find out various matters related to Almighty God and Thy vast
creation, that Thou hast not ordained that we human creatures come to a
knowledge of during this life under the sun. Save me from the vanity
of selfish, sinful curiosity. Please cause me to cease from the vanity
of struggling to be great like God, and make me perfectly content to be
in the lowly estate Thou hast ordained for me during this life under the sun.
Please help me to glorify Thee by ceasing my carnal striving to increase (rise
up and be great). Help me to seek to decrease, to become more humble and lowly.
I pray these things for all other people under the sun also. Thank Thee,
Lord God in Heaven, for being attentive to these prayers of mine and for
answering them in accordance to Thy Divine Will. Amen.
(This is the end of Chapter 8 of VANITY OF
VANITIES)