The Futility of Work
For Meditation
Last week we watched Qohelet plunge headlong into the pursuit of pleasure in order to determine if pleasure helps bring a sense of meaning to an otherwise meaningless existence. His experiment failed. So in the second part of chapter 2, we see Qohelet turn to another experiment: does work, the labor of our hands, help bring meaning to our lives under the sun?
This is a vital question. Unlike pleasure, which many human beings don’t enjoy and which at an excessive level is only available to some, work is something that every human on the planet does in some way or another. Estimates are that an average American will spend 80,000 hours working. Given that this is such a significant part of our lives, it’s vital to explore whether work can help infuse our lives with meaning. There are certainly many, many people who have determined that their work is the best place to ultimately make an impact and find meaning in the world.
But Qohelet discovers that this too, is meaningless. In verses 18-23, he will unpack both the futility of work and the sheer brutality of work under the sun. It is not a happy business. Our work, like pleasure, fails in delivering the meaning that we seek to extract from it. Initially, it looks like Qohelet is heading in the same negative direction as we are accustomed to by now.
Interestingly, however, verses 24-26 take a surprisingly positive turn. For the first of six times in the book, Qohelet offers a positive meditation on life, affirming that the world and many things in it, like work, are a good gift of the Creator God. It’s almost like verses 18-23 reflect on work in light of Genesis 3, while verses 24-26 reflect on work in light of Genesis 1-2.
In the mind of Qohelet, both are true. This is the world of hebel that we live in. Our work can be both deeply fulfilling and terribly burdensome. Sometimes in the same day! We labor on in this paradox. And yet, as followers of Jesus, we see what Qohelet could not see- that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our work will one day be redeemed, and ultimately will not be in vain (1 Cor 15:58). This is a hope we can bring into our everyday labor that is truly, lastingly, satisfying.
In preparation for worship this week, enjoy this beautiful song that we often sing, and which we will sing this week! Our labor is not in vain.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-26
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 that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil 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 person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.