Meaningless

Ecclesiastes 1-3; Psalm 46; Proverbs 22:15

 

Meaningless. What a hopeless, energy-draining, mind-numbing word! How would you like to hear your boss use that word after a long, stressful, hard-pressed week? “You sure worked hard. Too bad it was meaningless.” That word just lets the air right out of my tires. I’m guessing you can identify.

 

The word’s found in 31 verses in the NIV Bible. Twenty-eight of those verses are located in the book of Ecclesiastes. The introduction to the book is, “The words of the teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.” And what’s the first word he offers us? “Meaningless!” Actually, he says it twice, right there at the beginning—four times in that one verse! You get the feeling that this might not be the happiest book to read.

 

The Teacher (King Solomon) goes on to explain how this world has a lot of motion and activity that leads nowhere. He himself gathered all his heart desired: pleasures—laughter, wine, even folly; projects—houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, reservoirs; servants—male and female; animals—enormous flocks and herds; wealth—gold and silver; personal entertainment—singers and a harem… everything anyone could possibly desire. (Eccl. 2:1-9)

 

And in the end—What?

 

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

 

All of it was meaningless. Meaningless! Why? He had everything. He’d achieved everything. Why would it be meaningless? What would give him that perspective?

 

I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. – Eccl. 2:18-19

 

What makes it all meaningless? Death. Under the sun, death makes everything meaningless. If all that you have to live for is under the sun and on this earth, coming to you as a result of the work of your hands, then just look down the road a few years. That one look will render the best food tasteless, the hardest-earned achievements pitiful, the longest and most profound relationships temporary and shallow. When you pick up a telescope and look through it to see what the end result of all your work, all your entertainment, and all your life is—when you look through a telescope and see death, only death—then everything is meaningless.

 

Father, help me to be realistic about everything I do. Help me to know which activities I do only for earthly results, and to see that they are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I don’t want my life to be meaningless. I want to see beyond the sun, beyond this earth, beyond death. I want to do things now that count forever, that have an eternal purpose. I want to build structures that never crumble, to cultivate fruit that never rots, to invest in friends and family I can laugh with forever. Father, I need You! I need Your Son Jesus Christ! I need Your Spirit! I need the life only You can give and the inner perspective that keeps my eyes set moment by moment beyond the sun, looking for Jesus Christ’s return. Don’t let my life be meaningless. Please.