Purpose In Life

In The Word

Read: Ecclesiastes 3:1-4:8

 

A Time for Everything

3 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven—

⁹ What benefit is there for the worker from that in which he labors? ¹⁰ I have seen the task which God has given the sons of mankind with which to occupy themselves.

God Set Eternity in the Heart of Mankind

¹¹ He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, without the possibility that mankind will find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

¹² I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; ¹³ moreover, that every person who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it. And God has so worked, that people will fear Him. ¹⁵ That which is, is what has already been, and that which will be has already been; and God seeks what has passed by.

¹⁶ Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. ¹⁷ I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there. ¹⁸ I said to myself regarding the sons of mankind, “God is testing them in order for them to see that they are as animals, they to themselves.” ¹⁹ For the fate of the sons of mankind and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath, and there is no advantage for mankind over animals, for all is futility. ²⁰ All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. ²¹ Who knows that the spirit of the sons of mankind ascends upward and the spirit of the animal descends downward to the earth? ²² I have seen that nothing is better than when a person is happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?

The Evils of Oppression

4 Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold, I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and power was on the side of their oppressors, but they had no one to comfort them. ² So I congratulated the dead who are already dead, more than the living who are still living. ³ But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

⁴ I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a person and his neighbor. This too is futility and striving after wind.⁵ The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. ⁶ One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.

⁷ Then I looked again at futility under the sun. ⁸ There was a man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches, and he never asked, “And for whom do I labor and deprive myself of pleasure?” This too is futility, and it is an unhappy task.