Gift of the Giver (5)
I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every person who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—this is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 NASB
Gift of God – Just one last thing to add—fulfillment. Qohelet (the Teacher) is the ultimate empiricist in the Bible. His perspective is limited to what he can observe in this world. He doesn’t allow evidence from another realm to influence his conclusions. In fact, this makes Ecclesiastes the greatest evangelistic tool in Scripture. By the time you reach the end of a treatise on futility, you must either accept a spiritual answer from outside the box or commit suicide inside the box. Preach Ecclesiastes if you want to push someone to face the facts of a meaningless existence.
But once in a while Qohelet offers a glimpse of something greater (forget the last part of the text which was added later to give him a positive outlook). No, he doesn’t give you a “heavenly” solution. He just reminds you that God does, once in a while, allow us to feel fulfilled. Once in a while we find satisfaction in our work. Once in a while we recognize that we’ve done something good. Once in a while life gives us a reason to be joyful. Once in a while.
Those are the moments that make it worth staying alive. And as far as Qohelet is concerned, they are a gift from God. Remember what Job says about God’s gift. Life itself, relationships, overwatch, care. Job’s view is much more positive despite the fact that he experienced much more heartache and suffering. Maybe Qohelet needed a little bit of Job in his life. Maybe suffering, something Qohelet recognizes theoretically, is the pathway to greater understanding. It certainly seems to be the pathway toward including the unseen realm of the divine. Maybe we have to hurt a little, be expelled from Paradise, experience heartache and betrayal before we really understand God’s care. Then life becomes more than just the facts. Job’s anchor was something more than his experience. If that’s missing, you are stuck with Qohelet.
“All we know of the self is its expression, but the self is never fully expressed. What we are, we cannot say; what we become, we cannot grasp. It is all a cryptic, suggestive abbreviation which the mind tries in vain to decipher.”[1]
“In the light of faith we do not seek to unveil or to explain but to perceive and to absorb the rarities of mystery that shine out from all things; not to know more but to be attached to what is more than anything we can grasp.”[2]
“Nor do we ever revere the known; because the known is in our grasp and we revere only that which surpasses us.”[3]
Topical Index: gift, fulfillment, meaning, purpose, Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
[1] Abraham Heschel Between God and Man: An Interpretation of Judaism (Free Press Paperbacks, 1959), p. 62.
[2] Abraham Heschel, Man Is Not Alone, pp. 93-94.
[3] Abraham Heschel Between God and Man: An Interpretation of Judaism (Free Press Paperbacks, 1959), p. 54.
