It’s called “retail therapy.” And according to WebMD.com (a solid source ☺), it is a real thing. Turns out that “retail therapy” is when you go shopping to make yourself feel better. One study found that 62% of shoppers bought something to cheer themselves up. Retail therapy makes you feel like you’re in control, brings happiness, and can be a distraction when life is not going well. It becomes problematic when money becomes an issue and/or becomes a compulsive behavior.¹

I admit that our passage today doesn’t completely fit in the category of “retail therapy,” but Solomon did all he could to be in control of “life under the sun,” thus trying to bring happiness to his discouraged heart. So, here’s what he did.

Ecclesiastes 2:7
I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.

Solomon’s purchase of slaves to care for his houses doesn’t sit well with us. It was never God’s intention, but in the fallen world, in “life under the sun” in the days of Solomon (900 BC), and unfortunately, in many places today, this was and is common, albeit despicable. Solomon also purchased a significant number of livestock. The servants and the livestock are Solomon’s way of telling us that he tried to make himself happy with the prestige of his possessions.

Today, in our country, at least, we thank God that prestige is not in owning other people. But it certainly is found in owning things. We may jokingly wink at “retail therapy,” but the desire to be in control, the yearning to have yet another something, and the distractions from real life that possessions bring is a spiritual issue. There is this problem with things—we will never have enough. The desire for possessions is like a mosquito bite. The more you scratch it, the more it itches (Eccl. 5:10). We get pleasure from possessions…for a brief time.

At the end of the day, chasing after stuff is like chasing after the wind. Even when you catch it, there is nothing in your hands.

The best antidote for bowing to the god of possessions is to bow to the God of redemption. He purchased us from the slavery of sin and gave us an identity in himself, not in the things of the world. Only God can transform and satisfy our souls.

Father, in this fallen world, with imperfect hearts, it is so easy to think that the material things of this world will satisfy. We have been reminded over and over again that this is not true. And yet, we still fall to the temptation. Forgive us and rescue us from spending our time, money, and energy on things that rot, rust, and decay. Help us keep our identity grounded in who you are, not in what we have. In Jesus’ name. Amen.