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In our frenetic, contemporary lives, it's easy to wonder whether the dusty old Bible can offer even a hint of guidance. Well, join David H. McKinley in journeying back to the time of King Solomon, the wisest of men.
If there's a single book in the Bible that speaks to this searching generation, Ecclesiastes is it. It's a timeless commentary on living, believed to have been written by Solomon. Several famous phrases such as "nothing new under the sun" and "to every thing there is a season" are found there.
Dr. McKinley, teaching pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, uses the idea of a contemporary seeker scanning the Internet to illustrate Solomon's search for meaning in a life filled with everything imaginable, yet still empty. He found sex, power, achievement and money – SPAM in computer-speak – and, like the modern seeker, saw nothing permanently satisfying.
Using examples like the creation of the Whitman Sampler chocolate collection and the Enron collapse, Dr. McKinley examines the challenges in Solomon's life and the wisdom that grew from it.
Ultimately, Solomon decides that true satisfaction comes only from a relationship with God.
Those who work their way through Dr. McKinley's volume, with its persuasive examples and probing questions, may well decide the same.
Source: Michael E. Young, Dallas Morning News, July 15, 2006
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McKinley, teaching pastor of the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX, has taken on the mighty challenge of interpreting one of the least user-friendly books of the Bible, the dark and cynical Ecclesiastes. In it, he discovers certain hard but useful truths, reminders especially pertinent to an age of quick fixes. His little book goes a long way toward reviving a part of the Bible some readers have all but abandoned. For most collections.
By Graham Christian, Library Journal, July 2006
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Looking for a book that can make a difference in your life? The Search for Satisfaction examines the ancient book of Ecclesiastes and makes it relevant for today's reader. King Solomon, a man of abundant wisdom and wealth, was bored with life and searched for its meaning. After trying a variety of entertaining pursuits, like wine, women, and song, he finally came to the end of himself and the beginning of God. As the book of Ecclesiastes closes, Solomon's life opens up to the joy of living in the light of God's presence and blessings.
Author David H. McKinley explores the main themes in Solomon's insightful book, causing the ancient wisdom to step into the modern world. His candid and compelling writing style gives his message a special urgency and power. Modern beliefs are held up to biblical truths, highlighting the inconsistencies and failings of the former and the enduring qualities of the latter.
The chapters in Ecclesiastes are studied using a topical approach, as opposed to a verse-by-verse commentary. However, the author smoothly incorporates the age-old wisdom into his contemporary analysis. Using personal examples and interesting anecdotes, the deeper meaning of life is brought to the reader in appropriate and understandable segments. These pages are filled with freshness and vitality, as encouragement and exhortation stand side by side. Although finding satisfaction in life is a profound subject, this book seeks to make it real and practical to today's Christian.
We've all heard the promises of advertisements which say, "Satisfaction guaranteed." Well, if the words and wisdom of this book are applied to the reader's life, satisfaction will be a sure thing indeed.
Source: In the Library Reviews, www.inthelibraryreviews.net
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Opening with a quote from Shakespeare's dire Macbeth may provide readers with some insight as to the temper and tone of this remarkably fresh and deeply insightful text on living life from an inward, wisely introspective stance. Author David McKinley does a superb job of presenting an evenly paced yet riveting treatise on understanding what drives men and women to seek satisfaction. Taking in-depth looks at the book of Ecclesiastes and its author, King Solomon, interested readers will find themselves studying each concise chapter, digesting its contents and then subsequently delving within their own hearts and minds for life's solutions to most common struggles --- that of meaning, contentment and purpose.
The author very nicely establishes a mental picture of how much time modern-day individuals waste on their computers doing daily "searches" while frequently coming up with nothing to show for their efforts. Day after day, writes McKinley, people "...boot up, log on, select an engine, and start a search" and walk away frustrated, disappointed and wishing they had a better plan. So it is with life, and the church is no exception. McKinley talks about those nettlesome "itches" that just cannot be scratched. When life becomes an endless, aimless quest for satisfaction, most people, he says, will become skeptical, cynical, fearful and doubtful. Not a pretty picture. So what is the answer?
McKinley warms to his topic by first demystifying the myths of a satisfied life. Using Solomon's "search engine," life travelers will discover similar dead ends. To begin, the search for "progress" has not resulted in peace; rather increased knowledge has increased vulnerability. Next, "excess" is at best a short-term, short-lived state of satisfaction. Third, the search for "success" or accomplishments alone results in achingly cavernous inner-spaces. Fourth, "possessions" leave people only wanting more. Finally, "impression" fails as well; while a good name is a "good thing," it isn't enough to satisfy the need for significance. As far as Solomon was concerned, "No matches found" was the bottom line in his search for satisfaction.
Lest weary travelers be tempted to give up, McKinley urges Christians to stay at the task long enough to discover what Solomon eventually did figure out. There is reason to live and it is most simply found when "...we acknowledge our Creator and our desperate need of a relationship with Him." As believers, make God their focal point instead of subscribing to Solomon's ancient version of SPAM: sex, power, achievement and money; life becomes much more than an in-vain rush for personal actualization experienced at any and every level. McKinley tells men and women to develop their reasons for believing in God first and foremost, then grab hold of the Bible for all its worth as the foundation for living with hope and purpose, and lastly, invest the only life given to each person by honoring God and "living beyond yourself."
—Reviewed by Michele Howe
© Copyright 2006, The Search for Satisfaction: Looking for Something New Under the Sun, FaithfulReader.com, The Book Report Network, New York, New York
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"Most lives are not marked by vices," observes David H. McKinley; "they are simply lived with no purposes. And for the human soul, nothing is more horrific than the thought of living and dying in vain." If life is a search for significance, all too often the search returns no results. McKinley's book, The Search for Satisfaction, is a meditation on the book of Ecclesiastes, which chronicles King Solomon's own search for satisfaction in spite of the fear that "all is vanity, and striving after wind."
McKinley addresses the five myths of satisfaction: the myth of Progress, the myth of Pleasure, the myth of Success, the myth of Possessions, and the myth of Impression (or reputation). Solomon, like modern-day seekers, sought satisfaction in each of those myths, but in the end he found satisfaction only in a right relationship with God. Following Solomon, McKinley offers practical advice on where satisfaction is to be found: in commitments rather than circumstances; in accepting our own finitude and God's infinity; in embracing the adventure of life; in living in the present.
One of the key insights of The Search for Satisfaction is that life doesn't have to be fair in order to be satisfying. This is a fallen world: the things of earth are so much vanity, and there is nothing new under the sun. Nevertheless, we still have choices, and we can choose to waste our lives or to invest them. "Better" is a key word for this book. Because the clock is always ticking, and because the world is always offering up vanities to our view, it is vital that we learn to choose the better path. McKinley exhorts his readers not to make foolish trades with their lives. A study guide at the end of the book offers opportunities for further reflection.
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