June 14, 2010
Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Everything is meaningless”, says the teacher, “completely meaningless.”
Wow what an opening line. Sure makes me want to jump into this book and explore its depths! Welcome back frog blog readers. I’ve enjoyed my time away, but missed the discipline and intention that it forces upon me. In response to a couple suggestions I’ve decided to explore Ecclesiastes. It is one of my favorite books. Maybe I identify with Solomon’s depression, maybe with his resignation that life sucks, maybe I just find myself often in his words/thoughts/truth.
This book opens with one of the most depressing, hopeless statements in all of scripture. Is everything truly meaningless? If so, we might understand Solomon’s intent to then wrangle some sense out of living, by exploring alternative endings and beginnings. But if it is not meaningless, why does he write such? Some have speculated that Solomon wrote this toward the end of his life, and may have been suffering the beginning stages of dementia. I don’t know those facts, and so am left with dealing with the meaning of its words at face valve.
There are two key words missing from this book, which in my opinion will explain the book, not completely, but far better than we get at face value. I’ll share those words in a later post. For now, I want to wrestle with this first verse: is everything truly meaningless? If so, then why do we put so much effort in the living of our lives? Why not just resign ourselves to the fact that fate, or the stars, or random chance determine our existence; and live our lives in any fashion we choose? I believe many have chosen this explanation for their living. Many in our world today live subsistence lives moving from one thrill to the next, from one paycheck to the next, from one day to the next without giving much thought to any other option. And most unfortunately, they have ignored or intentionally disregarded the church and faith as providing any substantive alternative or answer. How sad.
Over the next few weeks these posts will be a bit more random than usual, because of my more random schedule, but I look forward to spending this time with you and with Solomon, as we wrestle with the meaning of life! Welcome back.