Meditation of the Day  

“The end of the matter, when all is heard: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

This is the great conclusion of Solomon’s 12-chapter quest in the pursuit of the meaning of man’s existence.  Within the heart of every person exists a longing for meaning, a need for purpose.  And for eleven chapters, Solomon shows us the fruit of chasing the wind under the sun: “Vanity of vanities! Vanity of vanities! All is vanity! 

I love the book of Ecclesiastes, because it sums up the futility of a life lived without reference to God, and thus provides an excellent touch point when evangelizing unbelievers.  Every kind of person is dealt with in the book, and yet the conclusion of the matter is the exact same: “this too is meaningless” (NIV). 

Without God, everything is meaningless, says Solomon.  Wisdom is meaningless.  Pleasures are meaningless.  Folly is meaningless.  Toiling is meaningless.  Oppression is meaningless.  Advancement is meaningless.  Riches are meaningless. 

The sad thing is that most people spend their life trying to acquire these, never realizing the futility of such striving.  What’s the purpose, if we’re just going to die like animals right?  What good is pleasure after we’re gone?  All the money we’ve hoarded stays behind after we go.  Our wisdom can’t keep us from death. 

And so the author is plunged into despair.  Indeed, at one point, he says that the stillborn baby is better off, for he is able to avoid living a life a futility, a life of chasing after the wind.  

This is a sad commentary of the world we live in.  But the conclusion of Solomon’s experiment casts a gleaning ray of hope through the dismal clouds of despair and despondency.  There is a purpose in this life.  There is meaning.  

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  That is why we have been created, and why we exist; it is why we move and live and have our being.  We have been intricately knit together so that we might enjoy a thriving relationship with our Creator-King. 

When we live under mankind’s economy, hopelessness is inevitable.  But when we recognize that all of life – it’s joys and pains, blessings and dilemmas – is a gift from God, we begin to realize that life can actually make sense. 

What a world of difference there is between the beginning of Solomon’s inquiry and the end of his research.  Having heard everything, he has one conclusion, and one only: fear God and keep His commandments. 

The ultimate reason for this is in the last verse of the book: “For God will bring every deed to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or whether it is bad.” 

The greatest vanity that exists for the unbeliever is not that they have wasted their life.  It is that they have wasted their life and that they will have to reckon one day with their Creator and give an account of all their deeds.  It is true that after they die, and their bodies are rotten in the grave, that they will never again have a part of anything that happens under the sun (9:6).  But it is equally true that God will bring all men and women to judgment (11:9). 

May we, who have been saved from our futile way of life (1 Peter 1:18), tell others of the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15), namely Christ Jesus, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).  May we show them that there is a reason, a purpose, for existence, that they need not toil for 80 years and then die. 

God has created us to find our fulfillment in Him and Him alone.  It is only when we see Him aright that we begin to see ourselves and our purpose aright.  And it is only through Jesus Christ that we are able to see this light of the knowledge of the glory of God (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6), for He is the exact imprint of God Almighty (cf. Hebrews 1:2).

This is good news to a world full of hurt and emptiness.  Christ crucified is the answer and solutions to the longing of every human heart!  The life we now live as believers, we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20)!

Holy Spirit, enable us to have a greater reverence and awe for our Creator.  Enable us to keep His commandments, which always brings about sovereign blessing.  Let our lights so shine in this miserable world, so that others might want what we have, and ask us to explain to them the hope that is within us. 

In Christ, the satisfier of our yearning hearts,

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