“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)
This week, our church basement flooded after we received 6-7 inches of rain in the course of a couple hours. The creek behind the church rose into the parking lot, ran down our basement stairwell, and put the entire basement two inches under water.
As we toiled with buckets in hand, one of the guys asked me: “Isn’t this the time for you to share some deep spiritual wisdom?” My response: “Well, I just read some of Ecclesiastes this morning!”
In both Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 and 3:12-14, Solomon declares that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their food, drink, and, yes, even their toil. There is satisfaction to be found in enjoying a well-made meal, a tasty cup of coffee (something even Solomon never got to enjoy!), and doing hard work–whether that is your nine-to-five job, a labor-intensive hobby, or bailing water out of a basement.
And yet, Solomon has also just remarked that when he looked at his toil under the sun, he hated it (Eccl 2:18)! Why? Because whatever he gained from it, he would eventually have to leave to someone else. He found this absurd, vanity, meaningless. Why work hard when whatever you gain doesn’t last or will be passed on to a fool?
If you look to work to get you things you think will make you happy, you will always be let down in the end. You will come to hate your toil. But if you look for the simple satisfaction of hard work done well, you will find a much better way to live under the sun. It is not always fun. But it is a gift from God (Eccl 3:13).
Life under the sun (i.e., life in this present fallen world) often seems absurd and meaningless. You replace carpet one week and a couple weeks later the basement floods again. You wash dishes only to dirty them again. The work doesn’t stop and sometimes it seems like it is for nothing. But when we take stock of our brief lives here on earth and remember what really matters, we can find enjoyment from God even in the toil.
Solomon also goes on to add that “whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him,” (Eccl 3:14). Our work will fade. Our greatest accomplishments and richest achievements will pass from memory. But God’s works last forever so that we might come to know and worship him.
We can enjoy the satisfaction of hard work done well even though we know our work won’t last because we know, worship, trust, and love the God whose works last forever.
Theology and Technology 