Daily Devotions
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon the king turns his great wisdom to considering human life “under the sun”—in the world we experience every day. He is looking for some sort of meaning in life—some value to all the things that people do. But Solomon is disappointed. No matter what people do, eventually they must die, and all their hard work goes for nothing. Someone else enjoys the fruit of their labor, and they themselves have nothing. He calls this vanity—meaninglessness—chasing the wind.
Solomon has a point, doesn’t he? We see examples of chasing the wind every day. Someone spends years developing a business, only to see it all vanish during a recession. Someone else dedicates his life to caring for his family—only to lose his wife and children to a horrible accident. A young person goes to school for twenty years, graduates and starts looking for work—only to realize there’s nothing out there that will pay the bills. Even the happiest life ends in death, and the universe itself will have an end.
This leads Solomon to despair. “Vanity of vanities!” he says. “Total meaninglessness!” Under the sun, nothing lasts forever; nothing is eternally worthwhile; nothing makes a difference. Solomon has no good answer for this.
But God does. Against the basic meaninglessness of human life, God sets Jesus Christ. Jesus comes into our world “under the sun” as a conquering King and Savior. He breaks the cycle of meaninglessness and calls us into God’s kingdom. He even breaks the power of death for us through His own death and resurrection.
Now we have a future to look forward to. As Paul puts it, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. … For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. … Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father … For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (see 1 Corinthians 15:19-26).
THE PRAYER: Father, help me to hold fast to hope in Jesus Christ Your Son. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. Is there anything good that comes from a pre-occupation with self?
2. Did Solomon’s wisdom lead him to sense life as an ultimate futility?
3. We live in a culture that places a lot of weight on “self.” How do you keep from thinking of yourself as the center of the universe?