We live in the Information Age. It is the day of instant news, instant entertainment, and instant communication.

When my brother first moved to Germany to serve as a missionary pastor, we would write letters back and forth which would take weeks and sometimes months to make the crossing. Now we write E-mail back and forth in a single day. And yet, with this growing technology and its corresponding ability to communicate, people are finding themselves more alone than ever.

The Preacher begins this section dealing with acts of oppression. He will speak more of oppression in the next chapter. But here is it a vehicle to speak of those who are ALONE in the face of oppression. It is bad enough to be oppressed. But it is much worse to be oppressed when you are alone.

As a result of the misery of oppression, the Preacher comes to the conclusion that it is better not to be alive than to be alive and to be so oppressed.

Job felt this way. In the midst of his sufferings, he said, "Let the day perish on which I was to be born" (Job 3:3). He asks, "Why did I not die at birth?" (Job 3:11).

Verse 1 says twice that they had no one to comfort them. The good news is that we have a Comforter. God Himself has sent to us His own Spirit so that we might be comforted in Him. He has promised to wipe away our tears. But that is not all. He has also given to us His own body - the Church.

I love the story of the little girl who had been sent to bed and who called out to her mother, "Mommy, I'm afraid to be all alone in my bedroom. I want someone to come and to be with me" Her mother replied, "It's okay, honey. The Lord is with you in your bedroom." And the little girl called back, "But I want someone with skin on!" The Church is Jesus with "skin on." We are here for one another.

The Preacher notices the spirit of rivalry and of competition that exists within man. Man is by nature competitive. He desires to be the best as what he does. And this spirit of competition can lead to covetousness.

The Preacher says that this is empty. It is empty because there is always someone who is just a little better. And even if you succeed and find yourself out to be the very best at what you have endeavored to accomplish, what did it get you? Your accomplishment is only temporary. And you find that it is lonely at the top.

What is the answer? One possible answer is to drop out. This is the answer of the fool. He says, "Because there is always someone better and because it is lonely at the top, I'll merely sit back and never try to accomplish anything." He "folds his hands and consumes his own flesh." This is given by way of a proverb. It is a matched set. These two proverbs take the two extremes of competition and set themselves over against one another.

How do you define success? If it is defined only in terms of YOU, then you are going to be a failure. The Preacher takes the example of a man. This is a man alone. He has no dependents. No family. No brother or son or anyone to whom he can leave a family inheritance. Our hypothetical man works his entire life and amasses a fortune. But there is no one to whom he can leave it. For what has he labored? For the sake of work? For the sake of success? The truth is that success is NOT its own reward. And if you are working just to accumulate wealth, then you are in for a sad surprise.

America is the land of the lonely. We cultivate loneliness in our culture. We take pride in being independent and alone - we even have a Declaration of Independence.

Men especially are raised with this sort of macho attitude. You are portrayed to be a man if you can stand alone as a survivor and a winner and on top. But one of the very first decrees of God following the creation of man was that "it is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18). Think about that! Loneliness in Paradise. Indeed, loneliness can take place anywhere - even in a crowd.

The Preacher lists four reasons why it is better not to be alone.

1. Togetherness Increases the Reward.

2. Togetherness Provides help in time of Trouble.

3. Togetherness Warms Body and Soul.

4. Togetherness holds up under Attack.

Now Solomon moves from the general to the specific. He gets personal. He uses HIMSELF as an example. After all, HE is the king. And here are the life lessons which he learned as king. They apply both to kings as well as to leaders in any endeavor.

1. Wisdom is very important to a leader.

2. Everyone admires the self-made man; the one who achieved success on his own.

3. All Popularity is fleeting.

Popularity is fleeting. It doesn't last. But a real and true friend DOES last. He is one who will take your part when everyone else is trying to take you apart. It was my older brother who introduced me to folk music. One of my favorite songs was a tune sung by Simon & Garfunklel in the early 1970's. It speaks of friendship:

Jesus did that. He is the bridge to bring us across the chasm of our guilt and our sin. He is the bridge to bring us home. And He says, "No longer do I merely call you servants and disciples, but now I also call you friend."