Everything is meaningless. At least, everything is meaningless until Jesus comes in and transforms the heart, mind, and body. Jesus changes everything and, in doing so, makes everything meaningful, beautiful, and appropriate in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11, NASB).Solomon understands this dichotomy of meaningless and meaningful. In Ecclesiastes, he makes it his aim to study all the world has to offer and to figure out where meaning lies. He discovers, however, that everything and anything the world provides is meaningless, a mere chasing after the wind.
Possessions are Meaningless
In Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon sets out his pursuit. He begins with a contemplation of “stuff.” He says, “All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor” (Ecclesiastes 2:10, NASB).
He finds the reward and its associated pleasure only temporary; in the next verse, he bewails all of it. “Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11, NASB).
Solomon discovers the dissatisfaction of possessions. They mean nothing and offer no comfort to the sleepless, restless soul. The possessions become a “striving after wind.” Solomon can’t catch the wind nor can he derive meaning and happiness from what he possesses.
Jesus confirms the point in his parables. He tells of a landowner and a merchant in Matthew 13. Both men sell all they own to gain a greater reward, “a treasure hidden in a field” and the “one pearl of great value” (Matthew 13:44-6, NASB). Jesus says the kingdom of God is like those rewards. It satisfies in a way that money, pearls, and possessions cannot. The person who discovers that kingdom sells and gives everything away because he or she finds meaning in the greatest thing of all: God.
Wisdom is Meaningless
Once Solomon recognizes the futility of possessions, he attempts another hypothesis. He decides to study wisdom for it “excels folly as light excels darkness” (Ecclesiastes 2:13, NASB). Perhaps, he postulates, wisdom will grant meaning.
Wisdom fails to provide it. Solomon says in almost the same breath, “One fate befalls them both [the wise man and the fool]. […] ‘As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise? This too is vanity’” (Ecclesiastes 2:14-5, NASB).
Solomon becomes increasingly morose as he contemplates his study’s results. “For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die! So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:16-7, NASB).
Solomon, though, is no fool. In Proverbs, he delivers a treatise on wisdom and states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7, NASB). Jesus affirms Solomon’s understanding in Matthew 7 in his own references to the wise man and the fool. Jesus says the wise man is the person who hears God’s words and acts upon them. That person will not be destroyed when the storms come and the crashing waves roar. No, he stands firm because he builds his house on the rock-solid foundation of God (Matthew 7:24-7, NASB).
Work is Meaningless
Solomon doesn’t quit his research. Instead, he examines another avenue, the one of work. Work, however, quickly loses its luster.
Solomon barely begins the examination before seeming to throw his hands up in frustration. “I must leave it [work] to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:18-9).
Solomon then metaphorically drops his head into his hands. He despairs, asking, “For what does a man get in all his labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:22-3, NASB).
Jesus again reorients the perspective through the apostle Paul. Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the world of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Work, from the woman cleaning bathroom stalls to the man preaching from the pulpit, becomes meaningful when done in the Lord. Work presents an opportunity to glorify God and make his name great.
Jesus Gives Meaning
Once Solomon recognizes the vanity and futility of work, wisdom, and possessions, he is free to consider other options. He, though, has no options left but God. God demonstrates himself more than enough; Solomon remarks, “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without him?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-5).
Solomon gets it. Joy — true, unadulterated, bubbling-up joy — comes from God alone. God makes it possible to find meaning because he gives meaning. He establishes a person’s identity so that he or she doesn’t have to find it in work, study, or stuff. In turn, those three things become ways to enjoy God and give him glory and praise.
The believer gains wealth but doesn’t hold onto it. He or she gives it away and gives it away with a glad heart. The believer acts with wisdom, not as a means unto itself or some end, but as a way to live righteously and soberly (Titus 2:11-4, NSAB). He or she also works, and that works turns into the potential for everyday joy because this person goes to work with Abba-Father God every day.
Image: Death to the Stock Photo