May 19, 2024

Passage Read: Ecclesiastes 11 - Song of Solomon 2
Meditation Verse: Ecclesiastes 11:6

Thought

Ecclesiastes is not a book that justifies laziness, but in taking pleasure in the work of the hands and fruit of one's labor. It doesn't teach a pursuit of wealth and getting rich, but it does promote diligence and hard work in order to provide for one's family and to have something to enjoy. But even that is the worldview of someone who knows there is a God, but doesn't really know what lies beyond this life. If this life is all there is, then enjoy the days you've got, not as a lazy person who sits idle most of the day, but as one who works diligently to provide for himself and his family. A man will be judged, but when and how? Is it in the evil circumstances that come upon a man that he is judged, during his days on earth? Yet evil can befall the righteous, and the wicked can enjoy many good things. God will judge, but Solomon doesn't say how or when.

Application

It is easy to read this and believe that all we have to do in life is enjoy it through diligent labor, not in ambition but in order to provide needs and maybe some extra. Paul teaches the Thessalonians something similar: mind your own business and work with your hands so as to be dependent on no one. But that is not the whole picture. It is certainly a baseline for every believer, but when we see how much more could be gained with extra time and effort, then we naturally invest extra time and effort in pursuit of earthly things, as if earthly ambition is justified by Scripture, when really we should not be so busy in worldly pursuits so as to have little time to serve the kingdom of God, even right around us. Believers are not to love the world, but God and seek first His kingdom. So our time should be freer to invest in kingdom works rather than consumed with chasing the things of this earth. If there is ambition, it should be for the things that last for eternity. Anything else is a chasing of the wind, vanity of vanities.