Wisdom From Solomon

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after." Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

Do we really wonder why this world seems to continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over again? Solomon gave us some words on this subject in the book of Ecclesiastes. This book is about how things are 'under the sun', (ch 1:3), meaning here upon the earth. We see this phrase 27 times in the book of Ecclesiastes, and it is surely the theme of it.

Consider verse 11 "There is no remembrance of former things". You would think that we could look back at history and see the mistakes other nations made that caused them to fall, and not make them, yet as a nation we do not. We are also exhorted to look at people in the bible and learn from their mistakes:

"1Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

God told us why He put so many people in His Word, and showed them as they were, warts and all. He did not cover up their mistakes, but rather, recorded them for our admonition, so that we can do better than they did.

Knowing that by nature you are not inclined to learn from the past, it will make you more aware of the fact that you should, and perhaps you will!