Last week, I began my journey through the book of Ecclesiastes. This morning, I concluded that journey. If you're looking for an upbeat, positive look at this life, you won't find it from the "Teacher." Solomon has taken a look at life lived under the sun from just about every angle, and his conclusions are anything but triumphalistic.
- Living wisely has value, but even the wise fall victim to unexpected and unexplainable disaster.
- Building a future for our children can be an exercise in futility if our children lack a good head on their shoulders.
- By seemingly dumb luck, foolish people find themselves in positions of power and influence.
- Wise or fool, the same fate - death - overtakes us all.
On more than one occasion, the Teacher answers for himself and us the question that naturally follows: "If everything is meaningless in the end, how do I live my life - how do I keep from despair?"
His answer? "Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart" (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20).
In other words, don't worry about the stuff outside of your control. Leave it to God. I've found in this age of increasing and constant news via cable and the internet that we, perhaps now more than ever, have the ability to know about (and as a result, worry about) more of the world's events than previous generations ever could. Will increasing knowledge of the chaotic and broken world around us bring us to despair, or will we respond faithfully by doing what God has given us to do in our vocations and commending the rest to His care, releasing it to Him in prayer?
We might be tempted to become cynical of the Christian life in this world. "I live as a child of God, and it gets me nowhere." But God watches our conduct, and His justice will prevail in the end. "For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14). If you plan on living carelessly, take heed. But for the child of God, baptized into Christ, given His righteousness, and living as a temple of the Holy Spirit, we have the promise that the good God does in and through us will not be meaningless in the end. The promise of resurrection life - guaranteed by Jesus' death and resurrection - gives the stuff of this life eternal value. You are forgiven and free! Don't despair - be faithful.
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