Life is useless without God. To walk through life without faith in God is like chasing the wind. Through our faith in God, we can hope to find greater meaning in our life.
At a low point in my life, I wondered about the meaningfulness of my life. Have I done well? Do the things that I do matter? Are my goals worth pursuing? Is there a point in all my struggles? Absentmindedly scanning my Bible, I stopped at a page with a subtitle “Life is Useless”. It is in Ecclesiastes. It is the book in the Bible that I remember to contain the beautiful quote about “a time for everything” (Ecclesiastes 3). It is also the book in the Bible that contains the thoughts of a man who reflected on how short and contradictory human life is, with its injustices and frustrations, and concluded that “life is useless”. Intrigued, I read on: “You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3) “Everything leads to weariness – a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8) “I, the Philosopher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world. God has laid a miserable fate upon us. I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-15)
At a low point in my life, I wondered about the meaningfulness of my life. Have I done well? Do the things that I do matter? Are my goals worth pursuing? Is there a point in all my struggles? Absentmindedly scanning my Bible, I stopped at a page with a subtitle “Life is Useless”. It is in Ecclesiastes. It is the book in the Bible that I remember to contain the beautiful quote about “a time for everything” (Ecclesiastes 3). It is also the book in the Bible that contains the thoughts of a man who reflected on how short and contradictory human life is, with its injustices and frustrations, and concluded that “life is useless”. Intrigued, I read on: “You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3) “Everything leads to weariness – a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8) “I, the Philosopher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world. God has laid a miserable fate upon us. I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-15)
What if we are chasing the wind? I was not at all depressed to learn about these verses. In fact, I felt better. If a great philosopher who have been King over Israel can write that “life is useless”, my feelings of insignificance are acceptable, but acceptable to who? When I think about some of the people I know and how successful, how rich, how well-traveled, and how better off they are than me, I am pushed to strive and work harder that only frustrates me because there will always be people better off than me. I noted Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 “I have also learned why people work so hard to succeed: it is because they envy the things their neighbors have. But it is useless. It is like chasing the wind. They say that we would be fools to fold our hands and let ourselves starve to death. Maybe so, but it is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.” It is when I think of the things that I don't have that I feel empty and frustrated. Achieving and having as much as I can are indeed like chasing the wind because these do not give me satisfaction. What matters is that I accept myself because I am God's gift to me. Even satisfaction is a gift from God. It is only when I put God first in my life that I find meaning even in my “useless” life.
“Whenever I tried to become wise and learn what goes on in the world, I realized that you could stay awake night and day and never be able to understand what God is doing. However hard you try, you will never find out. The wise may claim to know, but they don't.” (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17) Though the philosopher could not understand the ways of God, who controls human destiny, he advised people to work hard, and to enjoy the gifts of God as much and as long as they could. “Go ahead – eat your food and be happy; drink your wine and be cheerful. It's all right with God. Always look happy and cheerful. Enjoy life with the one you love, as long as you live the useless life that God has given you in this world. Enjoy every useless day of it, because that is all you will get for all your trouble. Work hard at whatever you do, because there will be no action, no thought, no knowledge, no wisdom in the world of the dead – and that is where you are going.” (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10) How often have I heard the words that “life is short” and because it is so, the constant advice is to make the most of it, that is exactly what the philosopher is saying. “None of us knows what is going to happen, and there is no one to tell us. No one can keep from dying or put off the day of death. That is a battle we cannot escape; we cannot cheat our way out.” (Ecclesiastes 8:7-8) “Count your blessings while you still can.” This was the message that I derived from those verses.
What persisted in my mind, as I read the verses in Ecclesiastes, is that God is in control. To think that we can ever be wise enough to understand the ways of God is useless. It is like chasing the wind. Everything comes from God. Only my faith in God can give meaning in my “useless” life.
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