Vanity of Vanity, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
REALITY CHECK 1: THE EARTH IS GROANING, AND SO ARE WE
A Buddhist man in Thailand opened a creative coffee shop called the Bangkok Death Café. For a mere five bucks, a patron can purchase a coffee and then lie down in one of the many authentic coffins situated in the shop. Each may choose to rest inside the selected coffin for as long as thirty minutes—with or without the lid closed over them. Why had the proprietor come up with this unique business model? He hopes that young people will live differently when they contemplate the brevity of life by contemplating death. Maybe they’d treat others kindlier, spend their time differently, stop putting off a goal, or determine to kick a destructive habit.
Interestingly, I recently met someone who keeps a coffin in the back of his home and explained he laid in it each morning for similar reasons. As extreme as it sounds to lie in a coffin regularly, there is value in considering our death, and sometimes an odd, physical presence causes us to take the time to do just that. Today, our world experiences a global pandemic together. All we have to do is turn on our local news station to hear about the daily death toll. We fear for the lives of our beloved elders, and we are in awe of doctors and nurses who face the death of patients in ways many say they have never before experienced.
When any of us face the fragility and brevity of life, we are forced to struggle with anguish, grief, discontent, and injustice. Many seek the answers to life, turning to God for peace and hoping He will reveal any purpose of this trial. Sometimes God answers. He reveals Himself to us while remaining mysterious and quiet.
Enter the Book of Ecclesiastes.
It is considered the Old Testament book of joy, but before we can uncover true meaning and contentment, the author first takes us through the muck of life. Its key idea lies in chapter one, verse two, “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”
While Proverbs emphasizes being a good man or woman and loving God and seeking wisdom equals a good life, Ecclesiastes teaches us being a good human being and seeking God’s heart still equates to that good man or woman eventually dying. I see it this way: it’s like those cute t-shirts that say “Life is Good” on the front. It is good, so good. But I would add “Life Sucks” to the back of the same shirt. Wear it and keep turning it around each day. Life is good, and life sucks. Life sucks, and life is good. Sometimes I could turn that shirt around and around all day. How about you? Both declarations are true for every one of us on this planet.
Until we grasp the co-existence of both good and ugly, we will walk confused and discontented in our daily lives. We’re left to wonder why everyone else’s life looks so good, while ours seems so empty. No, everyone experiences emptiness. Everything is meaningless. Solomon wants us to understand.
“I carefully explored: Even though the actions of godly and wise people are in God’s hands, no one knows whether God will show them favor.” (Ecclesiastes 9:1, NLT) That puts the prosperity gospel to rest. We cannot make sense of any formula God uses to bless an individual through a charmed life or a life of suffering.
The writer of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, is filled with humanity. We have frailty in common with him, and we are invited to figure out how to manage our lives under the sun. Life on this damaged planet earth. Referring to himself as the teacher of the assembly, Solomon does not try explaining our state away with pat answers. He validates our questions and weary despair. Inviting us to shelve our quick and easy answers to pain and disillusionment, to take off our religious masks, and be honest about ourselves in this broken world.
Let’s Read Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 NLT.
These are the words of the Teacher,[ King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem.
2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”
3 What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. 6 The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. 7 Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. 8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. (we can’t find satisfaction)
History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. 10 Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. 11 We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.
The phrase “nothing is new” means we can’t add anything to change the human condition – not even our own. Tim Keller states, “I am the problem. I cannot save myself.” We will work hard to understand and improve our lives, make wonderful discoveries, but we still wither and die. It is the common, inescapable conclusion for each of us.
Chuck Swindoll refers to Solomon like a man in mid-life crisis sitting in his rocking chair on his front porch contemplating his life. Solomon had everything: riches, relationship, fame and prestige, access to books, and vast learning. He was wise beyond others. Yet he stops to assess it all and states it all fleeting, futile. Let’s take a walk with this spiritual mentor and learn more from him.
THE EARTH IS GROANING AND SO ARE WE
The Garden of Eden was a beautiful place to live. Genesis 3 says, “It was very good.” It was a place to enjoy outlandish beauty and true communion with God until sin entered the world through Adam and Eve.
Since then, fallen and cursed from God’s ideal, both the earth and mankind toil at living in this damaged world, where even hearing from God can be a struggle. When we think we don’t hear from him, we make our own way and then suffer the consequences of doing so: disease, injustice, loneliness, self-indulgence, and shame.
We discover the truth. Everything is futile.
All things are weary, empty, a delusion, a mere breath. Even good things like relationships, sex, and work bring limited satisfaction. The bottom line is, rather than chasing these things as if they will complete the emptiness within us, we must view them for what they are, transitory pleasures, with all their limitations.
Paul references the message of Ecclesiastes indirectly in Romans 8:22-23 “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
We aren’t particularly good at waiting, let alone waiting for the day we see our Father face to face. Waiting requires being still. And when we feel the ache of discouragement and emptiness, the last thing we want to do is wait. Instead, we let our hunger to be filled direct us to reach for meaning in places and with things that cannot satisfy. We may try to feast on blatantly empty things like food, or get our fill on more relationships, or success, or activities. We are filled for a moment, but then we want more. We look to our friends and family to fill the relationship ache. Good friends may try to carry our burdens with us, but they can’t fully understand heartaches that are as unique as you and I. People fail us. People leave us. And people die. The older we get, the hungrier we become to grasp all of life’s futility. Our craving is misdirected. We need Someone else to fill that void.
C.S. Lewis said in his book, A Grief Observed, “It doesn’t really matter whether you grip the arms of the dentist’s chair or let your hands lie in your lap, the drill drills on.”
Oh, just the sound of the drill makes me want to run! Many of us want to get to the end of this book as soon as we begin it. Get to the highlight! The happy takeaway. Yes, Yes! I feel the pain, now let’s finish up in a hurry, wrap it up, and tie it with a pretty bow. Instead, Solomon wants us first to keep puzzling over the concept of emptiness.
I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.
What is wrong cannot be made right.
What is missing cannot be recovered.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-15
An Invitation
I invite you, as does Solomon, to sit and examine and feel the futility before you peek at the climax of the book. You won’t need to lay in a coffin just yet, Solomon has other ways to unlock a fresh perspective of this life. Discovering the value in lamenting this fleeting life is like sifting for gold. You have to do some dirty work sifting through mud and rubble before you find the gold nuggets.
Consider these pain points; they will bring us to a more realistic view of broken lives on this broken earth.
- We are quick to cover our pains and stuff them down, yet we will find freedom in looking at our pains through the lens of Ecclesiastes.
- When we refrain from offering quick, pat answers, and when we grow comfortable with our children’s or our friend’s questions about God’s silence in their pain, we will be able to model how to acknowledge those questions and wrestle with God. We can invite Him into our empty places.
- When we learn how to face this broken world beside the One who bore our grief and shame, we no longer need to develop an escape from this life, either daily, or eternally.
This is good news, friends! God reveals Himself as we honestly look at what has become of us. I’m not talking about belly-button gazing, but finally mourning the futility of our lives. And that mindset will FREE YOU of the expectations of this life! Come with me. Let’s walk together with Solomon through this series from the wisdom book of Ecclesiastes. In facing the emptiness of this life, we recognize the ache in the pit of our hearts is a craving to know and experience God as He is.
Questions to Ponder
- What ways and habits have I developed in order to escape from the emptiness and disappointment of life?
- What value comes from recognizing everything is meaningless and nothing satisfies? Read Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
- Our dissatisfaction is meant to point us to Christ. How can I begin to invite God to fill the aches of my heart? Read Paul’s prayer for you in Ephesians 3:14-19. Now talk to Jesus about your desire to fully know Him and experience His love.
I hope you will join me for a second reality from the book of Ecclesiastes, and flip your perspective to experience Christ-formed joy! Be sure to enter your email address today.