Toil Is Meaningless

(Ecclesiastes 2:17-25)

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. 24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

In the course of our lives and education it's likely that we have all taken any number of personality tests or talent assessments. Perhaps one of my favorites and one that I consider particularly insightful and useful is Tom Rath's StrengthsFinder. Upon completing the questionnaire, it said that one of my top strengths was “achiever.” I only had to read a couple sentences into the provided synopsis to start nodding my head in agreement—this described my mentality exactly! Someone with the achiever function is internally compelled to accomplish something each day in order to have a sense of self-fulfillment. It doesn't necessarily need to be something monumental, just something to throw yourself into and check off as completed because the next day starts all over at zero once again. Now whether or not you are personally driven to accomplish something with your day or your life, King Solomon reminds us that of itself and on its own toil is empty and a chasing after the wind.

He observes that a person may work with all their might, but when the time comes for them to depart this life, the result of their sweaty striving is left behind and falls into the lap of another, who hasn't lifted a finger to make it happen. Moreover, depending on whether your heir is wise or foolish, they may totally ruin or waste what you’ve bequeathed to them. Tradition says that Solomon composed Ecclesiastes in the close of his life. As his end drew near, he was undoubtedly well aware of his son Rehoboam's lack of character. After Solomon's death Rehoboam would commit one of the biggest political blunders of all time by telling the Israelites that he would tax and oppress them even more than his father had. Needless to say, that campaign promise didn't go over well with the populace and the northern half of Israel said “goodbye” to the Davidic monarchy and went their own way, crowning Jeroboam king instead (cf. 1 Kings 12).

Yet even as Solomon laments that all of our labor gets left behind, he does leave the door open for contentment that comes as a gift of God, “for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” You see satisfaction is never found purely in the thing done—no matter how grand or glorious it is. How many pro athletes, CEOs, and Hollywood icons have reached the pinnacle of their profession only to decry that it STILL wasn’t enough, that they STILL felt unfulfilled and needed more?! That’s because contentment is an attitude of the heart that one ALREADY HAS, which then leads to finding satisfaction in the thing done. In order for you or me to be content with anything, our hearts and souls must first be full and satisfied with God our Savior, and what he has already done for us.

One chapter later Solomon will revisit the meaninglessness of toil but there he will chose to focus instead on the eternal things that God does. He writes, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. …I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him” (3:11,14). Unlike you or I, who work only to have our endeavors fall apart or be left behind, the things that the timeless, always-living God does last forever for they are always integrated into his eternal plan of saving as many sinners as possible through the redemption by Christ Jesus. We cannot fathom God's grand design for this world begun at the first moment of creation and lasting until Jesus comes again on the clouds. Then this whole material and spiritual existence that God has initiated and sustained and guided will be brought to a close, and “the [great] mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced through his servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:7).

Connected to God through faith in Jesus Christ you and I can find great comfort and contentment in knowing that not only our salvation but even our day-by-day efforts to live and love and serve and glorify God and make him known in all that we do and say are part of his eternal plan. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world through whom God’s Spirit works so that his name is praised (Matt. 5:13-16; Eph. 3:14-21). While heaven is equally ours as a free gift of faith, our deeds will also follow us and be rewarded in eternity (Matthew 25:21; Rev. 14:13; 22:12). That gives new depth and infinite meaning to what looks like our dull, mundane, and meaningless toil under the sun.

For your self-reflection:

1.) God has a sense of humor. As I prepared for this devotion on the meaninglessness of toil this week, my garden was accidentally sprayed with weedkiller, and I had to pull up the old plants and start all over. Recall a time when you tried and invested in a project only to have it come to nothing. How did you react at the time? In retrospect, what did it teach you?

2.) Explain how the even the smallest acts of service that we perform in faith last into eternity.

Prayer: Lord God, help me to consider all my labors, big and small, as expressions of faithful service to you and others in response for your free salvation given me in Christ Jesus, my Savior. Then, whatever the earthly outcome may be, I can be content knowing that my efforts are tied to your eternity. Amen.