Ecclesiastes: Chapter 2
This chapter really strikes those of us who have a tendency to get all worked up about our jobs, our position, our desire to obtain the next ‘thing’ for ourselves or our family. The author looks back on his life and reviews all the ways he has tried to find meaning in life. He adds up all the possessions he has gathered and all the things he has worked for all his life and realizes that the things themselves and the accomplishments themselves will all be left behind when he is gone.
Even the goal of becoming wise is declared worthless because the wise and the fool both in the long run wind up in the same position in the end.
Yet in verse 24 there is a hint of the true lesson of Ecclesiastes. Here he states that satisfaction and enjoyment are from the hand of God. Without God in our lives all the doing and running around and gathering up will only lead to a base empty feeling eventually.
Key Verse:
“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” ~ Ecclesiastes 2:24
Questions to ponder:
- How important is to you to obtaining things? What purpose does it serve?
- Why does faith in Jesus make a difference in your enjoyment of life?
