Ecclesiastes Chapter 6 - Read Chapter 6
In this section Solomon shows that having the right attitude about God can help us deal with present injustices. Prosperity is not always good and adversity is not always bad. But God is always good, and if we live as He wants us to, we will experience contentment. *** Contentment is more satisfying than wealth.***
Many people work hard to prolong this life and improve their physical condition (better diet, proper exercise, excellent health care). Yet people don't spend nearly as much time or effort on their spiritual health. How shortsighted it is to work hard to extend this life and not work equally hard to secure eternal life.
Verses 1-6. A man often has all he needs for outward enjoyment; yet the Lord leaves him so to covetousness or evil dispositions, that he makes no good or comfortable use of what he has. By one means or other his possessions come to strangers; this is vanity, and an evil disease. A numerous family was a matter of fond desire and of high honor among the Hebrews; and long life is the desire of mankind in general. Even with these additions a man may not be able to enjoy his riches, family, and life. Such a man, in his passage through life, seems to have been born for no end or use. And he who has entered on life only for one moment, to quit it the next, has a preferable lot to him who has lived long, but only to suffer.
Verses 7-12. A little will serve to sustain us comfortably, and a great deal can do no more. The desires of the soul find nothing in the wealth of the world to give satisfaction. The poor man has comfort as well as the richest, and is under no real disadvantage. We cannot say, Better is the sight of the eyes than the resting of the soul in God; for it is better to live by faith in things to come, than to live by sense, which dwells only upon present things. Our lot is appointed. We have what pleases God, and let that please us. The greatest possessions and honors cannot set us above the common events of human life. Seeing that the things men pursue on earth increase vanities, what is man the better for his worldly devices? Our life upon earth is to be reckoned by days. It is fleeting and uncertain, and with little in it to be fond of, or to be depended on. Let us return to God, trust in His mercy through Jesus Christ, and submit to His will. Then soon shall we glide through this vexatious world, and find ourselves in that happy place, where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
Verse 10. In this verse, fate is best understood as "God's providence." God is in control over our lives, even though at times it may not seem like it. As created beings, how foolish it is for us to argue with our Creator, who knows us completely and can see the future.
Verse 12. Solomon is stating the profound truth that we do not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future. He ends with a rhetorical question--the answer to which is God! No human knows the future, so each day must be lived for its own value. Solomon is arguing against the notion that man can take charge of his own destiny. In all our plans we should look up to God, not just ahead to the future.
Don't put anything before God. Accept His perfect will.
We were born with nothing. One day we will die and leave everything. And God has given us everything we have. If he takes things away from us now, why would we argue? He gave them to us. Thinking that we should hoard what we have or keep it all until death is not good or true. God wants us to love others by giving.
Job 1:21 reads, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."
The rich man can eat only three meals a day, he can sleep on only one bed at a time, and he cannot live longer than the poor man--no matter how many doctors he may have--and he takes nothing with him when he leaves. Job was a rich man, and he said that he had come here with nothing and he was going out the same way. It is rather empty to give one's life to the pursuit of things that do not bring happiness here and have no eternal value. Unfortunately, some people spend their lives in this kind of an emptiness.
Doing God's will is more important than gaining goods. That was another word that Jesus gave to take us beyond the frustration of the quest for wealth. His story of the man who acquired vast lands and built huge barns is painfully clear. God sabotaged his plans and rebuked him for them: "'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:20-21).
"Rich toward God"--what an apt description of the direction God want us to head. We do not jump up and down in front of life's marble machines, or stay glued to the television for the lottery spins, greedy for instant gain. We gratefully receive what we have and then put it to God's purposes: our modest enjoyment and his faithful service.
On one occasion Peter and the other disciples wondered whether their sacrifice of leaving jobs and homes to go with Jesus would be recognized.
Mark 10:29, 30 reads, "Jesus . . .said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life'."
Talk about investments--one hundredfold Jesus promised, and at no risk except persecution. For God Himself is the Guarantor of the returns. And talk about wealth! Life's marble machines that promise instant gain are exposed as tawdry toys in the face of the profit Jesus promised--eternal life. It is His grace, not our gain, that leads us beyond the frustrations of earthly wealth to the riches that bring full satisfaction: the riches of fellowship with God now and forever.