For Luke and me, Ecclesiastes is one of the best books of the Bible to refresh our perspective on life and possessions. ‘Vanity and grasping for the wind’ is the key phrase that comes to mind when I think about Ecclesiastes. The phrase is used throughout the book in reference to the futility of gaining possessions, power, and even knowledge! The very first chapter put me in my place, describing the processes of nature that continue on with or without me. It seemed a bit depressing on the surface, but digging deeper into the author’s meaning helped further my understanding of the meaning of life.
The second chapter speaks so much to the never-ending cycle of gaining more and more material items. The author tests if possessions would bring his soul long-lasting satisfaction, and his conclusion comes in verses 10 and 11 of chapter 2:
Whatever my eyes desired
I did not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And this was my reward from all my labor
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.
It is now obvious to him that his soul couldn’t find lasting joy in material things. Next, he turns to ‘consider wisdom and madness and folly’ (v. 12). Perhaps he could find satisfaction in wisdom and knowledge. He determines being wise is the better alternative to being a fool, but he sees the futility in these as well in verses 15 and 16:
So I said in my heart,
‘As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me, and why was I then more wise?’
Then I said in my heart, ‘This also is vanity.’
For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!
Between meaningless possessions, the futility of self-improvement, and the general evil that is in the world (as described in chapter 4), how can life be any good? Chapter 7 is the turning point for me, where the author explains the benefit of striking a balance in life as in verse 14:
In the day of
prosperity be joyful
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,
So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.
Luke and I constantly struggle to dwell in the moment. Sometimes we find ourselves attempting to plan a future, with countless unknowns bouncing around in our brains. Or we’ll simply get distracted by the daily to-do lists. We hate living that way though. We want to focus on the moment that we’re in so we don’t rush past opportunities to dwell on what God has to invest in us as well as the opportunity for us to in turn invest in others. Ecclesiastes is yet another Biblical reminder that our focus should be on Christ only, as the closing perfectly sums up:
Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
