The book of Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books in the Bible, and I like it for a number of reasons. It is short and straightforward, but also packed with a lot of wisdom. But, more importantly, I’m drawn to Ecclesiastes because of how realistic and ‘close to home’ the writing is for me.

Ecclesiastes is not filled with exhilarating narratives or stories. In some ways, it is also not a book filled with prophecies about the Messiah that ties it to the grand-narrative of the Bible. But the book of Ecclesiastes is simply a book of perspective. When you read it, it feels as if you are reading into someone’s journal that is filled with their deep and personal thoughts and reflections about life.

It was written by the Teacher (at least that was how the author referred to himself). He was someone who possessed everything – wealth, wisdom, and pleasures, among many things. Yet in all of his riches, he lamented that “everything is meaningless” (Eccl 1:2).

When you first read the book, the Teacher may appear like someone who is ungrateful, hopeless, and nihilistic (especially in the first few chapters of the book). How can he say all these things? Isn’t his possessions God’s blessings? How ungrateful can he be that he sees them as meaningless?

And this is where the book of Ecclesiastes is excellent, because it gives the reader a wisdom that is not only profound, but is timeless. The book was written thousands of years ago, but all of us living in this modern world can still learn greatly from this book.

And I’ll take it a step further to say that the message of this book is especially relevant in this day and age, when a lot of people seek what the Teacher already owned, thinking that those things will give them happiness and meaning in life. So let’s delve briefly into what we can learn from the book of Ecclesiastes

‘Everything is meaningless!’

There is a mystery regarding the identity of the author of Ecclesiastes. Throughout the book, the author referred to himself as the ‘Teacher’ (NIV) or the ‘Preacher’ (KJV). There are bits and pieces where we can learn a bit more about who he was.

He was ‘son of David’ and ‘king in Jerusalem’ (Eccl 1:1). Because he was king, he was very wealthy (Eccl 2:8-9). He was studious throughout his life, exploring wisdom and knowledge in this world (Eccl 1:13). The Teacher was also diligent and hardworking (Eccl 2:-6).

Some people believe that the author of this book is none other than King Solomon, though until today, there is still no clear evidence that links King Solomon and the book of Ecclesiastes beyond inferring the characteristics of the ‘Teacher’ as a ‘Solomon-like persona’. Regardless of who wrote this book, what matters is what the author intends to say.

By worldly standards, what the Teacher possessed – wealth, power, success, respect, and wisdom – would have led him to live a comfortable and happy, or a ‘good’ life. These are all the things that are being chased by the world these days. There are so many ‘how-to’ and guide books that talk about how to be successful, to ‘pile up your money’, and to be a wise person. They may not explicitly say that these will bring you happiness, but the underlying assumption is that possessing these things will make your life better.

The Teacher, however, said that these are all meaningless. Here, we should be mindful not to take his statement at face value and assume that these things (i.e.: wisdom, wealth, power) are by default meaningless. That is not what the Teacher meant. The Teacher acknowledged that God gives these things as blessings (Eccl 6:2). But what makes them meaningless (or rather, meaningful) is how they are positioned in our hearts.

In Eccl 5:10, the Teacher said, “whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless”. And in 5:12, he said that “the sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep”. There is a great irony we can see from these two verses, that when our hearts put our joy on worldly things, we will grow restless, anxious, and dissatisfied. “Money can buy you happiness” is the saying that we hear quite a lot in this world. But the Teacher said that it won’t buy you happiness, it will instead rid you of happiness because you will continue to toil after it and never feel enough.

6:1-2 puts this irony in a clearer picture: “I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil”. There is nothing more sad than to see someone chasing after wealth and possessions all the days of their lives, but unable to enjoy them because they never stop seeking it. This endless pursuit, if we are not careful, just puts us into a form of slavery.

And this applies to not just wealth and possessions. The Teacher also said that his pursuit of wisdom, pleasures, and folly were all meaningless. Because in the same way, when we put our happiness in other things beside God, we are bound to be enslaved by it. In our pursuit of them, our hunger is not satisfied and our thirst is not quenched. We may possess them already, but our continuous drive makes us unable to sit and enjoy them, because our hearts grow restless and anxious in the thought that we will ‘run out’ of them.

The conclusion of the matter: Fear God

So if all of these things are meaningless, what is the solution? At the end of the book, the Teacher concluded with this short, but strong statement: Fear God and keep His commandments. At first, the conclusion seems odd, doesn’t it?

How can ‘fear’ free us from the restlessness and anxiety of our hearts? Doesn’t ‘fear’ fuel them even more?

I don’t have the space to talk more about this (and this is why I recommend you to read Ecclesiastes to gain more), but one theme that you will see dispersed throughout this book is the idea that God is the One that is in control (for example: Eccl 3:17; 8:17; 9:1; 12:1-7). When our lives are removed from this reality, that God is in control, we become fixated on our self-sufficiency. We think that we have to take matters to ourselves, sustain ourselves, and so forth.

In the absence of God, we take His place and try to do His work. That is why the endless pursuits never satisfy you. That is why in possessing more, we feel more insufficient. Us humans cannot replace the sovereignty of God. It is like a young child trying to take the president’s position. We are not competent enough, strong enough, and frankly, righteous enough to replace God.

And so, in knowing that God is the One that is in control. We fear Him. Not in a sense of being scared of Him. Rather, we revere Him for His sovereignty and righteousness. It is in this fear of God, that we are liberated from the restlessness, weariness, and anxiety of our God. The fear of God becomes a protection for all of us (Exodus 20:20). It protects us from the sin of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. It also protects us from building idolatry in our hearts.

Only when God becomes the center of our lives, can we truly enjoy the blessings that He gives to us. Through the fear of the Lord, we can look at our wealth, possession, wisdom, and power, and enjoy it the way God intends, because in acknowledging that all we have comes from God, we give the glory and honor to Him alone.