Day 139: Ecclesiastes 1-6

Ecclesiastes begins with these uplifting words:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
   says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
   Everything is meaningless.” (1:2)

Then Solomon goes on to describe many of the things people look to for meaning...and pronounces them meaningless.

Every generation thinks that the former generation doesn't understand them and what's happening, but the truth is it's the younger generation that hasn't quite grasped what's going on. After living for a while you begin to understand that new gadgets and new technology doesn't really mean that life is different...there is really nothing new.

Is there anything of which one can say,
   “Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
   it was here before our time.
No one remembers the former generations,
   and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
   by those who follow them. (1:10-11)

When Solomon became king God gave him the opportunity to receive anything he asked for. Solomon asked for wisdom and God granted that request. He gave him wisdom beyond anyone who had come before and this is what Solomon observed about that:

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
   the more knowledge, the more grief. (1:18)

He says this about all his indulgences and accomplishments:

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
   I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
   and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
   and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
   nothing was gained under the sun. (2:10-11)

He does acknowledge that wisdom is better than folly but they really both end up the same way.

I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
   just as light is better than darkness.
The wise have eyes in their heads,
   while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
   that the same fate overtakes them both.
Then I said to myself,
   “The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
   What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said to myself,
   “This too is meaningless.”
For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
   the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die! (2:13-16)

But I think the whole point to this seemingly depressing book is found here:

A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? (2:24-25)

The phrase "without Him" stand out to me.

He is where you find meaning.