The Solomon Project: Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

This is a blog which looks at the Book of Ecclesiastes from the standpoint of people who suffer from addiction and compulsion. This blog is designed to be applicable to all walks of life.

This week we bring this section to a close. We have been focusing on the negative or vaporous aspects of life. Solomon once again sets forth what the contrast can be for those who live "under the sun" God is able to grant enjoyment. Verse 5:18 says: "Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him--for this is his lot." (Eccl. 5:18 NIV) Solomon says that it is good to find satisfaction in what we do and in the food we eat. In the time when this was written the tie from what you produced and what you ate and drank was much closer than it is today. Eating and drinking was much more closely connected than it is today. There were no huge supermarkets as there are today. This is man's lot in life. Something that is given.

Verse 19 continues: "Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is a gift of God." (Eccl 5:19 NIV) This is a continuance of the thought before. Man's lot is to find satisfaction in his labor which he uses to keep himself alive. But when God gives any man other things, which at that time, would have signaled God's blessing, he also gives with those the gift of enjoyment. Just as the material possessions are physical, God gives man an emotional or psychological gift of enjoyment This enables him to accept his lot (from verse 18) This truly is a gift.

Verse 20 culminates the thought: "He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart (Eccl. 5:20 NIV) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet captured the essence of these statements when he said, "Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear. This verse basically says enjoy life so much that you don't focus on the miserableness of things wealth, possessions and the control of life's circumstances. You don't control them, they could be gone in a moment. Seize the one gift God has given to men--The ability to enjoy labor and the things God has given men.

My daughter's boyfriend has been here this weekend. What a joyous time we all have together. We ate different kinds of food and enjoyed (well sort of) trying some new ones. He and I sat out on our deck watching fireflies last night. I think that is truly enjoying God's gift to us.

Addictive and compulsive people many times aren't able to experience God's gift to mankind-- gladness of heart and enjoyment of labor. The addict many times has a sense of entitlement. Whatever he has he should have had in the first place so why should he see it as a gift. The perspective is skewed. Everything we have is a gift. We come from the womb with nothing and we leave with nothing. (5:15). Resources are a gift from God but the addict or compulsive person applies them to the carrying out of addictive and compulsive behaviors. I like the illustration of holding with an open hand those things that God has given you. The problem is that many times we have grasped onto them too tightly as if we have grasped an electrical line. The electrical current paralyses the hand making it incapable momentarily to release. The focus in both of these instances is on the things and the paralyzation, not the gift

Today I urge those who read this to change your perspective: Life's labor and the food we eat and the ability to enjoy it are a gift from God. Accept the gift. Live life today in this present moment as Longfellow says "wisely improve the present."

I was brought up short by a statement by one of my brothers on this journey the other day, which had to do with laughter. There certainly can be laughter in life. Many times we laugh at the circumstances we have come out of only so that we don't have to cry. Recovery does have to it a "deadly earnestness," all laughter aside. I recommit and redouble my efforts to that course of life today.

Our time is up for today, keep coming back it works if you work it and you are worth it.