Saturday, November 25: Ecclesiastes 2- What am I chasing?.

To be so wealthy and important that whatever you want to do you can do is a life beyond me. I cannot fathom living like that. Yet, that was the life of the writer of Ecclesiastes. In his exploration of meaning he tried pouring himself into everything he could think of … great building, great fun, deep thinking. Nothing satisfied the deep itch within.

We haven’t changed much as humans in the millenniums since his writing. What do people continue to pour their lives into… building personal ‘empires’, having all the fun they can imagine, thinking and study. Oh, maybe people cannot do it to the degree the writer did, but it is focus rather than amplitude that matters to life. Whether our ‘empire’ is a simple house and a comfortable life or the empire of a one-percent-er it doesn’t really matter because the focus for both is me, myself and I.

The writer is wise enough to pause and ponder meaning. He discovers, A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? (24-25).

Though his quest isn’t over, he is beginning to see the light. Without God in our lives and providing focus for our lives we accumulate things, material goods, wisdom or experiences only to hand what we have accumulated off to someone else when we die. And they may or may not treasure what we give them; they certainly didn’t earn what we give them. This all seems quite meaningless. We strive only to leave all our accumulated striving to another. Meanwhile we miss out on finding deep satisfaction in life.

The deep satisfaction, according to the writer comes from God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

Now is the time for me to pause… to ponder what am I about in life? What is my focus? What drives me forward? Is God my drive?  For only then will it satisfy?

More to ponder and consider…

Lord, on this eve of worship, may I probe my life to make sure You are central to what I do but, even more importantly, who I am. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.