Ecclesiastes is one of those books in the Bible that can be seen as a depressing or irrelevant book to us in the modern world. At first glance, it seems as if some Emo kid has written it and is just complaining about how life sucks! However, when you look closer at the book, you don't see a whining teen complaining about life, you see a thoughtful man who is searching for his meaning and purpose.
And that is definitely relevant to this world. We are all looking for something in life that will fulfil us, something that will last and something that is not meaningless. The author, a king, is trying to find his fulfilment in education, pleasure, materialism, wealth, music, sex, and being famous. But he comes to the conclusion that all these things are meaningless and worthless on their own. Sounds exactly like what many people experience today.
I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”. (Ecclesiastes 2:1-2)
This man is desperately searching for his purpose in life, trying to work out what will bring him fulfilment. But he is looking at all these shallow things to be his saviour and his god. He wants them to fulfil and sustain him.
Death makes a fool of us
The king concluded that when it comes to dying, man has no advantage over a beast. They all go to the grave. He says accumulating riches is folly; when a man dies, he leaves it all and it’s gone. The king is searching for meaning and keeps finding meaningless. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, he senses this need and longing for more. He senses in his heart that there is more to this life and more to temporal pleasures that were not designed to fulfil him.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
You were made for eternity
God has placed eternity on man’s heart. It is no wonder the things of this world will not completely satisfy, because God made you for eternity. Our tension is that we are sinful and we cannot fathom how we can be with God. However God knew this, so he sent Jesus to die to pay for our sins so we could be in a relationship with him for eternity. He does this so we can have purpose and fulfilment in Him. God is true to his word, and has made us for eternity. And He has provided the Saviour to bring us back to Him. All we need to do is say sorry for our sin, accept Jesus as our Saviour, and follow Him with our lives.
Jesus words in John 4 are a great summary of the story of Ecclesiastes and what the king was experiencing .
“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
The story of Ecclesiastes is not a meaningless story about a meaningless life, it’s an incredible story pointing towards an incredible God and Saviour and the purposeful life he has for you if you follow him.
