Enjoying the Good Life

Enjoying the Good Life

Let's turn to Ecclesiastes 5 as we continue our study of this fascinating and unusual book. Let's begin by turning to the Lord in prayer.

In the early morning of January 24, 1848, in the town of Coloma, California, James Marshall discovered gold in the river near the sawmill he and his partner were constructing. Tests proved it was of the finest quality, 23 karat gold. Word got out and the gold rush was on! Able bodied men in the area and beyond abandoned everything else to search for gold. The sawmill failed and Marshall spent the greater part of the rest of his life prospecting for gold. Marshall died penniless and living in a small cabin.

People do a lot for money. People ignore their families and work long hours just to "get ahead" - which means make more money. People cheat and lie to make money. The FBI warns senior citizens especially against scams that target them because they have often have nest eggs and tend to be polite and trusting. There is a whole industry out there designed to scam elderly people out of their savings. It's hard to imagine but there are people out there who have no hesitation over stealing money for an elderly person. Some people kill for money. Dictators will often lead their people into destitution and starvation just so they can live ridiculously lavish and extravagant lives. People do a lot for money and wealth because it promises to give us everything we want.

But does money deliver on the good life it promises? Or, like Marshall, does the pursuit of money actually destroy our lives and leave us poor and barren (even if our bank account is busting at the seams)? That is the question that Solomon is out to answer in chapters 5 and 6.

But before we read, we need to talk a little bit about a specific literary device that Solomon uses in portions of chapter 5 going into chapter 6. A literary device simply means how the author structures his or her writing and what techniques they use and understanding that literary device is essential to a better understanding and appreciation of the literary work.

In portions of chapter 5 and 6 Solomon is using a literary structure called chiasm. Chiasm is used in a lot in the OT, in fact the entire book of Habakkuk is a series of tightly woven chiasm's. Think of a chiasm as making a series of thoughts or points and then repeating those points in reverse or inverted order. Like walking up steps, step A, step B, step C, then you walk down starting with step C, step B, step A (reverse order). Portions of chapter 5 and 6 are a chiasm: Solomon makes several points, then repeats those points in reverse order. It's another way of emphasizing these points to the reader.

What we're going to do is rather than walk up the steps of Solomon's points and then back down as he repeats them, we're going to combine both step A's at the same time and both B's and both C's as we go so it will mean a little bit of flipping back and forth from chapter 5 to chapter 6. Solomon looks and he notes a difference between people who are enjoying their lives and people who are not. Most of his observations are reserved for those who aren't enjoying life, who are living pretty miserable lives. He will climax this chiasm with the one who is enjoying life - that will be the top of the stairs. The first thing he observes is…

1. The person who is never satisfied

⁸ If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such

things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. ⁹ The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

Solomon observes this basic truth: there will always be rulers and authorities who exploit and abuse people for their own gain. We saw a tragic example of this as Syrian's Asaad murdered innocent men, women, and most horribly, little children just to keep his grip on power. It is estimated that he has killed between 250,000 and 400,000 of his own people over the past six years. All to hold onto what he has. Solomon says, don't be surprised by that. It's this consuming greed and grasping for more power and wealth that makes leaders think that people's lives are there for their benefit. Reading on…

¹⁰ Whoever loves money never has enough;whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.¹¹ As goods increase,so do those who consume them.And what benefit are they to the ownersexcept to feast their eyes on them?¹² The sleep of a laborer is sweet,whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundancepermits them no sleep. 5:8-12

Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,yet their appetite is never satisfied.⁸ What advantage have the wise over fools?What do the poor gainby knowing how to conduct themselves before others?⁹ Better what the eye sees  than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,  a chasing after the wind. Eccl 6:7-9

There are people who always hunger for more, but no matter how much they get, they're never satisfied. It's like they have a tapeworm in their soul- they get and get but it's never enough. They get and get, but their appetite is never filled. Their income increases, but their contentment doesn't. What increases are the things that consume what they have, things like more bills. More people with hands out. More responsibilities. So their money is consumed, their time is consumed, their sleep is consumed as they toss and turn all night with worry, their souls are constantly being gnawed at by desire, and they think the answer is getting more. It's an endless cycle: the more they have, the less satisfied they feel, which makes them work to get more, which makes them even less satisfied, and on and on it goes in this empty and meaningless cycle.

Solomon observes, there are people who are never satisfied with what they have. Having a lot doesn't lead to the good life. Then he observes another really sad thing:

2. The person who can't enjoy life

¹³ I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
¹⁴  or wealth lost through some misfortune,so that when they have childrenthere is nothing left for them to inherit.¹⁵ Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,  and as everyone comes, so they depart.They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.¹⁶ This too is a grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart,  and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind?¹⁷ All their days they eat in darkness,with great frustration, affliction and anger. 5:13-17

It doesn't matter - one person hoards their money, so they have a lot. Another loses everything in a bad deal, so they have nothing. It doesn't matter: both come to nothing. Jesus said life is more than clothing and food - more than material things. We come into the world empty handed and Solomon observes, we all leave empty handed too. But verse 17 is the key: whether they have money or don't have money, it doesn't matter. Either way they are miserable. They eat in darkness - again, it doesn't matter if it's a feast or a morsel, they sit in darkness as they eat. Solomon's not talking about lighting here, he's talking about the darkness of a soul that is miserable, unhappy.

Have you ever had something going so wrong in your life or so bothering you that you couldn't enjoy anything? A beautiful, sunny day was depressing to you because inside your heart has storm clouds over it? That's how these guys are spending their lives. They eat with great frustration, affliction, and anger. Stuff is going on inside - frustration, anger, maybe anxiety or the dissatisfaction we talked about - and they carry this dark cloud wherever they go and whatever they do. They're not enjoying their lives. They're living in the darkness of being miserable and aren't aware of the blessings and the good things in their lives. Flip over to the other side of the chiasm in chapter 6:3

³ A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. ⁴ It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. ⁵ Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— ⁶ even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place? 6:3-6

Solomon uses hyperbole to demonstrate just how tragic this unenjoyed life is and how little it has to do with what they do or don't have. Even if they had a hundred children (and I realize that having a hundred kids might not sound like paradise to most of us, but it would have meant outrageous blessing back then) and live two thousand years, if he can't enjoy all these blessings, then Solomon says it would have been better if he had never been born. He uses the tragic illustration of a stillborn - one of the greatest heartbreaks a parent can have - where that little baby never had a chance to live a day on this earth, yet Solomon says that little stillborn is better off because the person who can't enjoy life is living a wasted life.

3. The difference between the person who can't enjoy life and the person who does enjoy life

At the peak of this chiasm, Solomon contrasts two people - those who enjoy their life and those who don't, and reveals the secret to enjoying life.

¹⁸ This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. ¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.  Eccles 5:18-19

I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: ² God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil. Eccles. 6:1-2

He sees something good: someone enjoying life. And he sees something bad: someone who doesn't

enjoy life. And the difference isn't in what they do or don't have. The difference is God. God gives one the ability to enjoy what they have, and He doesn't grant the other that ability.

Look again at chapter 6:2 - God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire…They've got everything they want. But they don't enjoy all they've got. Why? Because the ability to enjoy life is a gift from God. The other person maybe doesn’t have so much- they might be very poor - but they are savoring the blessings they do have. But God has given them the ability to enjoy what they have. They seize the moment, they treasure the simple pleasures in life, they savor the wind on their face, that beautiful sunrise, a good time laughing with friends, their family. To eat, to drink, to enjoy their work. That is a gift from God.

Sometimes we might think the Bible - or at least the NT - tells us not to enjoy the temporary things of life. But God has filled this earth with things that are meant to fill our hearts with joy. A beautiful sunrise, a warm, summer day. The song of a bird in the morning or the sound of crickets and frogs at night. I love that sound. I remember a time when I had resigned from pastoring and we had moved to the Philly area and I was selling cars at Saturn. And Janice and the kids were still on Long Island because staying with a wonderful family but we barely knew them (at first). So there was a lot of stuff going on in my heart, and when I'd get off work at about 8 or 9pm I'd deliberately drive the backroads and roll the windows down so I could hear the loud surround sound of frogs and crickets making music and it soothed my heart and mind. That is a gift from God given so we could enjoy them.

It is good to just stop and just enjoy your family. Your friends. A great meal, a great cup of coffee or tea or whatever. And, as you're enjoying these things, to thank God for them. Appreciate the gifts that God has given you. And then, thank God for the ability to appreciate those gifts, because that is really the best gift of all.

That brings us to the climax of this chiasm, verse 20.

²⁰ They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart. Eccles 5:20

I think what this means is, they don't get all introspective about their lives, what they have or don't have, what they achieve or don't achieve, who they are or aren't, because they're too busy living and working and experiencing joy while they do it. I've long felt that there's a seductive appeal to introspection. We look deep inside of us to examine our longings, and then try to peel back the layer to find what that longing reveals, only to find another layer, and then another. And yet, there is a whisper of a promise that if we go deep enough we'll discover what we're longing for. And there's a sweetness (that's what I mean by the word seductive) to looking inside. To reflecting on ourselves. And it's a trap. We get self-focused and self-obsessed. We never get to the bottom because there is not bottom to our desires. We are never satisfied when we're trying to find that satisfaction in ourselves.

Joy comes from being busy with what God has given us to do, not from getting what we want. Joy comes from being busy with what God has given us to do, not from looking deep inside and figuring our lives out. Joy is a gift from God, but it's a gift we need to ask God for and make God the center of. Solomon says that enjoying life is from God, and the Bible tells us that joy is found in God, not getting our hearts desires. It's not about having things or not having things, it's about things having us. It's about the choking grip that material things can have on us if we're not careful. Paul balances this for us in 1 Tim. 6:

⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. (that's what Solomon observes too) ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹ Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Tim 6:6-10

Sometimes people get sloppy and say that money is the root of all evil. No, the love of money is the root of all evil. He warns about those who want to get rich, not those who happen to get rich. Those who are eager for money who have wandered from the faith, not those who have money. It's our desires that steer us away from or towards God. Jump down to verse 17:

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Tim. 6:17

When our hope is in God, which means that everything we want out of life is vitally connected to God, we can enjoy all that God gives us. Even hardships and trials have the handprint of a God who loves us, and that can give us joy even when our hearts are breaking with sorrow. And every blessing, every gift, every pleasure is just a waft, a distant echo, of the joy that awaits us in heaven. The more we yearn for that joy, the more we are free to enjoy the blessings we have in this brief life.

But someone might say, if enjoying life is a gift from God, maybe He didn't give me that gift. The point here isn't that God arbitrarily gives the gift to some and not to others. He offers the gift to anyone who will ask and receive, because the gift of enjoying life to the fullest is a gift from God and a gift found in God. We stop looking to things to satisfy and put our hope in God and then find that everything He richly provides us is for our enjoyment. The good life is the God-centered life.

If you're not a Christian, the greatest gift of all is the gift that God offers each of us freely. That is the gift of salvation. Jesus died so that we could live. We could never earn our way into heaven, but Jesus paid the price for us so that eternal life could be given to us as a gift. But like any gift, we can accept it, or we can reject it. God offers it to you, the question is, will you accept His gift, or reject it? I urge you not to reject it. God is waiting and eager to come into your life and give you eternal life. And to fill your life with His presence. But He won't force Himself on you. You need to ask Him for this gift. Let's pray.