IMMERSED IN ECCLESIASTEST H E B O O K S O F T H E B I B L E cometogether to tell the overarching story ofGod, the world, and the way back to life and blessing after humanity’srebellion against the Creator. We don’t live in a world where everyonefollows the wisdom of God’s good ways. Many things have gone terriblywrong. Therefore our experience is a deep mystery: We know not onlycreation and life but also brokenness and death.There is one place in the Bible where this mystery is addressed headon: the book of Ecclesiastes. Here the author recognizes that thingsare more complex than the simple pattern generally found in Proverbs(if you do good, good things will happen to you). The more probingwisdom of Ecclesiastes acknowledges hard truths:What is wrong cannot be made right.What is missing cannot be recovered.This somber statement proclaims that life is inscrutable and unpredictable in many ways. Ecclesiastes looks at the experience of life as it isreally lived rather than trying to rationally explain everything. It relentlessly explores what actually happens “under the sun,” that is, in theworld as we know it.Ecclesiastes contains the reflections of a man known as the Teacher,traditionally associated with Solomon, who should be respected because he “was considered wise, and he taught the people everythinghe knew. He listened carefully to many proverbs, studying and classifying them.” The Teacher knows all about the helpful and compactwisdom sayings of the sages. Yet he is clearly frustrated by his experiences of life’s injustices, absurdities, and impermanence. The thing thatis so hard to find in our world is good and fulfilling meaning that lastsbeyond a lifetime, or even a moment.Often we find that significant portions of life are unfulfilling andsuperficial. The achievements and benefits of prolonged hard workcan be quickly lost by unforeseen disasters and the poor stewardshipof others. Even gaining wisdom itself doesn’t necessarily help us havesuccess in life. So what, then, is the point of it all?251
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