Wrestling with Work

Focal Passage Outline and Scripture Passages:

My Work—My Legacy (Ecclesiastes  2:1823)

My Work—My Joy (Ecclesiastes  2:2426)

My Work—God’s Gift (Ecclesiastes  5:1820)

Bible Passages:

Ecclesiastes 2:1826; 5:1820

What This  Lesson Is About:

This lesson is about the potential benefits and blessings of a person’s work when it is God directed.

How This Lesson Can Impact Your Life:

This lesson can help you realize that work is a gift from God in which you can and should rejoice.

Spiritual Preparation Through Personal Bible Study

What do you think of when you hear the word work? Some will immediately feel dread, conjuring images of being chained to a desk for 40 hours a week. Others will think of the wonderful people God has allowed them to work with on a daily basis. Still others will not think of their employment at all. Their minds will hasten to images of their children as the ultimate “work project” of their adult lives. Some of you might even look back over years of faithful service to the Lord in some ministry. I know many grandparents who have embraced the idea that their grandchildren are the vital work objective of their golden years.

In a previous lesson (January 10), I made the statement, “Too often we busy ourselves striving to gain more money to acquire more things. Frequently we fail to realize money cannot buy happiness and things cannot satisfy the strongest longings of our hearts. Our efforts become wearisome and our lives become drudgery as we labor harder and harder to find contentment in things.” This lesson is not just about work. It is about work centered on pleasing God. As we wrestle with work, we can be motivated by the potential benefits and blessings of our work when it is Goddirected.

My Work—My Legacy

(Ecclesiastes  2:1823)

18 I hated all my work at which I labored under the sun because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile. 20 So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work I had labored at under the sun. 21 For there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, but he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it. This too is futile and a great wrong. 22 For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors with under the sun? 23 For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

Wise King Solomon understood precisely how work could be sheer drudgery through the course of our lives and ultimately meaningless when our lives are over. A helpful way to understand this work legacy scale in terms of drudgery meaninglessness would be to read these verses completely through. We see the elderly Solomon looking back over his long career of work. And what did he conclude? I hated all my work at which I labored under the sun! Hated does not refer to just a strong emotional disdain, but rather it includes a deliberate mental distancing from the object hated. As we have noted in previous lessons, the phrase under the sun (27 times in the book) refers to the realm of human activity and implies a “life lived independently of God.”1 In this case, Solomon hated all his work. The Hebrew term also can be translated as “labor” or “toil.” Inherent is the idea of toil. Thus Solomon was mentally distancing himself from a life time spent in toilsome work. But why? Because he realized he had to leave it to the one who would come after him. This raises an interesting question. If we will one day have to leave our life’s work, with all of its fruits, to someone else, what is so worthy of our time that we would work so hard to gain? Solomon will answer the question for us later, but first he contemplated how his successor would handle the inheritance left to him.

A previous Biblical Illustrator article “Labor: A Pauline View” (Winter 20082009) relates to this lesson and can be found on the Winter 20092010 Biblical Illustrator Plus (CDROM).

Solomon’s successor could be a wise man or a fool. In Old Testament Wisdom Literature, of which Ecclesiastes is a part, being wise is tied to a healthy reverence for the Lord (Prov. 1:7; 3:7). Conversely, being a fool is tied to denying God exists (Ps. 14:1). A wise man will utilize the fruits of his father’s labor in positive ways to help others. A fool will squander the inheritance on himself. Solomon was troubled over the prospect that the fruit of his hard labor would be inherited by a fool.

Solomon did not live a perfect life. In his old age he allowed his foreign wives to turn his heart from wholly following the Lord (1 Kings 11:4). This self separation from God meant that Solomon was wrestling with the meaning of his life’s work as one who had been both wise and foolish. He understood better than any one else the difference between work dedicated to God and work dedicated to self. Therefore, we should read Ecclesiastes 2:1823 through Solomon’s eyes, through the eyes of one who had wisely worked for the Lord, but who had turned from following the Lord later in life.

Solomon experienced the predictable result of separating from God; he gave himself over to despair, meaning the absence of hope. The fuller statement is very revealing; I began to give myself over to despair. Solomon used an intensive form of the Hebrew verb for despair meaning he “made” himself despair. Also, the word myself translates the Hebrew phrase “my heart.” Thus when Solomon admitted to giving himself over to despair, he was confessing that in his self separation from God he had made himself heartsick about all his life’s work.

As Solomon looked over the accomplishments of his life’s work, he could see the beautiful temple he had built for the Lord; what a wise investment of time and effort. Solomon also had built fortresses to protect his people, and because of his great wisdom, the rulers of other nations brought treasures to him. Truly Solomon could say, there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill. The idea of Solomon’s work being done with wisdom echoes God’s approach to work (Ps. 104:24). Knowledge is tied to a godly lifestyle, a regular feature of wisdom literature (Prov. 1:7). Finally, skill refers not only to the technical “know how” of getting a job done; skill refers to the successful completion of the job.

Solomon was troubled by the fact that he had to give all the fruit of his labor to a man who has not worked for it. Small wonder he repined, This too is futile and a great wrong. We return to our earlier observation of the work legacy scale being viewed in terms of drudgery meaninglessness. If I work hard all my life just to leave the stuff I acquire to someone else, then truly my work will be drudgery and my legacy will be meaningless. What is the net result of such a lifetime of work upon me? What kind of person do I become if I devote all my time and effort working for self?

Once Solomon realized the futility of such an end, he posed a question, What does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors with under the sun? As the following verse makes clear, Solomon was not asking about what would become of his wealth so much as what had become of him. Then he provided an insightful list of characteristics of a lifetime of work for one’s own sake in self separation from God. Such work results in grief filled days, sorrowful occupation, and anxious nights, when the mind does not rest. The term grief renders a Hebrew word for physical or mental pain. Sorrowful refers to “vexation” or “anger.” Have you ever been trapped in a job that caused you physical or mental pain, made you feel vexed or angry, and then did not allow your mind to rest or sleep at night? If so, then you understand Solomon’s point, This too is futile.

Choose a word from the list below that best describes your view of your work.

_x Gain Note: Personal satisfaction gain, not monetary, yet.                    __ Useless    __ Monotonous

__ Difficult    __ Wasted    _x Investment

__ Empty      __ Fulfilling   _x Other:  Oddly, my work seems both empty and fulfilling.  A real conundrum.  It's a great release for me, but it yields no tangible results.

Why did you choose this work?

Note: It seemed to me, and still does, a viable use of my experience in the information technology arena as well as an opportunity to express myself through music and music as sight.

My Work—My Joy

(Ecclesiastes  2:2426)

24 There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and to enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand. 25 For who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him? 26 For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

To this point you could get the impression that Solomon thought work was bad, caused too much heartache, and kept one up at night. We have to remember Solomon was describing work done in self separation from God. He himself had experienced such separation at one point in his life. As he reflected on the meaning of life and wrestled with the concept of work, he came to understand work could be very joyful. He reflected back on earlier years of his own life when his work was guided by and dedicated to the Lord. Such work carried great rewards, including an international reputation for Solomon.

Earlier in this lesson I raised the question, “If we will one day have to leave our life’s work, with all of its fruits, to someone else, what is so worthy of our time that we would work so hard to gain?” Solomon concluded that to find fulfillment in life and in work as the Lord provided each was rewarding enough. Such a life was worthy of his time. So he wrote, There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and to enjoy his work. We get a sense of the cyclical nature of life by noting how we eat and drink to have strength to work. Then we work so we can provide food and drink for ourselves and for our families. This cycle would be maddening and futile except for the fact Solomon indicated people can enjoy their work and the fruit of their labors. The key to understanding Solomon’s discovery is the realization that this is from God’s hand.

A previous Biblical Illustrator article “Foods of the Ancient World” (Spring 1988) relates to this lesson and can be found on the Winter 20092010 Biblical Illustrator Plus (CDROM).

We must ask, what specifically is from God’s hand? The answer is twofold. Both work and the ability to enjoy work are from God’s hand. The work we do might be a vocation where we earn a living, or our work might be raising children or grandchildren. The work God has given us to do might involve taking care of the elderly or ministering to babies in the church nursery. The emphasis is not upon the type of work we do but rather upon embracing life as a gift from God to be enjoyed thoroughly. The rhetorical question in verse 25 affirmed Solomon’s observation and assumed a negative answer. Apart from Him, no one could eat and enjoy life.

Read the article “God ‘Gives’ in Ecclesiastes” in the Winter 20092010 issue of Biblical Illustrator or on the Winter 20092010 Biblical Illustrator Plus (CDROM).

Solomon contrasted the lives of two types of people, those who please God and those who do not please Him. To those who please Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, the ability and the knowhow to work, and the capability to enjoy work and the fruit of work. The terms wisdom and knowledge are characteristic of Wisdom Literature, dedicated to encouraging people to conform their lives to God’s standards. As we seek God, He enables us to find Him and to please Him. The term joy is not one we hear used by most people in reference to their work. How blessed are those who truly find pleasure in the work God has given them to do. We should work in such a way to reflect our belief that the Lord will reward us for doing His will (Col. 3:2324).

To the sinner, He gives the grueling task of gathering and accumulating just so they can give what they gather to those who are pleasing in God’s sight. The term sinner renders the Hebrew word for “missing the mark.” Christians should not assume, however, that no Christians will one day turn their wealth over to them. Instead the clear inference of the verse relates to the greater inheritance all believers have waiting them. By comparing the outcomes of God pleasing lives to the lives of sinners, Solomon emphasized the advantage of the former. Not only do those who work to please God enjoy their labors, but they have a better outcome as well. As Solomon reflected on the type of life whereby a person gathered and accumulated only to give to someone else who pleased God, he rightly judged such a lifestyle as being futile and a pursuit of the wind. The wind is elusive, powerful, and ungraspable; so also is living and working as if God does not exist.

Have you ever considered doing your work as an offering to the Lord? How can such a perspective change the way we do our work? Memorize Colossians 3:2324 for a work motto. Write it out below:

Colossians 3:2324

23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not as unto men

24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ

My Work—God’s Gift

(Ecclesiastes  5:1820)

18 Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. 19 God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God, 20 for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

As we have progressed through this lesson, you have noticed a shift in the way we should view work. Instead of worrying about what will become of the things we have acquired once we are gone, we have shifted our focus toward enjoying our work in the present. In this final section of the lesson we focus on why we can enjoy our work. We can enjoy our work because it is a gift of God. In these verses, Solomon emphasized how a person should enjoy the few days of his life God has given him. This emphasis has two parts. First, our lives are gifts from God to us. Second, the gift of life in this world is by nature brief. The phrase few days refers to the average life span of seventy to eighty years (Ps. 90:10). Compared to eternity, the time we spend on earth is very brief and we have but a few days to do God’s will. Solomon’s purpose in writing the Book of Ecclesiastes was to help people make the most of those few days for God (Ecclesiastes  12:13).

Another way of referring to the few days of our existence on earth is by use of the phrase under the sun. This phrase, as we have seen, occurs 27 times in Ecclesiastes. Often those uses refer to self-directed life lived without acknowledgement of or concern for God and His expectations. The basic issue is what will you do with the brief time on earth that God has given you? Some people waste the time in frivolous pursuits. Others use their time to deny the very existence of the God who made them.

Solomon offered a much better alternative as to how we should spend our time on earth. He commended this option as the correct one by introducing it with the words, Here is what I have seen to be good. The term good refers to something that is “pleasant” or “agreeable.” In our context, Solomon used the word to indicate what he found to be agreeable with God’s plan for our lives. When he wrote, it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good …, he utilized a Hebrew term, translated appropriate, that means “to be fair” or “beautiful.” The same Hebrew term was used in Ecclesiastes 3:11 with the idea that God makes all things beautiful in their time.

So what did Solomon find good and appropriate for us to do with our time on earth? He specifically listed our need to eat and drink, but he added to experience good in all the labor. We need to experience good in our labor just as much as we need to eat and drink. No one questions the need to eat and drink to stay alive, but often we fail to recognize that true meaning in life involves accepting God’s gift of life and work as well. Because our time under the sun consists of just a few days, we need to embrace the truth of this lesson all the more quickly. Solomon referred to a person’s ability to live and to enjoy his work as his reward. The idea of reward refers to one’s “portion,” “share,” or “lot.” The verbal form was used in the Book of Joshua to refer to the tribal allotments of land during the conquest of Canaan. The idea in our context is that God has allotted to each of us a share in this life. The issue then is “what will we do with our allotment?”

Solomon continued his emphasis on the theme of life as a gift from God by stating, God has also given riches and wealth to every man. This statement, kept in context, means that God has given each person sufficient wealth to do what He wants the person to accomplish. In my lifetime I have met miserable people who had lots of money and I have met very contented people who had very little money. People who devote their life’s work to enriching the lives of children or helping the less fortunate are often more joyful than those who dedicate all their time to acquiring more and more things. Solomon knew life from both sides. He devoted himself to serving God’s people early in his career (I Kings 3:9). Eventually he married foreign wives who turned his heart from wholly following the Lord (1 Kings 11:4). Many scholars believe Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes in the latter years of his life after he had experienced the blessings of obeying the Lord and the negative consequences of disobeying Him. The book reflects a sober view of life, describing the futility of life without God and the joy of life with Him.

Solomon understood clearly that God enabled people to enjoy life. When he wrote He has allowed him to enjoy, he used a verb meaning “to give power to,” rendered as has allowed in our text. The phrase enjoy them literally means “to eat” from the wealth and riches referred to earlier. A person also is enabled to take his reward and to rejoice in his labor. All three verbs, to enjoy, to take, and to rejoice, are infinitives in Hebrew with no specified time frame. As long as people have breath, they are enabled to enjoy life as God has given to them. Solomon’s statement, This is a gift of God, refers both to life and to the empowerment to enjoy life.

Solomon made another significant observation about the person who attains such enjoyment of his or her life and work. Such a person does not often consider the days of his life. Life never seems wasted or dull when dedicated to God’s service. The person in tune with God’s purpose for his life is too busy enjoying life to despair of what will happen when he is gone. The phrase, God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart, can be translated literally “God causes to answer with the rejoicing of his heart.”

A colleague brought me a sign to hang in my office. On the sign are the words, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” May we fall in love with the Lord and with the work He has given us to do so much, that our work seems more a joy than a burden.

Have you ever considered your work to be joyful? List below some signs that a person’s work brings great joy.

I feel like my work is bringing me joy

1. when I say I "get" to go to work, not I "have" to go to work

2....when the end of the day comes and I'm not quite ready to quit

3.when someone asks "how was your day?" and rather than answer with "same old stuff", or "just work", I can relate happily the days challenges and accomplishments

Biblical Truths of This Lesson in Focus

• A meaningful work legacy results from a lifetime of doing one’s best performing a God honoring job that enables the next generation to serve the Lord.

• By viewing our life’s work as a gift from God, we become better stewards of our time and talents, resulting in an enjoyment of the things we do for the Lord.

• Meaningful work and the ability to enjoy it are both gifts from the Lord to enhance our lives during our brief time on earth.

Write a prayer dedicating your work to God. Ask that He be glorified in your work and that you find joy in working for Him in all you do.

My Dear Heavenly Father,

I praise your Holy Name and Worship You on high

Thank you for all You have done for me, especially sending Your Son to die for me that my sins might be forgiven, for they are many

Help me to keep Music for Sight pleasing unto You and through my work that I may Glorify Your Name

In Jesus Name I pray,

Amen

1. The Holman Illustrated Study Bible (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2006), 895.

Sidebar: The Evangelistic Value of the Book of Ecclesiastes

Evangelism is about helping people find God. The Book of Ecclesiastes has great evangelistic value because it portrays in the most direct ways the futility of living life without God. Conversely, the book emphasizes that enjoyment in life is possible only when we accept life as God gives it. The bottom line is that our whole duty is to reverence God and to keep His commandments. In so doing we will discover and enjoy the God centered life.