MAKING SENSE OF SUCCESS
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
We are continuing our study through the book of Ecclesiastes and in this passage Solomon is going to talk about two things in particular that have helped him become successful and is going to examine whether they have any value at all in the grand scheme of things.
These two things are wisdom and hard work. First let’s look at wisdom.
Solomon says…
THOUGH THERE IS SUCCESS TO BE HAD IN WISDOM…IT DOES NOT SATISFY
In this passage Solomon gives two reasons why wisdom, though better than being foolish, still falls short. The first reason is…
• THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH SUFFER THE SAME FATE
So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
Solomon, though he openly admits that wisdom is better than being foolish, realizes that wisdom has its limits. In v. 14 Solomon says, “The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.” He admits that though it is better to be wise than foolish, regardless of how intelligent one is and regardless of the great decisions one has made in life, the wise are going to die along with the foolish. Both have a similar end.
If you read the obituaries, they are filled with both wise and foolish people--different paths the same fate. What happens to really smart, educated, helpful, thrifty, wonderful, glorious people? They die. What happens to brutal, mean, nasty, uninformed, ill tempered, sick, wicked, crooked people? They die.
It begins to really hit home for Solomon in v. 15 when he says, “Then I said in my heart, 'What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?' And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.” It dawns on Solomon as he meditates on death that death is also coming for him. This then forces Solomon to ask, “What then do I gain by being wise? I said in my heart, ‘This, too, is vanity.'"
Solomon sees his life speeding to a quick end and concludes that though he is wiser than all, his fate under the sun will be the same as the fool. This causes him to ask, “What good is wisdom in the grand scheme of things?”
The second reason is…
• THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH ARE BOTH FORGOTTEN
For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Once again Solomon shows this upsetting similarity between the wise and the foolish and once again sees incredibly vanity in it. He basically says, “You could live an incredible life and make an enormous impact, find a cure for cancer and several years after your gone it will be like you never existed.” It’s like a rock falling into a pool of water—for a few seconds it makes a ripple and then the waters are as they were before and the rock is no longer. Death is the great eraser.
Solomon goes on to say in v. 17, “I hated life” and the reason why is because he truly understood the absurdity of it. The one who makes lasting and positive contributions in life will be forgotten like the fool. In vv. 18-23, Solomon transitions to talk about work and says…
THOUGH THERE IS SUCCESS TO BE HAD IN HARD WORK…IT DOES NOT SATISFY.
In vv. 18-23, Solomon gives three reasons why hard work, though it brings success, is vanity. The first reason is because...
• YOU CAN’T KEEP THE FRUIT OF YOUR LABOR
I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me. Solomon knew that a day would come when he would die and on that day all of the fruit from his labor would go to someone else, which caused him to question the reason for accumulating wealth in the first place.
Jesus also addresses this truth in the Parable of the Rich Fool, in Luke 12:16-21.
It reads,
And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself.” Luke 12:16-21
Truth is you and I when we die have to leave the fruits of our labor to someone else. You can’t take it with you though some have tried. It's been said and rightfully so that hearses are not meant to pull U-Haul’s.
Second Solomon says…
• YOU CANNOT PROTECT THE FRUIT OF YOUR LABOR
And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
Solomon is basically saying in this passage, “Everything I have worked so hard for is going to be left to my children and grandchildren and they are going to take my fortune and misuse it.” And Solomon’s words here, though negative are prophetic because his son Rehoboam, due to unwise decisions he makes during his rule, undoes all of the accomplishments of his father.
Third Solomon says,
• YOU DON’T ENJOY THE FRUIT OF YOUR LABOR
What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
Solomon says hard work does not bring lasting satisfaction because the workaholic spends his or her days, nights, days on, days off thinking about the job instead of enjoying the fruits that come from hard work.
The third point Solomon makes about success is...
THOUGH SUCCESS UNDER THE SUN DOES NOT SATISFY…LIFE WITH GOD DOES.
So far Solomon’s message has been pretty dim, which leads us to ask, “If there is no lasting satisfaction to be had in pleasure, projects, possessions, in wisdom and hard work how then are we to live?” Solomon gives a surprising answer in v. 24.
He says,
There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.
Is Solomon changing his tone by saying that there is nothing better for a person to do than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in work? No. In vv. 24-26, he doesn’t change his tone, but his perspective.
He says,
For apart from (God) who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
In these verses, Solomon for the first time in this book speaks of life from above the Sun. Though the low roads of pleasure, projects, possessions, wisdom and hard work don’t lead to lasting satisfaction, Solomon shows here that these pleasures can be enjoyed in and through a right relationship with God and a life lived for Him.
Everyone in life gets to experience certain gifts from God such as life, good food, good drink, and the fruits from labor, but only the children of God who walk with Him and faithfully live for Him get to enjoy these gifts while still experiencing lasting joy, happiness and satisfaction that come only from God.
What spoils these simple pleasures of life is ones hunger to get more out of them than what they can give. This is the worldview that Solomon has been trying to shatter for the first two chapters. He affirms, though you can and should enjoy these blessings that come from God, lasting satisfaction is not found in His blessings, but are found in Him.
CONCLUSION
Like we've said already, God never intended for satisfaction to be had under the sun, but did intend for us to be satisfied in His Son. Jesus said in Jn. 10:10, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus calls us, not to a grim, lifeless, miserable existence that squashes human potential, but to a rich, full and joyful life in Him.
