I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. Ecclesiastes 9:11 NLT
Okay, I am a pastor/preacher/career student of the Bible. So, this may not be exactly kosher to say 😊, but the biblical book of Ecclesiastes has never ranked very high with me for inspirational reading. The author only identifies himself as the Preacher, but there are numerous clues that he might have been King Solomon, who is generally assumed to be the author. What we do know for sure is that this book is about what it is like to live in a world that is uncontrolled and uncontrollable. Since that’s our world too, it wouldn’t hurt to read it, right?
Truly, the book from start to finish is about facing reality. The Preacher does it rather starkly. Read what he says just a little before our verse today: “The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad, ceremonially clean or unclean, religious or irreligious. Good people receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who make promises to God are treated like people who don’t. It seems so wrong that everyone under the sun suffers the same fate” (Eccl. 9:2-3). Honestly, haven’t you felt that way sometimes? You are keeping the rules, keeping your head down, working hard, and it seems to make no difference? The one thing in this little section that makes me laugh is that he addresses men and tells each to live happily with the wife God has given them because she is their reward in this meaningless life. 😊 Oh, the emojis I could use here!
But it is a book of perspective and figuring out reality. It is a report on the anxiety and bleak depression that inevitably results from seeking satisfaction in worldly things. Solomon was incredibly wise, but he attempted to find meaning in temporary, uncontrollable human things. He explored all of it and reported the stark reality that none of it gave him meaning.
At the end of his life evaluation and search for reality, the Preacher concludes that faith in God is the only way to find personal meaning. He accepts the reality that life is brief, he can’t control the world around him, and that life is ultimately worthless without God. He advises the reader to focus on an eternal all-powerful God instead of temporary pleasure.
Choose reality. It’s where change and true satisfaction begins.
- Jesus, help me to choose to live in truth, no matter how painful and ugly it might be. Help me see that beauty and satisfaction will come.