August 31, 2009
a bag of time
Ecclesiastes 6
Julie Neis
Central Truth
God is the one who brings meaning, satisfaction, and enjoyment to our lives. Be sure to live life on purpose, pursuing things that matter, before life passes you like a shadow.
Key Verse | Ecclesiastes 6:12
For no one knows what is best for a person during his life—
during the few days of his fleeting life—
for they pass away like a shadow.
(Ecclesiastes 6:12a)
Ecclesiastes 6
1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 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; 1 6:2 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a vapor or mere breath; also verses 4, 9, 11 (see note on 1:2) it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy 2 6:6 Or see no good—do not all go to the one place?
7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. 3 6:7 Hebrew filled 8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain 4 6:12 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a vapor or mere breath (see note on 1:2) life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?
Dive Deeper | Ecclesiastes 6
What a chipper chapter! Key words include: misfortune, fruitless, darkness, longing, futile, and chasing the wind. We're told about a man who is given wealth, possessions, and honor, but can't enjoy them. Such a man is worse off than a stillborn child even if he lives 2,000 years. Then, the chapter concludes with a little tidbit about the few meaningless days in our life that will pass us like a shadow. Not exactly a pick-me-up upon first glance.
But we have to look at this chapter in context with the rest of the Book of Ecclesiastes. The whole idea is that life "under the sun"—life lived the world's way, apart from God—is meaningless, vanity, and chasing after the wind. It is God who gives meaning, enjoyment, and fulfillment to life.
I have a coffee table book called Remembering to Live—a combination of photography and poems. One of the poems is called "As If I." It has a picture of a man in the middle of a street, and he's holding a bag that has a steady stream of sand quickly leaking out of it and collecting on the ground. The poem is a man talking to God, and it ends:
You handed me
A bag of time
With which to
Buy my own life.
As if I should know
What to do with it.
Think about that picture. That's what we're given, right? Time, leaking steadily out of the bag. What will you do with it? (See Mark 12:29-31 for what Jesus thinks is most important.)
As Ecclesiastes 6 points out, life does pass us like a shadow. Next to this verse in my Bible, I wrote, "Live life on purpose." I don't want to allow my life to pass me like a shadow, and I don't want to look back and call it vain and meaningless. If God gives meaning and satisfaction in life, what does that say about how I should be spending it? We are called to live life on purpose.
What are you doing with your bag of time?
Discussion Questions
1. Do you stop often to consider what you're doing with your life and whether you’re living life on purpose?
2. Are you investing in things that really matter—knowing and loving God and loving others? Or is your focus primarily on self—laboring for your appetite like verse 7 says? Consider what does satisfy the soul (God alone), and prioritize accordingly.
3. Will you look back at the end of your life and be thankful for what it was spent on?