Ecclesiastes 2

Bible Passage:  Ecclesiastes 2

I want to start off by admitting that I think I am an easily contented person (although my wife says I am choosy about the food I eat).  I do not hold great ambitions to get ahead in life and although I see some of my classmates and peers acheiving great things so far… nothing stirs within me… no envy, no wondering ‘what ifs’…. I guess I am just happy with my lot.

Or so I thought.

Reading Ecclesiastes 2 today made me re-evaluate what kind of person I am.  And also made me re-examine myself to see if what I thought about myself was true?

Pleasures of Life

King Solomon in verses 1 to 11 went all out of his way to experience pleasure.  He wanted to see what was worthwhile to do in this world (v.3) and went about enjoying, building and amassing all sort of things.  He denied himself nothing in the pursuit of happiness.

But he did not find it… Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun (v. 11b).

Ever had that feeling before?

I know I have.  Not once.  Not twice.  But many times.

While I may not be in the league of Solomon and his wealth, there are things that I do not deny myself in seeking to have some pleasure in my life (like my music CD and comics collection).  There are also things which I have spent time working on getting it and yet… after getting what I want.. I wonder… is this all there is to it?

Solomon’s conclusion is what I have experienced a lot before… if one’s resources are exhausted in finding pleasures, then pleasure has no reward beyond momentary enjoyment.  The joy or happiness is only temporal.

But if I know this already…. why do I still keep on repeating the same mistake?

Wisdom & Folly – Not So Different After All

No one likes to be called foolish.  And all of us think we are wise in one way or another.

Solomon in verses 12-16 pointed out that whether your are wise or not in this life, death makes fools of all people.  From a material standpoint, there is nothing left after life has ended.  Not only does wisdom fail to offer release from the vain business of living, but it can’t solve the problem of death.

Man very often transgress the boundaries of God to search for something ‘more’.  They use this life – the very life given by God – in exchange for their lofty goals and pursuits.  But Solomon is reminding us that ‘more’ does not exist – and that in pursuing it, we lose ourselves.

When you honestly consider yourself and also look at the world around… indeed the pursuit of wisdom, wealth, and their elusive partner, joy by men is often met with the lack of fulfillment and gain.  Very often, in wanting to achieve great things, all we ‘gained’ are stress, insomnia and eventual death.  Not very fulfilling isn’t it?

So the question is this…. what can you and I do, to extricate oneself from these subtle traps of deceitfulness – promises of great joy, pleasures and fulfillment – if we were to pursue all that we can in this world?

The wise and the foolish in this world all meet with the same end… does not sound promising for us then, isn’t it?

Planting rice is never fun, bend from morn till set of sun,
Cannot rise, cannot sit, cannot rest a little bit!

Words sound familiar?  Yep… it’s the children song that we used to sing in school (maybe some of you still do).

But the song speaks about labouring and toiling the whole day.  And indeed, a lot of us know how it feels although we have never planted rice before in our lives.  Standing the whole day in the classroom – raising our voices and trying to maintain some order in the midst of an uncontrollable mass 🙂  Hunched over the computer screen from morn till late nite… and still pecking away at the keyboard now (haha… need to or else nothing for you to read!). Putting on a practised smile as we serve our customers the whole day…. work is tough and is getting tougher.

And we do all this … hoping for something better.  But Solomon has already waned us that chasing the wind is pointeless and wrong.

So why do people pursue “gain” through meaningless and unsuccessful ventures?  The answer is found in sin’s irrationality.

Why do we toil and labour?  What is it all for?

What should we do?

So How?

In typical Singlish – since we know that pursuing pleasure is meanginless, whether wise or not the end is death and all toil is also meaningless – “so how?”

Guess it is a question of whether we believe what Solomon said and act on those words…

For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight;

Eccl 2:26a

If we want to gain true wisdom, knowledge and joy – we must be good in His sight!

We are supposed to live life in humility and obedience before God.  We must do the right things.  We must know His Word and live by them.  Or else… all is still meaningless and a chasing after the wind.

I started by saying that I thought I was an easily contented person.  But actually, I am just as guilty as the next person in my seeking of pleasure, wisdom and also guilty of toiling away in my work.  And I would be continuing in this manner unless I am able to gain true wisdom and act on the words of God that I read today.

The Spiritual Meeting is approaching.  Let us take this opportunity to once again consider our own actions and thoughts and strive to do the things that pleases God.

Prepared to attend all 3 full days of the Spiritual Meeting yet?