Now that we've been in the doldrums of Ecclesiastes for a month, I thought it high time to examine the joy that is to be found in this little book... because it is there! Weaving through the futility, oppression, evil and death of the book, there is a strong thread of rejoicing. Over and over again, and sometimes even after the bleakest of statements, the author of Ecclesiastes commands us to "eat and drink and find enjoyment in [our] toil. This also is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?" "There is nothing better than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man."
We live in a world broken by sin, and we feel the weight of it. But at the same time, even in the midst of difficulty and sorrow, we are to find joy in the life we have been given by our good God. Ecclesiastes gives us several reasons to rejoice in this life we have been given:
1) Pleasure and joy are a gift from God. God created this world good, and he lavishes good gifts on us. There are so many things in creation that really have no other function than bringing joy. God didn't have to give us light by way of a sun that creates beauty merely by its rising and setting. He didn't have to create the cocoa bean, or the coffee bean, or grapes that ferment into something pleasing. We could still get along in a world that had no colour, no music, no fleecy-soft inner coat pockets (one I've been enjoying recently). But that is not the world God has given us. He has filled this world with more pleasures than I could list, and he does it so we will rejoice in the goodness of our Creator and give him glory.
2) God's sovereignty gives us freedom to enjoy life. Often I cease to enjoy the good gifts God has given me because I become consumed by stress and anxiety over details of my life that I cannot control. I become a slave to worry. Rather than enjoying the present pleasures, I am wrapped up in thinking about tomorrow, trying to manage the rest of my life in my head. And I defend this with the excuse that if I can figure everything out for the future, then I will really be able to relax and rejoice. But this is a lie. Ecclesiastes reminds us over and over again that this life is not under our control. Our lives, and every detail of them, are firmly in God's hands. This, of course, does not negate any responsibility on our part to be wise and good stewards of what God has given us, but it does mean that we must not spend our time in worry over tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. If we really believe that our lives are fully in the hand of our very good God (who is so good that he gives us all things richly to enjoy though we do not deserve it), then we gain the great freedom of really enjoying the life we've been given today, even when there are storm clouds on the horizon.
3) Enjoy all the life you have been given because it is short. "Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. If a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many." (Eccl. 11:8) Moses puts it this way in Psalm 90: "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." This is part of why Ecclesiastes regularly reminds us not only to rejoice in "pleasant" things, but also in the work that God has given us to do, despite that fact that so often it really feels like toil, because we recognize that having work to do means we still have the gift of life.
4) Rejoicing keeps us happily occupied. You're familiar with the phrase "time flies when you're having fun." Ecclesiastes says that isn't too far from the truth. Speaking of the man who rejoices in the life God has given him, it says, "For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart." (Eccl. 5:20) Are you in the midst of difficulty and toil, wondering when it will ever end? Pay attention to all the things you've been given to enjoy, not least of which is the offer of salvation from sin, futility and death through Jesus' death on the cross in your place, and thank God for them. For while a heart of thankfulness does not remove the ache of living in a world stained by sin, it directs our attention off of the hardship we are facing, and toward the good God who has our whole life and all its details in His generous hands, and who graciously gives us so many things to enjoy, though we deserve none of them! And you may well find that the difficulty and toil passes far more quickly than when you focus only on the things you need deliverance from.
Yes, we must be careful not to find our ultimate joy in earthly things that can be taken away at any given time (Eccl. 11:8). Yes, we enjoy life only within the boundaries that God has set for us, recognizing that the day will come when we will have to answer to a Holy God for all we have done (Eccl. 11:9). But we ARE to enjoy what God has given, and thank Him for it.
We are sinners deserving of death, and yet we have been offered life and everything good through Jesus' death on the cross in our place! So we cannot merely be a people who ask hard questions and grieve oppression and futility. Yes, there are times to weep and mourn. But even in the midst of our mourning, may we be a grateful people. May there be a strong thread of rejoicing even in the middle of our pain and grief. May we not forget that God blesses us daily with many good things to enjoy, and that even in the worst circumstances, we have life, and salvation in Jesus. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)
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