August 25, 2022 – Ps 63, Pr 23, Ecc 2

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.
Ecclesiastes 2:1‭, ‬6 NIV

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:11 NIV

Is that not what we try to do all the time. Seeking pleasure out of things of this world. Contentment with what we have is difficult when we live in a time and place where there is always so much more that can be gained but even in gaining more and doing more it all proves to be meaningless.

So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.
Ecclesiastes 2:20‭-‬21 NIV

All that we think we are gaining here on this earth cannot go with us. In the end no matter what our station in life is we all end the same way. As the saying goes you can’t take it with you. Have you ever seen a child blow through the inheritance from their parents and be left with nothing. All their parents labor to leave something behind is meaningless. I have also heard of people who win the lottery who end up homeless. Why because they did not labor for it so it doesn’t have meaning to them.

A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
Ecclesiastes 2:24 NIV

All we can do is survive and be content. And be instruments in God’s hands.