June 17, 2024

Ecclesiastes 2.3, 4, 10, 11 (NIV)

I tried cheering myself . . . I built houses for myself . . . I denied myself nothing . . . Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done . . . everything was meaningless.

Blessed are those who, if everything they own were taken from them, would be, at most, inconvenienced, because their true wealth is elsewhere.*

Compare the life that Solomon led to Job’s life. Job lost all that he had and suffered misery. Solomon had no concept of loss or deprivation. Job said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised.” Solomon says, “I have everything and it means nothing.” Maybe both men have reached the same conclusion from different approaches: things are worthless.

Solomon’s story could have had a happy ending if he had conducted the experiment with a different twist: try cheering someone else; build houses for others; deny nothing to those in need. He would not have concluded that “everything was meaningless” if he had looked for pleasure in using his riches to bless someone else.

Our focus is on accumulating possessions, retaining power, indulging in pleasure, and maintaining close relationships. Those are temporary goals. They are the goals of pagans and can be snatched from us in a minute.*