Is death the end of everything we work under the sun? King Solomon in his book of Ecclesiastes says “It all makes no sense, a chase of the wind”. Apparently an image of despair! If this is real, why fight and work too hard in life only to join the dead and leave all the things we have worked for under the sun, be it for a wise man or a fool?
Chapters 8 and 9 of Ecclesiastes tell us about the injustice of life. Many good people don’t get what they deserve. Some righteous people suffer while the wicked prosper.
Furthermore, King Solomon states in chapter 5:18 that “It is good and proper for man to eat and drink, and find satisfaction in his hard work under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him, because this is his lot”. Although he admits that these good things are gifts from God, he also admits that they have a temporal value and nothing can give the maximum satisfaction.
The book of Ecclesiastes conveys a message of hope to despair, injustice and the meaninglessness of life because death is not the end of everything. King Solomon said in chapter 3:11 “God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also put eternity in the hearts of men …” On the subject of the injustice of life, the New Testament authors strongly believe in life after death and have no doubt that God will definitely judge all people fairly.
I remember my old coworker always saying “life is not fair” every time we encountered an unfavorable situation in our workplace, but I didn’t take it seriously. However, facing the very difficult times in my life, I would say that in fact life is not fair, that everything I have worked for is in vain. But having the blessed thought that God is near and will one day take me home to heaven prompts me to hold on and be still even in my deepest moment. He knows everything about me: my thoughts, the words I say, the frown or smile on my face, the worry that marks my face, and the dull care and despair. He is near, He is my hope, my comfort and my HELPER. He has promised “I will never leave you, nor forsake you“.
King Solomon became great for his incomparable wisdom in human history, but he surrendered to the truth that some things are beyond human comprehension. Ended up saying “As you do not know the way of the wind, nor how the body is formed in the womb of a mother, neither can you understand the work of God, the Maker of all things (Chapter 11: 5). “In his inability to fathom life, he gave a simple advice to ‘fear God and obey him no matter what situation we find ourselves in.” He summed up the very lesson of Ecclesiastes in two lines by saying “Fear God and his commandments, for this is the entire duty of man. For God will judge every work, even everything hidden, whether good or bad. (Chapter 12: 13-14) “In simple terms, it teaches that we live a life of faith.
Receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior allows us to experience the joy of salvation because He alone is the ultimate source of satisfaction. It is true that life is not an easy journey, who says? But it can be a meaningful and happy journey into the afterlife if we travel together with our creator and savior. Proverbs 11:28 says “A life dedicated to things is a dead life, a stump; a life in the form of God is a flowering tree.”
God is the very reason for our existence. Apart from Him and without Him we are nothing. Living a life for others and above all for God and with God makes everything we work under the sun “MEANINGFUL, not a chase from the wind.”