Ecclesiastes 4 (4)

Pray Psalm 72.5-7.
They shall fear You
As long as the sun and moon endure,
Throughout all generations.
He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing,
Like showers that water the earth.
In His days the righteous shall flourish,
And abundance of peace,
Until the moon is no more.

Read Ecclesiastes 4.5, 6.

Prepare.
1. Who is the fool? Why?

2. What do we need in addition to work? Why?

Meditate.
So how should we respond to the absurdity of life? The fool will say, “Well, what’s the use? Qué será, será. I’m not gonna exert myself for any purpose or person.”

So he just wastes away, feeding off his own selfish interests and aspiring to nothing greater than whatever is immediately at hand (v. 5).

On the other hand, the diligent man gets busy with as many projects and activities as he can keep going at once. He is so busy – “both hands full…with toil” (v. 6) – that, while he embodies the idea that life and happiness consist in things and experiences, he has no time to enjoy them, and dies exhausted and defeated.

Solomon slips in a glimpse of life “under heaven” by the phrase “handful with quietness (rest)”. In the divine economy men need to work – it is the gift of God – but they also need to rest, and they can only truly rest when they live toward God rather than toward themselves. God not only authorizes rest, but commands it as vital to full and abundant life. Solomon’s glance at the fourth commandment here is his way of keeping his primary theme in view.

Doubtless we can think of examples of the three types of people Solomon mentions here: Ne’re-do-wells and sluggards, workaholics and manic-depressives, and those who manage to know true contentment amid the trials and troubles of life. Solomon’s ability to speak in generalities that transcend time and place is a measure of the wisdom God gave him for ruling well. He shows us, like Augustine in City of God, that the two perspectives – under the heavens and under the sun – intermingle and intertwine in all human experience.

The challenge to the redeemed of the Lord, who are working for restoration and renewal in this life, is to maximize their experience “under heaven” and to beware of and avoid every tendency to give in to the temptations of life “under the sun”.

Reflect.
1. The fool consumes himself by focusing only on himself. Why is this folly?

2. Why is that some people, who are so busy and productive, are often neither very happy nor fulfilled? What do they lack?

3. Why is rest such an important aspect of life “under heaven”?

“The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh,” that is, he becomes involved in the concerns of the body and eats his own flesh, just as does all-powerful death. And such a one will not find eternal life. But the wise person who lifts up his works that they may shine before his Father who is in heaven has not consumed his flesh; instead, he has raised it to the grace of the resurrection. Ambrose of Milan (333-397), Letter 28, to Bishop Sabinus

Let my work be for Your glory, Lord, and my rest be for my refreshing as I…

Pray Psalm 72.1-8.
How will the Lord bring His peace, justice, salvation, and righteousness to your Personal Mission Field today?

Sing Psalm 72.1-8.
Psalm 72.1-8 (Martyrdom: Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed)
O give the King Your judgment, Lord, and righteousness Your Son.
And let Him judge by Your good Word the need of everyone.

Let now the mountains ring with peace, the hills in righteousness.
Let justice rise, oppression cease, and all the needy bless.

Let nations fear You while the sun and moon endure on high.
Refresh, renew us, every one, like sweet rain falling from the sky.

Let righteousness abundant be where Jesus’ reign endures;
Let peace increase from sea to sea ‘til moonlight shall be no more.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).