Day 178: Ecclesiastes; Life not making sense….like right now…
or, the Preacher
1966 movie, Alfie, song sung by Cher (and Cilla Black). Michael Caine is a womanizer who gets his girlfriend pregnant, and in the end
“What’s it all about, Alfie? Is it just for the moment we live?
Ecclesiastes 1: 1–4, “Vanities of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanities of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labor which he has taketh under the sun? One generation passed away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever.” What is the point of all life? Is it measured by wealth? By education? By pleasures? Relationships? Accumulations? All that disappears when you die, anyhow? What is the point? The writer in Ecclesiastes says it is meaningless. We live. We die. And, he can find no sense to it.
Some days, I am sure we can all agree. Verses 1:18 states, “The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief.” What’s the point of working, gaining wealth, when someone who doesn’t work takes it away from you? Verses 3:1–8 speak of “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven… which The Byrds used for their song, Turn, Turn, Turn in 1965, sung by Pete Seeger.
The Writer doesn’t feel that you should not have pleasures, as a matter of fact he states that if you are blessed with wealth, good life, pleasures, etc., to be sure and enjoy them. But, he says you should also share them with others. “You will be rewarded.”
Even if we can control some of the events in our lives, God has the timing. And, since God lives in eternity, we tend to become inpatient with waiting on Him. I know I do. But, with God living in Eternity, He will bless us for just as long, for He planted eternity in our hearts.
God wants us to enjoy life. He gives us all that we have. We have some choice in accepting His gifts, or not. He appears to reward others more than some, but that could have something to do with accepting His gifts, believing they can be multiplied, and making that multiplication happen. God does expect us to grace others with our blessings, too. We were not created to be stingy.
