The Words of The Teacher

             The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless… A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 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. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 2:24-26)

The book of Ecclesiastes is a challenge, because it seems to unsay much of what was said in Proverbs (often by the same person: Solomon). Among other things, it describes Solomon’s search for the core of life. He pursued wisdom, pleasure, achievement, wealth, and possessions and observes oppression, toil, and friendlessness, and concludes that, in the long run, everything is meaningless. And he was right. He had the means and opportunity to check many potential sources of fulfillment, and, as ends unto themselves, none of them gave life meaning. Often, the reason for this meaninglessness is that they could not follow us into the afterlife or be passed on to others, or, if they could be passed on, those who received them might not ultimately benefit from them.

Instead of chasing these things, Solomon suggests that eating, drinking, and finding satisfaction in what God gives, including wisdom, knowledge, and happiness. In other words, there’s a lot to be said for doing what you can, with what you have, where you are, now rather than driving yourself to distraction with trying to be impressive or “successful.”