40 Weeks of Your Life: Ecclesiastes
09-30-2006
by Vicky Beeching

Ecclesiastes is a book reflecting on life and human existence. I have some married friends who are the most contrasting pair of people I've ever met! One sees life through rose-tinted spectacles, where everything is positive, blessed and a great opportunity. The other is an intense realist, always seeing the potential problems and the glass half empty. They make an interesting combination! The writer of Ecclesiastes was like the intense realist - his spectacles had zero rose-tinting! He saw life as brief and with little meaning.

Instead of cherishing the newness and excitement of each new day, he writes, "there is nothing new underneath the sun"; everything has already been done, tried and discovered. Life for him was feeling pointless.

I love that we find this book within the Bible. It's encouraging to see that there is a place for the discouraged heart, for the skeptic and the weary, within the pages of Scripture. I know various skeptical-typed people who have opened up the Bible and eventually found Jesus, through resonating with the writer of Ecclesiastes. So I'm glad it's in the canon of Scripture!

Chapter two is a strong testimony of the futility of chasing pleasure in life. The writer was probably King Solomon - Son of David. He was hugely powerful and wealthy; he could do what he pleased and had vast resources at his disposal. He decided he would live life for pleasure and see if it satisfied his heart. He writes: "whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them" but "indeed all was vanity and grasping after the wind" (2:10,11). It's proof that only God can satisfy the human longing for love and happiness.

Chapter three is a great reminder that life has many seasons, and that everything is divinely orchestrated; "everything has a season, and there is a timing for everything under heaven" (3:1). There is much wisdom in this book - probably because it was written by Solomon, who's also the writer of the incredibly wise book of Proverbs!

He concludes in the final chapter, that following God is the true meaning of life and the one thing that counts. "Remember your Creator"… "Fear God and keep His commandments". Good advice!