Why do I love Ecclesiastes so much? A lot of reasons. There’s great wisdom in it. It aligns with how I see life. It aligns with my own life.
The writer is one blessed with more human gifts, brains, money and glory than anyone could imagine. Yet, in the end, he’s just a man needing God.
Rich or poor, it’s the same for all of us. It’s pretty normal to feel that true happiness is waiting for us with the next thing. If we could just have ___________ (fill in blank) then we’d be content. Then we get it, and we’re not. So we try again. And again and again and again.
In Ecclesiastes, the writer got to the top of all this and, with nothing else to get, he looked around and saw it was all meaningless.
What was left but CQE&D? (That’s cynicism, questioning everything and despair.)
He’s not the only one that’s come to this. Like I said, it’s my story.
It was in early adulthood I began to set my goals. I was married and figured it was time to get serious. I had five goals–a certain car, a certain boat, a certain house, a certain job, and a certain wife. (Okay, I already had the wife.)
To me, most of these were far off and distant, but the pursuit would give me focus for a long time. To my surprise, within a year I had them all.
And I’d learned a principle: What you aim for you arrive at.
It’s a nice thing to know when you’re a young man starting out. Or anytime.
I also learned another principle: Arriving isn’t enough.
I was empty.
I appeared happy. I appeared successful. But I knew different. Worse, I was afraid nothing I could do was going to change it.
I could set new goals. But I knew in time I’d only arrive at them; and then where would I be but where I already was?
That’s when the CQE&D set in.
Cynicism, questioning everything and despair.
“Meaningless, meaningless, says the [Ecclesiastes] Preacher”* Not that I was listening to any preacher. Such voice I’d long fled—and covered my tracks.
Now I was alone with my success and, like I said, empty.
To give the rest of the story would mean another book. Suffice to say, in time, God entered the picture and showed me what was missing. Namely: Him.
What’s happened since then is a third book. (Yet Moore on That.)
But this was to be a meditation on the honest perspectives in Ecclesiastes, and how they align with our lives—at least mine.
I can say with the Joni Mitchel song, “I’ve looked at life from both sides now.”
Happily, I’m on the brighter side.
And everything is meaningful.
Let me know if this resonates with you.
_______________________
*Ecc.1:2
Next time: Life, the Great Experiment. Coming Thursday
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
10:20 am
Yes, my story is similar. I returned from a stint in the Air Force overseas and was ready to tackle the world. My first car was a 66 Vette, next purchase was a 20′ boat with a 455 cu in V8 / Berkely Jet. Next accomplishment was a wife (Liz). Then kids (two girls). I had purchased a “two homes on a lot” set up and so was a property owner on his way to stardom. I knew my life was heading the wrong direction. God was presented to me and I was ready to accept. Whew!! Long story short. :-)
11:36 am
Hyatt,
Check out Psalm 49. Much of the same thought spoken there.
12:47 pm
Yep, so my story as well, Hyatt. Mine was the pursuit of what was inward via mind-altering drugs in the late 60’s. This futility was followed by the “clean life” and Transcendental Meditation. It was about chasing an ideology of sweeping out all that was negative/material/synthetic. Sadly, I discovered that this pursuit was like sweeping back the ocean with a broom! The more I cleaned house, the more I’d find distasteful. I then faced the CQE&D. Only God could make me clean, even “white as snow.” In July of ’71 that void was filled when I surrendered to the true Lover of my soul, and life has been brimming with meaning and fullness since. Even in the darkest and most adventurous of times, the Constant One has never left me.
2:03 pm
Wish I could say my wandering eyes stayed fixed on the Lord after we met. Wish I could, but like Solomon I can’t. Climbing up ladders to nowhere always end up reminding me of what I’m so darn prone to forget. God has provided everything I need for my present happiness. Believing that fact frees me from the need for things or people. God is more than enough.
5:58 pm
I think it is wonderful that God is so patient as we work to attain our earthly goals whilst He is waiting for us to realize that the heavenly goals are so much better and last forever! We just have to keep our eyes fixed on the eternal One for our lives to have meaning!
9:13 pm
Amen brother…..
9:20 pm
So, I guess I’m a fan. I’ve got way too much to read, but I keep reading your stuff. Good style, the content with some sort of mix of heart and head snags me every time. Another book, eh? Steer me to your others; I’m needing inspiration and a model for my own.
10:00 am
Yes, it resonates. :) I was reading Isaiah 30 today as well and, to me, it corresponds. Chasing our own way leads to ‘greener grass on the other side’ mentality and discontentment.
5:19 pm
I think we are partly attracted to “the preacher” of Eccl. not so much because he sees a metaphysical vacumn in the created world, but because of his success in that world. I think there might be some success-envy even while we are joining him in testifying that without God life cannot be fulfilling. Kind of like sociologists noting that extra trash barrels and expensive cast-offs put out on the street in Beverly Hills are part of conspicuous consumption and a mark of achievement.
8:12 pm
I have found deeper challenges in things that did not turn out as planned or hoped.