DCLM Daily Manna 8 February 2026 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Vanity of Worldly Pursuit
TOPIC: Vanity of Worldly Pursuit (DCLM Daily Manna 8 February 2026)
KEY VERSE: For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow – Ecclesiastes 1:18
TEXT: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 (KJV)
12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
MESSAGE:
The story is told of a wealthy industrialist who leapt from a Chicago’s ninth-story room, leaving this note: “I am worth ten million dollars as men judge things, but I am so poor in spirit that I cannot live any longer.” Something is terribly wrong with life.” He was right. Something was terribly wrong with his life – because he didn’t experience the new birth, and therefore, had nothing to anchor his poor soul upon, in times of difficulties.
Our passage for consideration today enunciates the pathetic picture of godless people who pursue earthly wisdom and knowledge acquisition without thinking about God and their relationship with Him. They feel they do not need God, with the assumption that they have all it takes to be independent of the Creator’s care, wisdom and guidance. They pursue the mundane and mock God, His word and the upright, at the expense of their souls. They run after the temporal, forgetting the everlasting. They live for the present and are mindless of the future. They amass stupendous wealth, receive accolades for their achievements in different fields, and heap so much that will last generations but are miserable and poor towards God.
Our world is replete with stories of wise, knowledgeable, wealthy, and accomplished men and women who live without satisfaction. They broke records in various fields of human endeavours and are revered by fellow mortals but never fulfilled. The lacuna and inner void are apparent. Many such opulent personalities end up miserable. Some with dementia, depression, wounds from self-inflicted injuries, and some commit suicide, confirming the truism that Christless living is a bundle of miseries and emptiness. Like the preacher aptly says, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”.
We must not forget that all we acquire on earth will not be relevant after death. The Lord’s counsel is essential for all mortals. What shall it profit any man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Will you seek heavenly riches or continue pursuing a mirage like others? The decision is yours!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Worldly accomplishments without Christ, in the end, prove worthless.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Deuteronomy 25-27
Deeper Life Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
