The Solomon Project--Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

This week we come to one of the meanings in this meaningless life that Solomon talks about. Solomon has been talking about the meaningless of life and its pursuits. Now he tells us how to go about that. Verse 2:24 reads:
A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, (Ecc 2:24 NIV). Solomon is not saying that all the other things are not good. They don['t provide this. Satisfaction. Eating and drinking perhaps signify living the daily work of sustaining oneself. Being satisfied with ones work is an elusive thing. In one survey 47 percent of the people said they were satisfied with their occupation. Clergy were the highest at 87 percent. Interestingly 67 percent of psychologists said they were satisfied with their occupation.

Solomon says this is a sovereign gift from God. Any why not? This was the original design according to the Genesis narrative. Man was given the task of keeping the garden and subduing the earth. It was man's original design. It is a gift from God. We all find fulfillment in giving ourselves to a task greater than ourselves.

Verse 25 reads:
for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? (Ecc 2:25 NIV) Solomon brings us to one of the first answers to the meaningless of life. God. Some of you reading this may think of other persons, personalities, beings in this concept but Solomon says that there is a being greater than ourselves that gives meaning to life. Step two in the Twelve steps reads "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Solomon says that this is the God who gives meaning to life.

Verse 26 reads:
To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecc 2:26 NIV) This is a lynch pin to the previous section Solomon is tying the two sections together with the thought of laying up riches to be transferred to those who please God. The latent thought then is one ought to be one who pleases God. For he will reap wealth. Is this a promise? No that as some would have us believe. The reality of life tells us that the righteous suffer and fail also. It is a general principle. How is one pleasing to God. Solomon will tell us in upcoming parts of the book through proverbs how this takes place. But here he has introduced a significant concept. Satisfaction in life comes from pleasing God. God gives to that person not only satisfaction with his work but wisdom, knowledge and happiness. Living wisely, righteously, or however you want to phrase it has to do with a life of recovery from addiction. As addicts we learn how to live differently. Step twelve says "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, (or any other addict) and to practice these principles in all our affairs." We turn our lives over to the care of God and improve conscious contact with Him. We live by the principles of the Twelve Steps. We make amends and continue to do so. I think of this in terms of manging consequences. We can't skirt consequences. We can't deny them we can't medicate them away. We go through them. All the while praying for guidance from God (the wisdom and knowledge mentioned above). I think it was either Pia Melody or Claudia Black that said: "You choose your behaviors, the world chooses your consequences." Here Solomon presents the first positive outlook in the book. Pleasing God brings satisfaction, wisdom, knowledge and joy. Our time is up for this week. So until next week "Keep coming back it works if you work it and you're worth it!"