SCRIPTURE: Ecclesiastes 5-8
It is important to remember that this book is inspired meaninglessness.
As scripture, this book is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17), but this does not mean each thought is God’s.
God is using the wisdom of man to show the foolishness of life without God.
“Utterly meaningless, everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) – this is not God’s perspective, but ours.
This is the reality of our lives, because we have tried to live on our own, in our own way.
The observations in this book are true, in that they reflect the way things have become.
But they are not true in that they do not reflect the way things ought to be.
As you read this book, there will be things you read that make you say ‘God said that?’
My point is that God did not say these things, but the Teacher did; God inspired him to honestly write down his experience of life, so that we could see the futility of it all, and turn to God for help.
When I read this, my heart hears God encouraging me to see how empty, how useless, life without God is.
No matter where we look, no matter what we try, no matter how much we experience or accumulate, no matter who we put our hope in (aside from God), we will be disappointed.
“There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 8:14)
Yes, from our perspective the righteous get what the wicked deserve – and vice verse – BUT THIS IS NOT GOD’S WILL OR PURPOSE OR TRUTH, but the wages of sin.
These things are written, and inspired, to lead us from meaninglessness to Jesus, and to the truth He represents!
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for reminding me of the meaninglessness of life without You. And thank You for leading me to the meaningfulness of life in and with You!