Solomon is one of the wisest and wealthiest men who ever lived. He truly had it all. When it came to power, position, possessions, prestige and the playthings of this life, he seemingly had no peer in his own lifetime.

And yet, as he pens the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon wonders aloud where all this has really gotten him. His book starts with him writing, “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Apart from faith, God is inscrutable to us. From our point of view, he often seems to have hidden himself behind his creation. God’s hiddenness is a burden on us as humans because we sense that God exists and yet we can’t see him without the eyes of faith.

Is God really real? We have a “burden” in our hearts to know!

Yet, God has also left plentiful hints intended to “unburden” us. All around us are signs of his existence and his presence. As Solomon points out, the beauty and order that we see around us in the creation are clear indicators of God. Have you ever noticed, for example, how many people like to claim that being out in nature is their “church”?

Inside of us are further hints that God is real. The constant nudge from within is that there must be something more than this life.

God created us to be eternal beings. We will never be truly satisfied in our inner being with earthly things. We sense that our value is eternal. And the things that our heart is most drawn to — whether we like to admit it or not — are eternal things.

In the end, only the love of the eternal God can truly satisfy us.

“I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11, NIV).

Our Bible reading for Tuesday, August 11, is Ecclesiastes 1:1 – 3:22, 1 Corinthians 7:1-16 and Psalm 94:12-23.

Lord, I feel eternity in my heart. Thank you for sending me a Savior named Jesus to make sure that I will one day enter eternity and spend it with you. Send me your Holy Spirit so that I may always trust in Jesus as my Savior from sin, and my Lord who even now sits at your right hand in heaven.