Does it surprise you that in our broken world good behavior does not always lead to favorable outcomes? Do you find yourself blaming God for this? Or are you learning to be wise in a broken world?
Prayer: Lord, I live in a world that you made good but that we have marred. How wrong it is for me to blame you for what doesn’t “work” in life! Help me to trust in you and bide my time “until the world is mended.”67 Amen.
March 4
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:2–3)
VANITY. In older translations, Ecclesiastes begins, “Vanity, vanity—all is vanity.” Modern editions translate “vanity” as “meaningless,” though the older word might be better. The author is observing that we reach so few of our goals, and the goals we do reach are not nearly as fulfilling as we thought. There seems to be no gain. The point is so bleak that many ask, “What is this doing in the Bible?”
The answer is in the phrase under the sun. It is what today we’d call a thought experiment. The author asks us to imagine trying to live only under the sun—with no God or eternity beyond this world. If this world is all there is, can we find meaning? The experiment has two benefits. First, it will show us that, to a degree, this world is separated from God by the sin of the human race, so it does not function as it was created to, and that therefore even believers encounter a great deal of human life’s “vanity.” It also shows how rejection of God can make life even more pointless.
What would you consider vain or futile in your life? How would adding God to that situation change it?
Prayer: Lord, when the futility of my life begins to overwhelm me, I realize it is because I am looking only at what is “under the sun” and not at the eternal weight of glory being prepared for me (2 Corinthians 4:17). Help me to fix my eyes “not on what is seen, but on what is unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Amen.
March 5
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them. (Ecclesiastes 1:9–11)
INSIGNIFICANCE. Ecclesiastes asks us to imagine how fulfilling things can possibly be if what we see in this world and life is “all that is or ever was or ever will be.”68 If that was the case, the text says, nothing would be remembered. If this world is all there is, ultimately the sun will die and all human life will be wiped away by the sands of time and there will be no one to remember anything that ever happened.
This is a devastating insight. It means that if life under the sun is all that there is, then whether you spend your life helping people or killing people, in the end it makes not a whit of difference. If human beings really are going back to nothing, we should admit that nothing we do matters. Even believers today are shaped by the secular culture’s complete emphasis on happiness here and now, in this-world benefits. But we should not be. The fleeting pleasures of life are senseless, useless, and insignificant if we try to live without reference and gratitude to God.
What circumstances in this life under the sun do you imagine would fulfill you if you had them? Are you sure?
Prayer: Lord, whatever I do “in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Because of Jesus’ resurrection I know that I will be resurrected, and so it is not my status in this world but in the next that defines me. I praise and thank you for that. Amen.
March 6
So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 2:20–23)
THE VANITY OF ACHIEVEMENT. Under the sun, work and achievement fail on their own terms. First, they fail an objective test. Work does not actually, in the end, really achieve. Quickly or slowly the results of our toil are wiped away by history. The person who takes up your work after you may undo all you have done (Ecclesiastes 2:21). Second, work and achievement fail a subjective test—they never fully satisfy. Work brings grief and pain. You are up early and late to bed, often unable to sleep even at night and filled with the feeling that the work is not really all that well done.
Proverbs points to the satisfaction work can bring, but Ecclesiastes reminds us that we often feel the “thorns and thistles,” the grinding frustration that is the curse on work in a fallen world (Genesis 3:17–19). Work and achievement, without the peace of God in our lives through the Spirit, will never be enough. We need the God whose labor led to real rest (Genesis 2:2) and the Savior who could even sleep through a storm (Mark 4:38).
Have you ever achieved a goal, only to find it unfulfilling? What goals would outlast the sun? Make a list.
Prayer: Father, help me to use the gospel on myself to weaken the perfectionism that makes my work a burden. Give me the deep rest of soul that comes to the degree I remember I am saved by faith in Jesus, not by the quality of my work. Amen.
March 7
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” . . . Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:1–2,11)
THE VANITY OF PLEASURE. Now Ecclesiastes explores the way of hedonism and self-expression as a solution to the futility of life. Laughter is a word that refers to the kind of high spirits you experience at a sporting event or at a party with food, wine, and friends. Pleasure, the Hebrew simha, is a more reflective joy of appreciating the beauty or excellence of something. But in the end they are meaningless and vain; they fail on their own terms.
Why? One reason is that pleasure doesn’t accomplish anything. Pleasure seeking can draw you into enormous expenditures of time and money, and at some point the sheer wastefulness of it dawns on you. Second, pleasure is a chasing after the wind; that is, it is trying to grasp something that cannot be grasped. In this world, pleasures are fleeting. Ironically, the more you look to the things of this world to give you your deepest pleasures and satisfactions, the more frustrating they will be. So a life devoted to pleasure actually does not deliver pleasure.
What pleasures do you look to for renewal and refreshment? Do you find the same refreshment from being in the presence of God in his Word? Why not?
Prayer: Lord God, “among the sundry and manifold changes of the world” let it be that my “heart may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found”69—even on Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
March 8
I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” . . . For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. (Ecclesiastes 1:13–16,18)
THE VANITY OF KNOWLEDGE. Ecclesiastes speaks of apply[ing the] mind to . . . wisdom—that is, seeking to understand the seen, material world. Since the author is considering doing this under the heavens it means trying to understand the world in terms of itself.70 This almost by definition is the scientific enterprise—the effort to find a natural (not supernatural) cause for absolutely ev
erything. But this project is proclaimed a failure. We can’t fix human problems with mere technology and knowledge—what is crooked cannot be straightened (Ecclesiastes 1:15). Science can’t change the heart. We may study racism, crime, and poverty and make some advances. But the view that every phenomenon has a natural cause and therefore a technological solution in the end fails because this simply isn’t true.
There are supernatural, spiritual problems that need supernatural, spiritual remedies. In the end, the more we know the more we see how little we know. This can lead to a sense of helplessness—the more knowledge, the more grief. Human reason unaided by God’s revelation will never give us the whole picture.
What problems do you have in your life or see in the lives of others that need spiritual solutions? How can you access those solutions?
Prayer: Lord, our society has rested its full hope for itself on unaided science and technology. But this will not be enough! Please preserve our social life and order with your help and grace, and let the knowledge of the Lord grow again in our country. Amen.
March 9
All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:2–3)
THE VANITY OF MORALITY. Ecclesiastes 9:2 depicts the good and evil, the religious and irreligious—and concludes, rightly, that under the sun the same destiny overtakes them all. If this world is all there is, when we die, we rot, and when all who know about us die, even our memory is gone.
Sinclair Ferguson says that the author’s “thought experiment” is driving us to a conclusion. “Like the [rest of the] Bible (Isaiah 22:13; 1 Corinthians 15:32) [the author] sees there is only one logical conclusion to life if it has no post-mortem hope, no promise of a resurrection: let us eat, drink, and be merry. Tomorrow we die. Recognizing this . . . is no more than a matter of honest thinking.”71 And the hearts of people . . . are full of evil. The sinful human race does indeed have the world it deserves, in which good and bad behavior are not rewarded neatly and appropriately.
We have already experienced some of the blessings of renewal in our lives through the work of Christ on the cross as applied by the Holy Spirit. Make an inventory of all the areas of death, decay, and evil that still need to be addressed in your own heart.
Prayer: Lord, Ecclesiastes painfully provokes me to admit that you are all my hope and my only hope. Help me raise my eyes “above the sun,” constantly remembering that, while you will one day make everything right, nothing will be fully right until then. Amen.
March 10
However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless. You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 11:8–10)
HOW TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE: PART 1. At the end of the book, the author ends his “thought experiment” and brings God back into the picture. But he continues to remind us about how confused and broken the world is. In these verses he gives a set of practical guidelines for enjoying life despite it all. However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. How do we do that? First, be realistic. Remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. We should expect not only times of sorrow but also that, even believing in God, life will sometimes feel meaningless. This is an admission that even believers are “subject to futility” (Romans 8:18ff.). We were not created for a world of death, of the loss of love, of violence and loneliness. We must remember that on this side of heaven and Judgment Day, much of life will feel vain and pointless. The first advice: Don’t let the times of darkness completely overwhelm you. This world will not last forever.
How do you survive the dark times in your life? Do you use them to grow in faith, or do you merely endure until they are over?
Prayer: Lord, I don’t know why I am always surprised by suffering. Both your Word and common sense tell me that, even in good times, it is always on the way. Don’t let the dark times darken my heart, but rather let them teach me wisdom. Amen.
March 11
However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless. You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 11:8–10)
HOW TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE: PART 2. The author is saying more than that we should not be surprised by dark times (March 10) but that we should also remember how dark those times were. We should grasp that “all things temporal will disappoint us” to a degree. “We must face the fact or else be crushed by it.”72 The believer’s joy must be based in something that can stand up to the inevitable “dark days” that will come because of the fallenness of the world. One of those things is a good conscience. That is, we should remember God’s judgment. The message: Enjoy yourself, but don’t do things you cannot justify before God. Enjoy yourself but keep your conscience clear.
Finally, don’t mourn over youth and vigor when they fade. “To idolize the state of youth and to dread the loss of it is disastrous; it spoils the gift even while we have it.”73
Timor mortis conturbat me is the refrain in many poems. It means “Fear of death disturbs me.” Are you afraid of aging, sickness, and death? Will you be facing them alone, or with Jesus at your side?
Prayer: Father, when things go wrong for me, my greatest enemy is self-pity. It whispers to me that, because of my suffering, I deserve pleasures that I know are wrong. Save me from self-pity with a sight of Jesus suffering faithfully for me. Amen.
March 12
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) (Matthew 27:46)
MORE THAN AN ARGUMENT. The more we take God out of the picture, the more we will feel things are meaningless. Genesis 3:16–19 tells us that dissatisfaction and boredom are part of the punishment for sin. And the rest of the Bible tells us that if we die alienated from God, we live forever in eternity experiencing utter meaninglessness and endless, terrible spiritual thirst (Luke 16: 22–25).
What is our hope in the face of this? Ecclesiastes gives us provocative philosophical reasoning, but God does not merely give us an argument. When on the cross Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he was experiencing the cosmic meaninglessness of having no God in his life. Jesus was taking our curse for us. He was getting the infinite futility our lives deserve so we could be forgiven and embraced by God. Through faith in Jesus you can lead a God-centered life. You can know that every action is a way to honor him and every event is part of his good plan for you. So everything matters.
Jesus claims to be the good shepherd. What “valleys of shadow” are you facing where you need him to be by your side?
Prayer: Lord, you suffered in the dark for me so that I could live in the light. You experienced cosmic futility so that what I do now counts forever. How can I love and praise you
enough? I can’t—but help me to start. Amen.
God’s Order Hidden
March 13
“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:9–12)
HIDDENNESS: PART 1. God allows Satan to strike at Job, who, compared with other human beings, does not deserve a life filled with more suffering than is the norm. Modern readers may be appalled at this story, yet it shows, in narrative form, the asymmetrical relationship of the biblical God to suffering. First, notice that all of the bad things happening to Job are Satan’s idea. God does not actively generate the evils and suffering. God didn’t create a world with disease, disaster, and death in it. The chaotic forces of evil were released when the human race turned from God and the fabric of the world began to unravel (Genesis 3:17–19). But on the other hand, God is still in absolute control. God sovereignly limits and directs the suffering—“on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Both of these truths are necessary for us to face and survive the troubles of life with peace. We have to know that God in no way enjoys seeing us in pain, and yet we need to know that there’s a plan behind it.
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