The Rolling Stones famously sang that they couldn’t get any satisfaction, even though they tried, and tried, and tried. Solomon, the third king of Israel left no stone unturned in searching for something, anything under the sun, anything apart from God that would satisfy him, and yet he came up empty. Here’s what the dissatisfied monarch looked for meaning in, in Ecclesiastes 2:

• Experiences (vv. 1-3; 8b)
• Stuff (vv. 4-9) *Wisdom (vv. 12-16)
• Work (vv. 17-23)

Despite being infinitely better equipped to conduct the search than the Rolling Stones, in the end he sang the same familiar song, “I can’t get no satisfaction.”