It was in the movie: The Italian Job. One of the guys was supposed to go into the house they were breaking into and deal with the dog. He wouldn’t do it because, well, with dogs he said, “I had a bad experience!” When pushed by his buddies on what that dog experience was exactly, he heatedly repeated: “I had a bad experience!!”
We have a lot of those in life, don’t we?
Ecclesiastes is a great book in the Old Testament but often misunderstood.
While Proverbs is Wisdom that tells us how life normally works or doesn’t work depending on what we do or don’t do…
And Job is Wisdom that tells us that there is way more going on behind the scenes when it comes to life and our own suffering and that God really is in charge…
Ecclesiastes is Wisdom which shows us how complicated life is and argues against simplistic clichés to put God in a box. Ecclesiastes teaches that life is often very frustrating! Solomon in this book gives full vent to some of the same raw realities of life that frustrate you and me.
Yesterday we saw that Qoheleth, the Preacher, concludes that life is a vapor, vanity ( 1: 2) – meaninglessness!… and meaninglessness leads to weariness (1:8) because, well, everything is always the same.
If truth be told many times we Christ-following guys have those moments when meaninglessness characterizes how we feel. Our moods are affected by life and we have an existential meltdown (major or minor) when we throw up our hands and say:
“I’m done! I give up! It’s simply not worth it! What a waste! I work with my clients and all they want is more, more, more and they’re never satisfied. It never changes!”
Or: “I try not to sin but I just keep on in the same sin and I can’t beat it!”
Or: “Why should I keep on trying to be good when everyone around me seems to get ahead and they’re immoral wrecks!”
Or: “I can never get ahead! I fix my car and then the pipes break in my house and my insurance won’t cover it!”
Or: “I keep telling my staff what to do and what not to do and they don’t listen!”
Here’s an important truth to consider that comes from Solomon’s teaching:
”The longer you live the more compelling reasons you have to become cynical.”
And some of us men have become quite cynical about life and people and it shows in:
- How we relate to people…kind of like they are interruptions and inconveniences rather than people God loves.
- Our energy level…which is low and we seem like we’re just cruising through each day and sort of waiting to die.
- Putting a negative spin on…well…most everything.
- Church attendance is spotty and inconsistent at best.
- God is sort of on the back burner of our lives.
Does this characterize you? Is this making your wife and children happy to have you around? Are you being left out of significant gatherings of your friends? Could it be because you’re a drag to have around? I’m just saying.
“The unexamined life is not worth living” Socretes said (pretty sure it was him).
If you think life is bad, check out how Solomon marshals evidence to prove that the longer you live the more compelling evidence you have to be cynical:
- 1:2-11 Proof from nature: nothing is new!
- 1:12-18 Proof from analysis: if you deeply analyze life you’ll conclude that more is broken than can be fixed! The more I know the more pain I feel!
- 2:1-3 Proof from hedonism: the more I partied the more meaningless I felt!
- 2:4-11 Proof from accomplishments & work: I denied my self nothing and did accomplish a lot an accumulated tons of good stuff and felt sort of good about it all but at the end of the day it was vanity!
- 2: 12-17 Proof from wisdom: So I pursued living wisely well, and learned a lot but then I had the “ah ha” experience that a wise man and a fool end up the same-they both die and are forgotten!
It’s all vanity!…or is it?
Solomon’s existential pain lands on solid ground:
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26
“24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment?26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”
Think with me-
What does this teach about the connection between God and experiencing meaning in life?
Do we have more meaning if we are interacting with God throughout the day and in every aspect of our lives? Why does interacting with God give us more meaning even when things seem to go really bad?
Do you enjoy your work? Should you try to find a job that could provide for you and your family and at the same time provide more joy?
Can work be one of the simple pleasures of life?
Why are meals opportunities for us to find meaning and joy in life?
Wrap up- run some of this thinking or these questions by someone you know and try to come to some more conclusions.
I’ll give you some succinct thoughts tomorrow!
Strength and Courage,
Pete
