March 19 -- "Substance or Smoke?"

 Today’s Reading: Ecclesiastes 1 & 2

"Substance or Smoke?"

The primary viewpoint of the Book of Ecclesiastes is that most people spend their lives, energy, and emotions on pursuing things that will ultimately prove to be meaningless (beauty, goodness, health, wealth, status, career, success, etc.). Solomon describes these pursuits as “vanity” or “meaningless.” The Hebrew word he uses is “hevel,” which literally means “vapor” or “smoke.” Pursuing these meaningless things is like “smoke” – they may appear as though they have substance, but when you try to grasp them, they quickly vanish. They are temporary and fleeting – like a vapor which appears for but a moment then disappears.

This being the case, Solomon proposes the key question of life: Why use your life, energy, and emotions in pursuit of  “hevel”? Why not rather pursue things with eternal value and substance? Here in chapter 2, he contrasts two of those “things” – wisdom and foolishness. He decided to compare wisdom (which he considers “light”) and foolishness (“darkness”). His observation was this: since every human being shares the same fate – all are headed for the same ending (death, the grave) – then doesn’t it make more sense to pursue those things which will survive beyond the grave?

He emphasizes that there is more to gain in wisdom than in folly. The word “wisdom” means to be sensible, judicious, clever, prudent, and shrewd. This word is often used of a skilled warrior in battle – one who is well equipped and carries out his battles with strategy and skillful tactics. In the same way, we must look at life as a battle for eternity. We must spend our lives, energy, and emotions on fighting this battle with skill and wisdom. There is eternal life to be gained by those who do so. There is nothing but “the grave” for those who don’t. He goes on to say that light is better than darkness for the wise can see where they are going, but fools just grope around in the dark.

Jesus shared this same viewpoint in Luke 12:20-21 where he asked this question about a man who had spent his life in pursuing an “abundance of possessions” – “This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon struggles deeply with this question of meaningless vs meaningful pursuits and finally reaches this conclusion: “Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) It is important to plan and prepare for your future in this life, but it is vastly more important to plan and prepare for your future in eternity.