Read ECCLESIASTES 2:17–26

An article in New York magazine reports: “Ever since the 1930s, young people in America have reported feeling increasingly anxious and depressed.” Symptoms include trouble remembering or concentrating, not sleeping well, and dizzy spells or headaches. One researcher believes a main cause is the isolation of modern life; that is, we have less meaningful work and family relationships than people did in the past.

In all eras of human history, as Ecclesi- astes observes, work is meaningless anxiety apart from God. Since one must work to live, work and life are seen as equivalent in today’s reading. “Under the sun,” they are both “chasing after the wind” (v. 17)—or as we might say, as pointless as a dog chasing its own tail.

The fundamental reason is that you can’t take it with you (vv. 18–19). Whatever one gathers or achieves through work must be left to the next generation—who might or might not deserve it, and who might use it wisely or squander it (see Ps. 39:6; Eccl. 4:8; Luke 12:13–21). In either case, it’s beyond the control of the one who did the work. Skill and effort seem to be emptied of their meaning. This leads to a feeling of despair; labor seems meaningless and futile.

“Under the sun,” work has no real purpose (vv. 20–23). It’s all “anxious striving,” grief, random chance, and restless nights. But there is another perspective, one “above the sun” (vv. 24–26). If we understand that our work comes from the hand of God, we understand that any satisfaction or lasting value from it is also in His hands. The full perspective on this emerges or unfolds in the rest of Ecclesiastes. For today, we highlight the important truth that faith instead of worry treats all things as coming from and held within the hand of God.

APPLY THE WORD

Solomon’s observations about work aren’t surprising in light of Genesis 3:17–19. There we learn that the Fall and sin marred what God meant work to be. If you have some extra time, read Genesis 1 and 2 with this issue in mind. What did God intend for “work” to be in Eden? How might it be redeemed for us as followers of Christ?

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