UBF Daily Bread

COMMON SENSE AND TOIL ARE MEANINGLESS

Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:12~26

Key verse: 24

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

¹²Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
    and also madness and folly.^(A)
What more can the king’s successor do
    than what has already been done?^(B)
¹³I saw that wisdom^(C) is better than folly,^(D)
    just as light is better than darkness.
¹⁴The wise have eyes in their heads,
    while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
    that the same fate overtakes them both.^(E)

¹⁵Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
    What then do I gain by being wise?”^(F)
I said to myself,
    “This too is meaningless.”
¹⁶For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;^(G)
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.^(H)
Like the fool, the wise too must die!^(I)

Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(J) ¹⁸I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.^(K) ¹⁹And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^(L) Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. ²⁰So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²²What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^(M) ²³All their days their work is grief and pain;^(N) even at night their minds do not rest.^(O) This too is meaningless.

²⁴A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink^(P) and find satisfaction in their own toil.^(Q) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,^(R) ²⁵for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?^(S) ²⁶To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,^(T) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth^(U) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.^(V) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

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Source: BibleGateway

1. Common Sense and Folly (12-16)

The wisdom mentioned here is the opposite of folly. It can mean "common sense." As we would expect, it is better to have common sense than to be foolish. Fools walk in darkness, while the wise see with their eyes. But the same fate overtakes both the wise and the foolish. So the Teacher decided both are meaningless, but both the wise and the foolish perish and are soon forgotten.

2. Toil is meaningless (17-26)

The Teacher also learned that toil is meaningless. One might as well chase after the wind and try to catch it. For everything we undertake to do, we just end up leaving it to someone else. They may foolishly squander what they get from us. The Teacher concludes that all a person can do is to enjoy their lives. They can enjoy eating and drinking and toiling, because all of this is from the hand of God. Without God, we can't enjoy even the act of eating! Enjoying this God-given life pleases God. And God will give us wisdom and happiness.

Prayer: Lord, help us to enjoy all you have given us.

One Word: Enjoy what comes from the hand of God!