We continue through Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 2 sounds like the Friday Mansion section of Wall Street Journal which continually tells stories with a common theme:

• (Wealthy) people buy a home for $X million.
• They spend $Y million remodeling it to meet their every whim.
• A few years later, they sell it for $Z million because apparently the house didn’t quite meet their needs for very long.

Solomon’s version goes like this:

I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove…Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2.4 – 6, 10, 11, NKJV)

As I say, the folks in the Wall Street Journal do all that, then sell. I’m still processing the CEO of Waste Management who had one of the best houses in Aspen. I’ve seen that house. Walking distance to the music festival that we try to go to for a couple of days each summer. He only lived in it for about a year back in 2020 before he “upgraded to the 11-bedroom compound at the base of Aspen’s Red Mountain.” He bought it, remodeled it for his family, then sold it because a guy offered him a lot of money. The CEO doesn’t even need the money.

Here’s the opening of the story from “The Waste Management Billionaire Setting Real Estate Records for Fun.”

Waste management billionaire Patrick Dovigi was at his Aspen, Colorado, home when he got an unexpected call from former casino magnate Steve Wynn on New Year’s Day in 2024.

Wynn wanted to buy the house, though it wasn’t on the market. Dovigi paid $72.5 million for the property in 2021, then a record price for the affluent alpine town, and had just finished fixing it up for his young family. “Initially, I said no. I wasn’t interested,” recalled Dovigi.

But Wynn persisted. Four months later, he and financier Thomas Peterffy closed on the 22,000-square-foot house for $108 million—setting a new Aspen record.

Dovigi was in the house about three years. “Fixed it up for his young family.” Then sold it for a profit he didn’t even need. Then he has to move, and I’m acutely aware that moving is hard!

Dovigi insists that he’s building/buying houses to live in:

“He’s always like, ‘This is the place, we’ll never sell it. This is it.’ But then there’s always something else,” Fernanda says. “There’s always other opportunities,” her husband interjects. 

Solomon was right:

And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2.11, NKJV)

We start Ecclesiastes in our reading plan:

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. (Ecclesiastes 1.1, NKJV)

These are the “words of the Preacher,” not the words of God. There will be some truth, but not all of it is true. For example:

That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. (Ecclesiastes 1.9, 10, NKJV)

I think a lot of today’s technology is new. What people use it for may not be new. E.g., pornography and gambling. Or, more positively, writing letters, doing calculations, and reading books. But a computer you can carry in your pocket and call it a “phone”? That’s certainly new.

Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43.18, NKJV)

We come to Psalm 89, a long end to Psalms, Book III. Tomorrow in the reading plan, we start Ecclesiastes.

Psalm 89: the first 2/3 is about God’s promises to David. The last 1/3: why isn’t it working??

The promise:

I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: “Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations. ” Selah (Psalm 89.3, 4, NKJV)

Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah (Psalm 89.33 – 37, NKJV)

BUT…

But You have cast off and abhorred, You have been furious with Your anointed. You have renounced the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. You have broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin. All who pass by the way plunder him; He is a reproach to his neighbors. (Psalm 89.38 – 41, NKJV)

An honest prayer. God, look what you’ve done.

A plea:

How long, LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You created all the children of men? (Psalm 89.46, 47, NKJV)

A final prayer:

Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses, Which You swore to David in Your truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples, With which Your enemies have reproached, O LORD, With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed. (Psalm 89.49 – 51, NKJV)

But after all that…and before:

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 89.1, NKJV)

Blessed be the LORD forevermore! Amen and Amen. (Psalm 89.52, NKJV)

End of Psalms, Book III

There’s a song from verse 1. A song of God’s mercy and faithfulness, preface to a psalm in which that mercy and faithfulness seem to have gone away. The psalm starts upbeat, and even ends upbeat…but that last third!

But the psalmist couldn’t know that the promise to King David would be fulfilled in Jesus.

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1.30 – 33, NKJV)

Please excuse a bit of family business…

Moving to a smaller house required switching to a smaller piano. June wrote about the downsizing move, “We went straight to the music store and came out with a Yamaha baby grand which I love.” What to do with our 7-foot Baldwin?

Answer: give it to our youngest son, David, who lives near Atlanta. David posted on FaceBook:

I haven’t shared this news widely until today. But this instrument has now begun its journey from Colorado to Georgia. Those of you out there that have been around my family for a long time know the significance of this piano. When we moved from a rental house to Rockrimmon in 1987, my parents acquired this American made Baldwin. No, they did not purchase it for their 7 year old that had been taking piano lessons for barely a year. Mom and dad are elite pianists and they wanted this piano for their lifetime. Nonetheless, I began practicing on this piano. I remember getting grounded when I touched the strings. I remember many frustrating practice sessions, wondering if I would continue. I remember big Christmas gatherings where my parents and others would take turns leading everyone in our favorite carols. I remember the first Christmas I was good enough to be in that rotation. This piano was my primary instrument from age 7 to age 19 when I left for college. I didn’t track it, but I would imagine I have 4,000-5,000 hours on this piano. And now it is coming here, to my home in Georgia. The stories this piano could tell… I simply cannot express what it means for this instrument to be in my care. Travel safe, old friend.

June’s brother Paul, a fine pianist, wrote:

Awesome piano, with a Renner action, made when Baldwin and Steinway were co-equals. In fact, many artists chose Baldwin over Steinway, including Liberace. It is a very fine instrument. Congratulations. I am so happy that it is going to a place where it will be used and appreciated and will stay in the family. I know your mom and dad feel the same.

June echoed:

Don’t be sad because we are giving away our piano. The time has come that we need a smaller house with NO STEPS! Your dad and I wanted you to have the Baldwin concert grand as it “fits you.”

Before we had even thought about moving, June, David, and I scheduled a concert at YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Sunday, August 24. It won’t be on “that” piano, but maybe in our hearts, it can be in honor of the piano as it makes its way across county (expected delivery is mid-September). Join us if you can! Here’s another of David’s FaceBook posts:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4.10, ESV)

Yesterday, I wrote about not seeing the light because I was looking into a dark boxcar – a story going back 60 years. Here’s a more recent event illustrating the same thing.

Do you play Wordle, the daily word game now hosted by the New York Times? You get six guess to find a five-letter word with feedback in the form of green = right letter in the right place and yellow = right letter in the wrong place.

Wednesday’s puzzle was a challenge, after three guesses I had R at the end, but I and E in the wrong place:

From time to time, I need a little help. I had been using a crossword puzzle solver site which allows you to put in the letters you know, and it gives you all possible answers. It’s OK, but often I’d have to wade through a lot of answers that used letters that had already been ruled out.

Recently, I discovered a web site specifically for Wordle in which you could tell it what letters were wrong. A big help. But for this puzzle, it didn’t know any words that ended in R and used an I that didn’t have an E in the fourth position:

Now what? Back to my crossword puzzle solver. I gave it E in the second position and I in the fourth position, along with an ending R:

I couldn’t use the first two since I knew I had no A. Never heard of the second two, so I played KEFIR:

Bingo! Like yesterday’s story: you can’t see the light if you’re looking in the wrong place. Today, you can’t find the answer if you’re using the wrong tool.

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8.20, NKJV)

PS On Friday, I encouraged us to pray for the meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin. Keep it up! There’s another meeting Monday:

A host of European leaders, including Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks at the White House with President Donald Trump.

Monday’s talks follow Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which Trump shifted his position and said he is focusing directly on securing a lasting peace deal in Ukraine, rather than starting with a ceasefire. This appeared to align with Putin’s own aims. – CNN email, August 17, 2025

Between my freshman and sophomore years at Clemson University, I worked the midnight to 8:00 a.m. shift for Texize (https://texize.com/), a manufacturer of cleaning products. I’ll never forget my first night. Along one wall of the large building we were working in was an open bay door, and I thought, “Wow. I can keep an eye on that door and watch the sun come up…or at least watch it get light outside.”

So I kept looking, 4am, nothing. 5am, nothing. 6am, nothing. Still pitch black. I thought, “That’s odd. Surely it’s light by now.” Finally, around 7:30am, I looked at another wall and another large open bay door, and it was broad daylight. Only then did I walk over to my first door and discover that it was open but so was the door to the boxcar that was parked right outside, waiting to be loaded!

You can’t see the light if you’re looking in the wrong place.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8.12, NKJV)

This morning, August 15, 2025, 7:15 a.m., as I sit on my sofa in Colorado, President Trump is on his way to Alaska to meet President Putin to talk about Ukraine. CNN reports in an email:

The Air Force Once flight carrying US President Donald Trump has left Joint Base Andrews, bound for Alaska, where he will hold a crucial summit with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Trump will participate in a bilateral program at 3 p.m. ET and is expected to depart Anchorage back to Washington at 9:45 p.m. ET, according to the White House’s daily guidance.

What can we do? We can pray. I quoted Isaiah 64.4 yesterday:

For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.

The principle is clear:

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. (Proverbs 21.1, NKJV)

President Trump has Jesus’ blessing for this mission:

Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. (Matthew 5.9, NKJV)

And our instructions are clear:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. (1 Timothy 2.1, 2, NKJV)

Please join me (and hopefully thousands of others) in prayer.

A friend who would call herself a follower of wicca or some other earth-centered religion posted her credo which included statements like:

• You call him God; I call it the universe
• You call it prayer; I call it meditation

She ends with:

• It’s the same… We are all one. I see the separation and the lies and the separation IS THE LIE.

About the same time I read that post, I read Psalm 86.

Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; Nor are there any works like Your works. All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name. For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God. (Psalm 86.8 – 10, NKJV)

“You call it prayer; I call it meditation” is not the same thing as asking the God of the universe (not “the universe”) to do something. The Bible teaches a living, active God who does things:

Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence— As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence. For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. (Isaiah 64.1 – 4, NKJV, emphasis mine)

Also, there is no paragraph that starts this way:

You say that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God who came back to life after being put to death. I say…

It’s hard to come up with an alternate view of Jesus and call it “the same.”

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4.12, NKJV)

Back to Psalm 86, here’s a prayer:

Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. (Psalm 86.11, NKJV)

It’s not my truth and your truth, it’s God’s truth.

PS (repeated) If you’re following the reading plan of going through the Poetry section of the Old Testament, you may have discovered (or will shortly discover) an error. I had divided Psalm 88 into two parts. Oops. It’s Psalm 89 that needed to be divided into two parts. This is the corrected version.

I love Psalm 84. Here’s the opening:

How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young— Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, My King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will still be praising You. Selah (Psalm 84.1 – 4, NKJV)

The psalmist must have observed a sparrow’s nest and a swallow’s nest in the temple area. I looked it up hoping to find a photo, but there are reams of paper written on this subject, most very technical and negative: “How could there be birds in the temple? They would make it unclean.”

Nothing like a theologian to throw a wet blanket on a beautiful text. Besides, to say there couldn’t be birds in the vast area of the Temple Court is to deny what the text says.

I finally found something that confirmed what I was thinking/feeling:

The image is from verse 3, the image of sparrows and swallows making nests in the temple courts. 

What I like about the image is how, very plausibly, it places the poet in the temple courts at the time of composition. You can imagine the poet sitting in the temple with the intent to compose a song. The poet begins with expected lines, extolling the temple as home, as the resting place our hearts are yearning for. The poet then pauses and begins to think about what should come next in the song.

And then an unexpected image. Birds nesting in the temple. Where did this image come from?

The origin seems obvious enough. As the poet’s eyes take in the temple courts, heart searching for the next lines, the poet looks up at the sky and notices the birds overhead, flying to and fro from their nests high up in the nooks and crannies of the temple. The poet watches the birds meditatively. And then the flash of recognition–Look, even the birds long to live here! – Dr. Richard Beck

The psalm goes on:

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion. (Psalm 84.5 – 7, NKJV)

And it concludes with…

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You! (Psalm 84.10 – 12, NKJV)

I like it: “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

Amen.

PS If you’re following the reading plan of going through the Poetry section of the Old Testament, you may have discovered (or will shortly discover) an error. I had divided Psalm 88 into two parts. Oops. It’s Psalm 89 that needed to be divided into two parts. This is the corrected version.

Yesterday, Psalm 82 reminded us that some things don’t change: there seems always to be oppression of the poor (and God doesn’t like it!).

Something else doesn’t change. Israel’s neighbors want to wipe them out. I googled “The stated purpose of Hamas,” and this came up with no problem:

Since its creation in December 1987, Hamas has invoked militant interpretations of Islam to spearhead a Sunni extremist movement committed to destroying Israel. – “Doctrine of Hamas,” https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/doctrine-hamas

The names of the players have changed, but not the playbook:

They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You … Edom … Ishmaelites … Moab … Hagrites … Gebal … Ammon … Amalek … Philistia … Tyre … Assyria. (Psalm 83.3 – 8, NKJV)

I think only Tyre still exists as a city.

If the nations were really good at forming confederacies, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, etc., would be enough, you’d think, to wipe out Israel.

The prayer hasn’t changed either:

So pursue them with Your tempest, And frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth. (Psalm 83.15 – 18, NKJV)

And Israel is still here. More importantly, “…You, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.”

With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what’s best— as above, so below. (Matthew 6.9, 10, MSG)

The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread. (Isaiah 8.13, NKJV)