Ecclesiastes 1: 16 I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.” 17 So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. 18 The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief.  To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.

I was reading this and wondering why he felt it increased his sorrow to gain knowledge.. 

I wonder if it is because when he gained knowledge.. it was not knowledge of God.. but instead knowledge of man and of the world's ways... 

any time our focus comes off of the greatness of God.. and is set on what we deal with or what we don't have.. then we become depressed or we become miserable...

if we are gaining knowledge of God.. knowledge of who He is.. what His character is... we are just getting better.. not sorrowful... if we spend our time in learning of God.. He makes us more like Him.. reading the word of God.. knowing His ways.. these things have brought me joy that no one can take from me... they have given me true life.. life that is not based on this body or this world.. life in my spirit and my soul...  

my own experience is this world will make us unhappy.. the only thing that can truly make us happy is to live our lives for God rather than man... to live to please Him... 

the older solomon got.. the more he became like this world.. he slowly became less like God and more like his surroundings... and as he got older he became more and more miserable.. in my own life.. the older I have gotten.. the more of myself I have given over to God and the happier I have become.. I am happier today than I have ever been before in my life... I believe this is all due to God... 

we will never make people happy no matter what we do.. but God is already pleased with you.. God already loves you.. even when you are all jacked up... so why do we care what people think to begin with... wake up each day determined to live to please the God who already loves you rather than the people working on loving you...