Day 152: Being Forgotten (2024)

This episode delves into the themes of wisdom, memory, and the fleeting nature of human achievements, framed through biblical narratives and reflections.

1. Wisdom is more valuable than material wealth or human recognition.
2. Earthly achievements and human memory are fleeting.
3. True fulfillment comes from aligning one’s life with divine wisdom.
4. Everyone faces the same ultimate fate regardless of their earthly life.
5. Spiritual peace is found in accepting life's transience and focusing on eternal truths.

1. Introduction

Father Mike Schmitz introduces the theme of the day, focusing on wisdom and the transient nature of fame.
Father Mike Schmitz: "Today is about seeing beyond our brief moment on this earth."

2. Solomon's Wealth

Details Solomon's riches and his interaction with the Queen of Sheba, illustrating the limits of earthly glory.
Father Mike Schmitz: "Solomon's wealth brought him fame, yet it was his wisdom that truly made him remarkable."

3. Reflections from Ecclesiastes

Explores themes from Ecclesiastes about life's fleeting nature and the vanity of earthly pursuits.
Father Mike Schmitz: "Ecclesiastes teaches us that everything under the sun has its time, and wisdom outlives it all."

1. Seek wisdom over wealth as it brings deeper satisfaction.
2. Remember that fame and achievements are temporary; focus on building a legacy of character.
3. Embrace the inevitability of being forgotten, and find peace in contributing to something greater than oneself.
4. Live humbly, knowing that life’s outcomes are often governed by chance as much as by effort.
5. Cherish the present and the people in your life without clinging to them, as all earthly things pass.

Fr. Mike reminds us that, eventually, all of us will be forgotten by the world. He encourages us to keep our eyes fixed on heaven, focusing on surrender and trust in God, rather than control. Today's readings are 1 Kings 10, Ecclesiastes 8-9, and Psalm 8.

People

Solomon, Queen of Sheba

Books

The Bible

Content Warnings:

None

Father Mike Schmitz
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible in a year podcast where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in Ear podcast is brought to you by ascension using the great adventure Bible timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. Today is day 152 and we are reading from one kings, chapter ten, ecclesiastes, chapter eight and nine in psalm eight. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard Version, second catholic edition, and I am using the great Adventure Bible from Ascension.

If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com bibleinaear and you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and you know the drill. As I said, it's one kings chapter ten today. So we're getting closer and closer to the end of King Solomon's reign. We're going to see the queen of Sheba, and we're going to see how everyone's coming to see Solomon because of all of his wisdom and because of how he's just, man, the guy's wealthy. He is rich.

Super rich. We're also coming closer and closer. The day after tomorrow, we're encountering our second messianic checkpoint. So just the day after tomorrow, we're gonna begin mark chapters one and two. So excited to go back to the gospels after.

It's been a while since it's been a minute since we had the gospel of John, but the day after tomorrow, we are in the gospel of Mark. So good. We're also, as I said, one kings, ten, ecclesiastes, eight and nine. We're praying psalm 810, visit of the queen of Sheba. Now, when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the lord, she came to test him with hard questions.

She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind, and Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king, which he could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings, which he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, the report was true, which I heard in my own land of your affairs and of your wisdom.

But I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpassed the report which I heard. Happy are your wives, happy are these your servants who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom? Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel.

Because the Lord loved Israel forever. He has made you king that you may execute justice and righteousness. Then she gave the king a 120 talents of gold and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a very great amount of almag wood and precious stones.

The king made of the Almugwood supports for the house of the lord and for the king's house lyres also, and harps for the singers. No such Almugwood has come or been seen to this day. And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked, besides what was given to her by the bounty of Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants. Now, the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.

Besides that which came from the traders and from the traffic of the merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and from the governors of the land. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold. 600 shekels of gold went into each shield, and he made 300 shields of beaten gold. Three minas of gold went into each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold.

The throne had six steps. And at the back of the throne was a calf's head. And on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing besides the armrests. While twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step. On the six steps.

The like of it was never made in any kingdom. All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold. And all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver. It was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon.

For the king had a fleet of ships from Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram, once every three years, the fleet of ships of tarshish used to come, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of King Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. Every one of them brought his present articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year. And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen.

He had 1400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the shephalah. And Solomon's import of horses was from Egypt, and and the king's traders received them from Cu, at a price. A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150. And so through the king's traders, they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter eight. Obedience to rulers. Who is like the wise man, and who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his countenance is changed. Keep the king's command, and because of your sacred oath, be not dismayed.

Go from his presence. Do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he does whatever he pleases, for the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, what are you doing? He who obeys a command will meet no harm, and the mind of a wise man will know the time and way, for every matter has its time and way, although man's trouble lies heavy upon him, for he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? No man has power to retain the spirit or authority over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

All this I observed while applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while man lords it over man to his hurt. God's ways are inscrutable. Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place, and were praised in the city, where they had done such things. This also is vanity, because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily.

The heart of the sons of men is fully set to do evil, though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked. Neither will he prolong his day like a shadow, because he does not fear before God. There is a vanity which takes place on earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. And there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous.

I said that this also is vanity, and I commend enjoyment. For man has no good thing under the sun, but to eat and drink and enjoy himself. For this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night one's eyes see sleep. Then I saw all the work of God.

That man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know it, he cannot find it out.

Acceptance of life as it comes. But all this I laid to heart, examining it all. How the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know. Everything before them is vanity.

Since one fate comes to all, to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good man, so is the sinner. And he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that one fate comes to all. Also the hearts of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live.

And after that they go to the dead. But he who is joined with all the living has hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward. But the memory of them is lost.

Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and they have no more forever any share in all that is done under the sun. Go eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart. For God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life, and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in sheol to which you are going again. I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time.

Like fish, which are taken in an evil net, and like birds, which are caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. Wisdom superior to folly. I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it. And a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siege works against it.

But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might. Though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heeded, the words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war.

But one sinner destroys much good.

Psalm eight. Divine majesty and human dignity to the choir master. According to the Gittith, a psalm of David. O Lord, our lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You whose glory above the heavens is chanted by the mouth of babies and infants.

You have found a bulwark because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have established, what is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man, that you care for him. Yet you have made him little less than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.

Whatever passes along the paths of the sea. O Lord, our lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

Father in heaven, you are great and glorious. How majestic is your name. Ah, gosh. And you revealed your name to us, which boggles the mind, lord God, and fills our hearts today you not only have the majestic name, not only do you have the glorified name, but you have revealed your name to us. And you've also revealed what the psalmist says, what David says, that we can look at the world around us and the universe, the billions upon billions of stars, the space that you've created, and yet what is man?

That you care for him? Who are we? That you're mindful of us, that you are constantly attentive to us, and yet you are God, because you have made us in your image and likeness and in Christ. You have made us your children. And so we just thank you.

Thank you so much for being attentive to us. Thank you so much for creating us. Thank you so much for sustaining us and redeeming us. Please receive our thanks this day, Lord, in Jesus name, in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Okay, so again, a lot of review when it comes to Solomon's life. At the end of Solomon's life, the wisdom of Solomon, when he visits the queen of Sheba or she visits him really, and other kings that come to visit him, him with Hyrum, the ruler up in tyre who knows how to sail things. Well, we've heard these stories before. It's so good. I love the fact that we're getting a review of Solomon's life that we just heard in two chronicles now here in one kings.

It's just. And not only is it a review, because, you know, remember when we were back, way back when in deuteronomy and the book of numbers, that was some review stuff, right there was kind of retelling the story. But it's so accurate here in terms of, when I say accurate, what I mean is. And virtually word for word. I mean, yesterday, Solomon's prayer in the, in the temple, two days ago.

Gosh, how long ago? Time flies, you guys. How long ago it was when. Here's Solomon's prayer of dedication of the temple, and how they dedicated the temple, how it's virtually identical in two chronicles and in one kings. Same thing with today in one kings ten and two chronicles about the visit of the queen of Sheba, which is so good.

Just great review for all of us, as well as ecclesiastes eight and nine. There are so many things that I just want to highlight about ecclesiastes because it just seems to be one of those situations where the wisdom books are speaking wisdom, you know, that the wisdom books are telling us, are guiding us in a way of living life wisely. Once again. It can be really negative. It can.

Some come across as being negative, but it's not. What it is is an honest assessment of how life actually, is that God's ways are inscrutable. We don't, we don't know what happens. That here's a sinner who gets ahead, and here's a righteous person who doesn't get ahead, and yet the same fate happens to them all. We all end up just dying.

Remember, one of the big, big takeaways, one of the big lessons for the book of Ecclesiastes, is this. If all there is is this world. If all there is is this life, it's meaningless. If all there, if all there is is this life, then this life is meaningless because it all ends in death. If all there is in this world is this world, this world is meaningless because it just ends in death.

Basically, if we choose to live a life apart from God and there's nothing after this, then it simply is meaningless, because nothing actually matters, nothing truly endures. And yet, we know that while time will erase all things, there is something more than time. That recognition as the author of Ecclesiastes brings up again and again that the day will come when no one knows your name. The day will come when you're completely forgotten. In fact, that's the, the last story that the wise one tells.

In chapter nine, it says, here's an example of wisdom under the sun. Great city, few men in it, great king came against it, besieged it. It was going to destroy the city. But this poor, wise man, his wisdom delivered the city. And yet I don't even know his name.

Nobody knows this person's name. And that is man. So good for us to know. I remember years ago, I have a spiritual director, and my spiritual director, he, um, he stopped and we, we were talking, and he said, you know, you're going to be forgotten really soon. He was kind of out of nowhere.

We were just talking about stuff. And he's like, you know, you're going to be forgotten really quickly. And I was like, oh, yeah, Father, I know he's a priest. He's a hermit back basically. He lives up in northern Minnesota, and he meets with priests for spiritual direction, some other people for spiritual direction.

And he just had that word, you know, you're going to be forgotten pretty quickly. He said, you know, you know, you're not Thomas Aquinas. And I was like, oh, Father, absolutely. I am very much aware of this, and I don't have any problem with that at all. And I think it's because this wisdom of ecclesiastes, you know, I think that any person who's living in this life has thought about their life and the impact of their life has already come to that place of.

Yeah, I get it. I get it. At some point very soon, I will be completely forgotten, even by the people who are close to me. That's just how life goes. And that recognition of being able to be at peace with this is such a gift.

It's a gift to any one of us to be able to be at peace with this. Because I know, and we know that, yes, if all there is is this life, then this life doesn't mean anything. But this life is not all there is. And this life matters. Your life matters.

One last note in chapter nine, verse eleven. Just so powerful. Again, I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all. Oh, so good it is. Again, it's not sometimes just a matter of you're the smartest in the room, you're the strongest in the room, you're the fastest in the race.

It's just sometimes chance, sometimes it's just to have this opportunity. And why did I lose? Well, because time was up. Time and chance happens to all of us. And again, that is so good, because rather than giving into our desire to control, we get to have the call to surrender.

Rather than the desire to control, we have the invitation to trust. And yes, of course, we want to be as fast as we can be as strong as we can be, as wise as we can be, as good as we can be. Ultimately, when it comes down to it, the call in every one of our lives is to trust the Lord and surrender to him. That's so, so good. Oh, my gosh.

What a gift it is to be able to journey through ecclesiastes with you. This is our second to last day in ecclesiastes. Tomorrow we're finishing up with the last three chapters of ecclesiastes. And then the day after tomorrow, as I said, we're jumping in to our second messianic checkpoint with the gospel of Mark. I am so excited.

I'm praying for you guys. Please, please pray for me and pray for each other. My name is Fr. Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.