Life Expectancy
“For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life?” Ecclesiastes 6:12
Futile – Life is too short and you only get one shot at it. You rarely get the chance to start all over. You never get to undo the mistakes you made. Learning is painful and that pain often affects others. After all your struggles to get it right, you die. Vanity!
Our translation “futile” is in fact the same Hebrew word as “vanity” (hebel). Solomon looks at the length of days, sees how most of us take an entire lifetime to learn what we really needed to know at the beginning, and concludes that those few years are not long enough to really make a difference. Biblical realism invades our power of positive thinking with the reality of “not enough time”. We all know what this is like. “If I had only known” is a common human exclamation. And for good reason. Some things can’t be learned in Kindergarten.
Solomon comments on the final frustration for those who stake their claim on a right to live. There is no guarantee. Actuarial tables never apply to the individual. If I build my life on an expectation that I will have the time I need to fulfill my destiny, I am likely to encounter the shock therapy of dying too soon.
The Old Testament has an interesting way of summarizing the lives of the patriarchs. It simply says that they lived “full of days”. They experienced life as it came to them from the hand of God. Men who learn to live “full of days” do not worry about what can be done tomorrow. Today is the day of perfect peace. A full day today is the only investment account I have in life.
We live in a culture that is fixated on the future. Our significance is always just one day away. Tomorrow I’ll be wealthy, happy, loving, generous, kind, considerate, fulfilled, content. Solomon sees the futility of such thinking. Tomorrow is a check I can never cash.
We might think hebel is a very pessimistic word. But we would be wrong. Hebel is just the right word for a world without God’s mysterious grace. Hebel is the Bible’s assessment of men who want palaces instead of tents. Hebel is not the word for alien residents because are just passing through. Their destination is not here.
Are you a traveler or a tenant?
