8 Times Solomon Says “No One Knows”
1. We Don’t Know What God Is Doing — So We Stop Pretending We Do
Ecclesiastes 8:17 Then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
Job 42:7 “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 8:1b–2 But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
2. We Don’t Know The Future— So We Live Today
Ecclesiastes 9:1 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun… 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…
3. We Don’t See the Harvest, But we Sow Anyway
Ecclesiastes 8:7 Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?
Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. 2 Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. … 6 Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.
John 10:3–4 … He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
1. We Don’t Know What God Is Doing — So We Stop Pretending We Do
Ecclesiastes 8:17 Then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
Job 42:7 “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 8:1b–2 But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
2. We Don’t Know The Future— So We Live Today
Ecclesiastes 9:1 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun… 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…
3. We Don’t See the Harvest, But we Sow Anyway
Ecclesiastes 8:7 Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?
Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. 2 Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. … 6 Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.
John 10:3–4 … He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
