So if you haven’t already read my other post, Ecclesiastes Chapter One:  Meaningless, I urge you to check that out as well. But what we are going to dive into in this chapter is very similar to chapter one. Now the entire book of Ecclesiastes has this same mind set with this idea of figuring out what the point of life is.

So we are going to start with a few of the last verses in the chapter, I would say the focal point of the chapter. Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 says, so I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the Hand of God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from Him? God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please Him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please Him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. 

A few things to pull out of these verses:  1) Pleasures are from the Hand of God, 2) Who can eat or enjoy anything apart from Him?, and 3) God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please Him.

Are society can fit perfectly into what this chapter talks about…trying to find pleasure and satisfaction in almost anything in the world. But the key word here is “trying,” because they are going to die without finding it if they just look at the things in this world. Solomon paints this picture for us of what he tried to find pleasure in and it failed. Building big houses, having gardens and vineyards, having women, he tells us that he was the king and that he could have anything a man desired. So let’s plug our life into this equation, are you looking for God and pleasure and satisfaction in your stuff? In your cars, in your education, in your career, in your wealth, all of that stuff is meaningless. 

1) Pleasure is from the Hand of God, without God you will never experience true pleasure. This world will fail you every time. Whatever it is that you may be enjoying, it’ll soon fade away. How many times have you bought a car and the “new car effect” wore off pretty soon after?

2) Everyting you do, eat, drink, or whatever, you can’t truly enjoy it without God. God is the ultimate source of joy and satisfaction for us. As Followers of Christ we are to look for God in every circumstance, even in the hard times. In the book of James, he tells us to count it all joy when we experience variou trials in our life. Through everything, the good or bad, look for God and look for the joy that He will supply you with. 

3) God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please and love Him. John 14:15, Jesus says, “if you love Me, obey My commandments.” God will supply us, true Followers of Christ, with the necessary tools to carry out His plan and His design. So many times we feel as if we need to be ready before we accept Christ, that is not how He wants you, He wants you and I to come as we are and He will help us and mend us. 

John 15:19 says, the world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. We are called to be in the world not of the world.