Grace Without God?
The Book of Ecclesiastes
I have known several folks who had enough book learning to earn their doctorate degrees, and I can say this: each one will one day pass away. I have known men married to some of the most beautiful women in the world, and I can say this: each one will one day pass away. I have known captains of industry, CEO's and CFO's with more power than I have the ability to imagine, and I can say this: each one will one day pass away. I have known folks who I would consider rich beyond my wildest dreams, and I can say this: each one will one day pass away. What does all this mean? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. We do not need to primp in front of a mirror to be vain; vanity comes anytime we seek to find our reason for being in degrees or pleasure or power or riches. Vanity consists in believing that these things have any eternal significance of themselves, any lasting value of themselves. Of themselves, these things are visible and recognizable reminders that all is momentary and ultimately profitless. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity. Degrees and pleasure, power and riches are an illusion, a fraud, and their end is futility.
When we hear these words from the Ecclesiastes, the words that come to mind are words like cynical, negative, and depressing. And this is Scripture? Yes, it is. In fact, it is precisely because it is so cynical and yet Scripture that we must search for the context to Ecclesiastes. We have to believe that there must be something else in the book that makes it worthy of being God's Word. Cynical, negative and depressing alone do not cut it.
I believe the preacher in Ecclesiastes has discovered something about life that we all discover sooner or later; namely that life is messier than it first appears. The preacher of Ecclesiastes is no Norman Rockwell. Ideally, life should be a rather simple enterprise, especially life lived in a time of relative peace and prosperity. We should be able to go to school, get a job, get a promotion, buy some nice things, live a good life as we live the good life...and live happily ever after. This is often the picture of the world according to Rockwell. However, reality, otherwise known as the world according to Ecclesiastes, is far messier than this.
I am reminded of the way James Harriett begins one of his novels. Harriett is the author of All Creatures Great and Small and other semi-autobiographical novels on his life as a country veterinarian. In one of his books, Harriett confesses his hatred toward his vet school professors. It seems that the vet school professors would enter a warm, clean, sterile classroom in which could be found a mother cow about to give birth to her calf. The professor would stand in front of the class in his brilliant white lab coat and say to the cow, "Bring forth!" And the cow brought forth. Harriett says his hatred of his professor began the day he went out onto a farm when sub-zero temperatures and icy winds greeted him, his arm almost breaking with each contraction as he sought to turn a baby calf who was being delivered in a breach position. And Harriet thought to himself, "Bring forth...yeah, right!" Life gets messy. Ecclesiastes understands this fact quite well...and even seems to relish life's messiness. The book leaves us wondering what makes it worthy of being in Scripture.
One clue to its meaning may be found in the book's context. Often, when I am confused by a word of Scripture, I look for the circumstances in which and to which the word was originally spoken. Sometimes knowing the situation for which it was written opens up our understanding. The book of Ecclesiastes was written during a time of peace and prosperity. As is so often true wherever one goes around the world, the time of peace and prosperity in Israel was a time of overconfident wisdom, a time when people thought they knew all the answers of how to get ahead in life and stay ahead in life because there was military peace and economic prosperity. We can almost hear the Israelites say, "Everything is going along so well in society. Ours is such a land of opportunity. How could we possibly go wrong?"
Not only was Ecclesiastes written during a time of peace and prosperity, but it was used at a particular feast in the worship life of Israel: the Feast of Tabernacles. Every year the Israelite people would celebrate certain feasts and festivals to remember their spiritual and material blessing. The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated two things: the harvest, which is the natural bounty, and God's provisions to the people as they wandered the wilderness during the days of Moses, which is the supernatural bounty. Ecclesiastes was read at the end of the Feast, which is akin to having us read it at the end of our Christmas Eve service.
Now the questions for us as we seek to understand the cynical, negative, and depressing book of Ecclesiastes is this: why was such a cynical book written during a time of peace and prosperity? Why was such a negative book read during the most positive of feasts?
The answer to these questions is that the book of Ecclesiastes is a reminder, a warning, and a challenge. Ecclesiastes reminds us that the link must stay between God and God's blessings. Ecclesiastes warns of the grave dangers which come when we separate our blessings from the source of our blessings. Ecclesiastes challenges the naive assumption that one can have wisdom without God. The preacher knew that life sometimes gets messy and we need to trust God to take care of us because peace and prosperity are not always up to the task.
We live in a time when in much of our culture the blessings of God have been separated from God himself. For too many folks in our day, what we have been given has been divorced from the giver. Today we live in a world which will tells us wisdom can be gained without God. We watch commercials on T.V. that market pleasure without God. Many young people today grow up without a knowledge of God. I saw an episode of the show Jeopardy! recently in which they had the final round of the college students' championship. I watched the college champion choose the category, "Religion for $100." The answer was flashed on the screen, "What God gave Moses." I heard the college champion, (champion mind you), respond, "What is a boat?" I thought to myself, "No, that was Noah! Noah, flood, boat (and besides it was an ark.) Moses received the ten commandments." The not so subtle message of a society of peace and prosperity is too often that there can be grace without God.
The not so subtle message of Ecclesiastes stands against that part of our society that seeks to divorce the Giver from what has been given. The message of Ecclesiastes may not be as grace-full and hope-full as other portions of Scripture, yet it does give us a needed word. Ecclesiastes tells us to "stand in awe" of the One who created us. "Fear God" in all that we do. The message of the book is this: Remember that the ultimate vanity is to think we are the Supreme Being on this planet. We may be the highest step on the evolutionary link – and certainly above the animals – but there is One who is higher still: the Lord God. To forget this is conceit. Therefore, we must remember that the ultimate vanity is to avoid the development of a mature, personal relationship with a personal God through the Lord Jesus Christ. God calls us to translate what we see, hear and say in church into a personal confession of belief and personal commitment of our will. Jesus calls to us, as he called to the early disciples Peter, James, and John inviting us to translate the words "I think this is what God is like" into a lifestyle of disciplined following of the Master through Scripture reading, prayer, worship of God and service to others.
An anonymous author has described the essence of Ecclesiastes in a poem
that reads:
I had walked life's way with an easy tread. Had followed where comforts and pleasures led. Until one day in a quiet place, I met the Master face to face.
With station and rank, and wealth for my goal, much thought for my body, but none for my soul, I had entered to win life's great race, when I met the Master face to face.
I met him and knew him and blushed to see, that his eyes full of sorrow were fixed on me. I faltered and fell at his feet that day, while my castles all vanished and melted away.
My thoughts are now for the souls of you, I had lost my life but have found it anew. E'er since that day in a quiet place, when I met the Master face to face.