Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 6:1-9

Solomon again discovered 'evil' – which is an 'unfortunate truth' or an uncomfortable fact of life he discovered wasn't just an anomaly.  God gives some people all the desires of their heart but doesn't give them the ability to enjoy them.  So, this uncomfortable truth is: our heart will lead us astray.  Its desires won't bring joy to our life; wealth, possessions and honor by themselves don't bring joy. 

A story is told of a king who was suffering from a mysterious malady and was advised by his astrologer that he would be cured if the shirt of a contented man was brought for him to wear. People went out to all parts of the kingdom looking for such a person, and after a long search they found a man who was really happy. But he did not even possess a shirt.[1]

Joy is found in God, granted by Him; he alone knows the heart.  Proverbs 14:10 says:

¹⁰ Each heart knows its own bitterness,

and no one else can share its joy.

There are no words to describe the bitterness, deep pain and sorrow we feel in our heart.  These things based in emotions physically affect us.  They are visible to others but only superficially.  No other can know the degree or depth of this bitterness.  In the same way, no one can share the joy either.  This also can affect us physically for the better.  Yet, no words could adequately convey the amazing and overwhelming joy. 

It is only God alone that can see into our heart and know the motivation, be it good or bad.  He alone can grant us the ability to find joy, even in the darkest of circumstances.  He knows the secrets of our heart (Psalm 44:22).  In fact, He knows us better than we know our self.

St. Augustine said, God is closer to me than I am to myself.

Blaise Pascal said, "The heart has its reasons that reason does not know." (quoted in J. G. Williams, "The Power of Form," 38, 49)

If God's point was that joy isn't found in the desires of our heart, then the exclamation point is when others find joy in the very things we desired and thought would bring it to us.  This may happen because the wealth, possession or honor was lost through debt or by inheritance after death.  It may well be that the life was spent in pursuit of these things, never to be enjoyed, only left in the will for others. 

Solomon gives an example of the man having a great family; having a hundred children was blessing beyond imagining.  Yet, if was unable to enjoy his family and he wasn't honored in death, then any meaning was lost.  In that culture, many children were a blessing, a proper burial was critical – being honored as a patriarch.  This life of not enjoying blessings and not being honored in death was to suffer the loss of value and meaning in life.  It doesn't matter the level of blessing or length of life. 

Solomon offers these thoughts:

1. Our toil is for our flesh – it is never satisfied.

2. The wise have no advantage over fools in worldly values.  Wisdom is based in the fear of the Lord – established as superior, but in the end, the fool and wise die.

3. Enjoy what you have, rather than run around with a wandering eye looking for what you don't have. 

Stop, now!  Pause, take a breath, look around and thank God for the many blessings of your life.  Ask that He allow you to see all the blessings and enjoy them rather than spend our life coveting what we don't have. 

Ecclesiastes 6:10-12

You are what you are, you can't change that.  Your life is what it is, you can't change that.  We don't get to bargain with God about the family we were born into, the culture, the geography or the age.  Since mere words in human wisdom cannot explain this life, then more words just add to the meaningless and futility. 

Who knows what is good?  We don't even know what's good for us, would we listen to another?  Our own heart will lead us down a path.  What are we to do? 

At times in my job I run across complex machinery; a design I don't recognize.  The only way we can begin to make sense of it, to understand it and possibly get the useful function from it, is to go back to the manufacturer.  In talking to the one who made it and reading the manual we can fully use it for its purpose and maintain it. 

It is the same with us.  We must go back to our original maker and read the manual.   

©2018 Doug Ford