On Sundays at the moment Scott is teaching through the book of Ecclesiastes. This is an often overlooked book, perhaps in part because it is deeply philosophical and easily misconstrued as dark and depressing. Solomon is infact deconstucting all the foolish ways that humans think about meaning, value and purpose. Ultimately true meaning in life is found in God, and him alone. These verses impacted me today:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. 5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 6 A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. 9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labour, for these are gifts from God. (Emphasis added)
God brings beauty out of all seasons in our lives and all the things we go through, no matter how dark or difficult. There is much to be said for finding joy in the fruit of our labour, for this is a gift from God. Where are we finding our joy, our purpose, our hope, our meaning in life? It’s vanity to find these anywhere but in God.