“All the labor of man is for his mouth,
And yet the soul is not satisfied.” ~ Ecclesiastes 6:7
And yet the soul is not satisfied.” ~ Ecclesiastes 6:7
Ecclesiastes is a great tear-down book. It consists of twelve chapters that focus almost exclusively on how futile, empty, and unsatisfying this life is. For example - the verse above. All man's life he labors just to stay alive, and yet living does not satiate the gnawing spiritual hunger of his soul. If anything, it increases that hunger.
But God DOES NOT INTEND for man's soul to go unsatisfied. He put that hunger for Him (because He is the only one who can satisfy our soul's desire) in our hearts so that it could be satisfied, so that we could rejoice in being filled to the full and overflowing by the God who loves us. In a post-sin world, where the rightful order of things has been perverted and the entire creation suffers for it, our spiritual hunger serves another purpose. If we let it, it will lead us to salvation and redemption. But you've got to be torn down first. You've got to give up on living for this life alone and hoping in this world. If you don't give up, if you aren't torn down, God cannot build you up. There's a poem, "Treasures," by Martha Snell Nicholson, that expresses this beautifully, using a different metaphor:
"One by one He took them from me,
All the things I valued most,
Until I was empty-handed;
Every glittering toy was lost.
And I walked earth's highways, grieving.
In my rags and poverty.
Till I heard His voice inviting,
"Lift your empty hands to Me!"
So I held my hands toward heaven,
And He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches,
Till they could contain no more.
And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind and dull,
That God COULD not pour His riches
Into hands already full!"
Ecclesiastes is a great book! It knocks you down so God can build you up. It destroys your misery-sustaining illusions so you can have the freeing, glorious, JOYOUS truth. It shows you the world for what it is so that your eyes are lifted up to the better world that is to come. It exposes the false hopes of this life so that you can have the sure and certain hope that is founded in Christ. It drives home the realization of your unsatisfied and maddening spiritual yearnings so that your soul may be filled. It takes away your pitiful works and replaces them with God's perfect work. I LOVE Ecclesiastes! I love that God loves me enough to knock me down so I get to have Him build me up. Most of all, I love my Lord.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 16-18, NKJV, "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—...Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
