Ecclesiastes Part One Dive

EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS! … THAT’S A LITTLE DRAMATIC, DON’T YOU THINK?

Have you ever had one of those days when you find yourself lost in thought, falling down the rabbit hole of pondering life, purpose, wisdom, your very existence on this earth? It’s a hard moment and that’s what is happening here for the author of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is a book most people skip over. Other than giving some teenagers ammunition to overcome the religious folk in a country town to have a dance (Footloose) and some sermons on the timing of God quoting the ‘there is a time for everything’ section, how much of the rest have we read? It just seems depressing and overwhelming. How many times can one book say ‘meaningless, like chasing the wind’!

But I think there is more to this book than just one big whinge. When you read it, you realise this is the cry of the world and is just as relevant today as when it was written. It could have been written by any one of us. It is the sound that we hear every day on the news, in our society, it is the cry of our friends, down to each meaningless pursuit of the author for a life raft to stop drowning in the meaningless of all he sees and can experience: wealth, pleasures, knowledge.

These are the inner workings of person trying to wrestle with what gives this life meaning. The one on this quest is described as someone who has everything, this is not a poor man crying out ‘meaningless’ – this is a rich man, without want of anything, ‘king over Israel in Jerusalem’, as Chapter 1:12 describes (whether he really is King Solomon or whether this has been used as a title, the author wants you to know this man has everything!). He is educated (Chapter 1:13), healthy, wealthy and wise and even with all of this, he is at his feet crying ‘meaningless’. Today, he would be the one in the great car, great job, great hair, money to buy a hotel and we would probably envy him. But in this book, the author shows the wrestling of the man that ‘has everything’ realising the ‘stuff’ is nothing compared to a life in God.

I love this book! It is so relatable! All of us have things in our lives that we pin our confidence on: when I get that house, I’ll be happy! When I pay off the mortgage, I’ll be happy! When I get that job, that car, that lifestyle… one thing after another we set ‘things’ up as our identity markers for happiness. Ecclesiastes also journeys through the big questions: what about injustice? What about the righteous who get what the wicked deserve?

As you read Ecclesiastes, a great thing to do is highlight what the author addresses. Imagine this man is walking down a road and everything in his life that is supposed to satisfy him steps onto his path and he looks at it, comments on it, dismisses it as meaningless and keeps searching.

Trashing Tip: In your Bible write out what you would find on your path to meaning in your life.

As he journeys down this path, he realises all the things he has attained; his buildings, his wealth, pleasure, women – they don’t add anything to his life. And then thoughts of God come into his mind. With the way this incredible book is written, you’ll realise that this guy has another walking with him on this path, inserting wisdom in his rabbit hole – God is walking with him. You can see that within the conversation in his mind, God-thoughts enter, and he has some amazing moments, though at times his meaningless moments take over.

I love that the Bible openly and honestly addresses the questions that all of us have in our minds! The journey of Ecclesiastes may sound familiar to you and that’s great! That is why this is in our Bible. This book gives us permission to battle the thoughts in our head, to think through our lives, to process meaningless and Godliness. Just as this man journeys through and comes out the other end having been on a God encounter, so will you!

Your life doesn’t have meaning when you get the ‘things’ you think are going to make you happy! Your life has meaning when you find the One that created you to have this life in the first place. I love the God moments in this book, let me show you a few:

E 2:26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.

E 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

E 3:14 I know that everything that God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away from it.

E 5:7 Therefore fear God

E 7:18 Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes

And finally, the narrator’s conclusion in Chapter 12:13.

E 12:13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

You are going to love journeying this book, there are valleys, there are high moments but all is a journey of one man and his quest for the meaning of life. Journey as you find that true meaning comes from God!

recommended

The Tyndale Commentary Series

Ecclesiastes part one

Mark part three