This morning I was reading through Ecclesiastes, and there is only one word to describe some of the thoughts contained in this book… depressing.
Solomon details his journeys through gaining riches, success, wealth, wisdom, possessions, and really anything you can think of. It almost makes you wonder, how could someone like that not be happy with their life?
Solomon had a very different perspective on money and wealth than most of us have, and his perspective came from pure and raw personal experience with it. He had the highs and lows of accomplishments and toil, he ruled over people that came to him with all kinds of situations and problems, and he struggled to find God’s will in all of these situations.
In the first couple of chapters, Solomon goes through the way that men “work” and relates all that we do “under the sun” as vanity. Over and over again he repeats this word, not able to find anything else that describes the hopelessness in going to work every day without a cause or meaning behind what you are doing.
Have any of you ever felt this? You wake up to a tireless alarm, get ready for the day, and before you know it, you are sitting at your desk wondering what exactly you are doing with your life?
There is hope in God’s word for the purpose behind work, and we are not left to be in this hopeless state forever. Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 highlights this…
“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from Him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”
It is scary to think of the alternative isn’t it? Apart from God, work is just a meaningless task that will really get us to one place…nowhere.
Today, I want you to take some time throughout your tasks and think about one thing, What is God’s place in your work?
Are you primarily doing it all for yourself? For personal gain? Or are you working to please God, and to make Him proud of you as His child?
God opens doors for us every single day, he brings situations upon us where we can either choose to honor and glorify Him, or we can shirk away in the shadows. Today make it your goal to do everything as if you were doing it for Him. No matter how small the task, make it count, and don’t sacrifice on any of the details.
Did you do something today that was above and beyond the call of duty? Tell us about it. We all need encouragement to get out of our comfortable and daily routine, and to go against what the world screams at us to give in to … laziness.
By: Erika from Faithful with Finances
Meet the founders of Faithful with Finances: Tony Amaradio and his wife Carin.
I have Philippians 4:6 in a little frame on my work desk to keep me focused. “Don’t worry about anything-instead pray about everything. Tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. This causes me to consistently bring my workday worries and pressures back to my Heavenly Father and reminds me to keep my eyes on HIM.
That verse is always a great reminder! Workday worries can definitely get to us if we don’t remember to bring our requests to Him. Thank you for the great perspective 🙂
Thank you Erika for bringing this book to light in your blog. We recently finished reading Ecclesiastes in our Bible Study group at our church. I think our culture has decided that “work” is a bad word. But, as you pointed out from scripture: “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from Him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”
It’s easy to jump on the band-wagon (in a worldly sense) and decide that work is “no fun”. I would encourage people to look deeper into what they do every day at work. If you get to the point where you feel you can’t wait to get home and your work is difficult to endure then you either need a Godly “attitude adjustment” or a new line of work that better suits the gifts that God has given you. I know I can be blunt at times but I do so out of love.
I completely agree with you on this!! I love your point of either adopting a godly attitude adjustment or finding a better line of work for your gifts – I think so many people fall into the complaining mentality! Work doesn’t have to be this way and God actually created work for a reason! Thank you so much for sharing your perspective, it’s very encouraging!