Ecclesiastes 6: What are you building?

 

God created us for enjoyment through Him. There's no possible way to enjoy your efforts after you’ve passed. Solomon hits on this theme the same way he always does, by reminding us that ideas rooted in self are vain and foolish.

Ultimately we work for the next generation and in some cases a complete stranger. A lot of people build their own homes. Some are basic one room cabins in the woods with a wood burning stove and a shack to store goods. Other’s build elaborate 2 and 3 story mansions with multiple rooms, garages and a pool. Depending on the project it can take years or decades to complete.

What’s wrong with that anyway? Either you need the space or you don’t, but if you can afford a nice 7 room home go ahead and build it. Does the builder of the ancient temple really take no pride in the process and lasting impression?

He is talking about a soul level satisfaction that we often start out trying to fill, but end up empty. He means that part of us that pulls deep meaning from our work and legacy. The person who labors to create won’t be fulfilled by the effort required to produce.

Listen to the guy who spent his life building, gaining and possessing.

“There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity;[a] it is a grievous evil.” (1-2)

The building doesn’t have to be a house for your family, it’s larger idea than that. We all leave an imprint on our world. From professional athletes to bus drivers, everyone builds a legacy through what they create and how they interact with others. I’m reading a biography of Thomas Edison right now. He averaged a patent for every 10 to 12 days he was alive. He changed so much of modern life by producing and creating that’s it’s not enough to say he worked hard, he lived to work. His legacy is all around us whether electrical or mechanical.

I’ve no doubt Edison enjoyed his work and the success it brought. But it didn’t bring ultimate fulfilment of the kind Solomon is describing. The same way that his phonograph could never play movies. It was designed for music. We can enjoy our work and even benefit from improved designs of the telegraph and the light bulb, but our soul is only filled through “goodness”. By goodness Solomon means Godly living for our fellow man. 

 Why does Solomon call enjoyment a “grievous evil”? Because there is a lie tied up in every patent or invention or grand design we call progress. It’s the idea of ultimate fulfillment of the soul--that human achievements are akin to godliness and the authors’ of achievements, demigods. Human beings benefit from Thomas Edison’s labor and celebrate his life and genius. But what does the adulation mean for a soul that no longer exists? How does he benefit directly?

“All the toil of man is for his mouth, but his appetite is not satisfied” (7)

 Appetites are carnal, rooted in fleshly desires. Nothing is wrong with working to stay alive. But work and legacy will never take the place of God who created us to be made complete in Him. For everything I can tell about Edison it seems like he didn’t believe in God. As a man of science and experimentation, he struggled to grasp the nature of the Divine. But not because he wasn’t intelligent, only because he didn’t bother to.

I don’t know how he missed Him. All of creation speaks to the intricate design of the Creator, but if you don’t look you can’t see it. Edison and so many in his day, never looked. I never knew the beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park until I went there and hiked the trails. I’d been hiking before. I’d been to Colorado before. But I couldn’t imagine how majestic it all was because I didn’t bother to visit. I didn’t even know such a place existed.

Too many people don’t know the goodness and person of God because they never look for Him. Like Edison they’re buried in their own work, hoping to find fulfillment. They’ll find a level of worth and enjoyment in creating legacy. In time they’ll even get to enjoy some of rewards of their efforts. But then what? King Solomon reminds us that seeking to be complete only leaves us with an empty hole.  

^“For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?”(12)

In other words live for something other than the emptiness of work and legacy because it’s not enough. We can’t change our design. It’s a short season so don’t waste it on vain pursuits. They won’t benefit you in the next age. Only God can do that.