"Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher, "utterly meaningless!"
What do people get for all their hard work?
Generations come and go, but nothing really changes.
The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again.
The wind blows south and north, here and there, twisting back and forth, getting nowhere.
The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea.
Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
Being told everything is meaningless is not always the way to start off your day, but today it was what I needed. I have been pondering and complemating what I will do after I finish University this November, but I realize that is all meaningless... the worrying is meaningless, but also what I do is meaningless if it is merely to achieve my own goals and my own aims.
I really would love to save money, but if I work towards saving money just in order to do make possible what I want to do, then before long I will be feeling just like the author of Ecclesiastes. After so long doing his own thing, working so hard but not considering eternity or his Creator, he was full of dispair. He felt like everything that he had done in life was meaningless he felt like life itself had become meaningless. If I worked all year when its not where God wants me to be, and I continued in vain to speed up the process, or to take out some of the "uncertainty factor" of having to rely on God to provide, then I find myself saying "Everything is so weary and tiresome!"
As much as I want want to get into a rhythm, a pattern, a cycle just like "The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again." I realize that God has called me to more than that, that he has a life full of meaning, a life full of challenges, and a life having my expectations blown away.
In the final chapters of Ecclesiastes the wise old teacher, who has lived his life now with some regrets passing away too many days with no consideration of his Creator he urges others not make the same mistake. Don't waste away the prime time God has for you to fulfill his awesome will for you.
Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don't wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.
...Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person.
God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.
