Mist rises from the ground, disappearing in the heat and is gone. A vapor and nothing more. The mother of all the living, Eve, held her newborn son, the second child ever born of a woman. Even so, the paradise God created became an evaporating mist, awaiting its recreation on the Last Day.
Eve gazed at the child in her arms. She named him Abel: vapor, lacking substance, anything less would be nothing. Not so with her firstborn, Cain, which means to get or create. Eve thought Cain was the one. He will make right what she and Adam inflicted on the world. He will be the promised Messiah, crushing the serpent’s head.
Cain began to grow, sinful and fallen. Eve now knew he was not the promised Messiah. Hoped faded from her like a vapor, which the name of her second son reveals.
Generations later, Eve’s descendant, Solomon, became king of Israel. In the book of Ecclesiastes, he used another name for himself: ‘Qoheleth,’ Teacher. How fitting, for Solomon wants to teach.
When but a young man, God promised Solomon wisdom. Now, the teacher is no longer a child, but an old man who lived and seen almost everything. The gray-bearded king walks past the Temple, which 180,000 of his men labored seven years to build. He takes his spot before his people.
A golden crown graces the King’s head, a robe of scarlet drapes over his shoulders. The majesty of the city he built towers around him. The Teacher speaks of life, even using the same word Mother Eve once used: Abel. ‘Meaningless, meaningless.’ All is as a vapor, soon to be gone. Everything you see is as pointless and forgettable as the morning mist, as lasting as a puff of wind.
So, where do you find meaning in life? Solomon invites us to ask ourselves. But does our life even matter? Some contend our life is but the span of time between our first and final breath. The best you can do is eat, drink, and party because one day you will die. An acceptable philosophy for a fish or a fruit fly—but you are neither of those.
You are more than a flesh-and-blood creation of God. Unlike the other animals in the world, God made you in His image. He hard-wired you, longing for purpose in your life. You want your life to matter.
Solomon wanted his life to matter. When he pondered the meaninglessness of life, he spoke from experience. Even though God blessed him with much wisdom, the Teacher’s heart stirred and wrestled within, searching for purpose.
Ecclesiastes reveals his search for meaning and what he found along the way. Solomon found laughter and pleasure. He built monuments and parks, filled his houses with beautiful wives and concubines, his treasuries with coin and silver.
Advancement and riches, work and wisdom. Solomon had whatever he wanted from the best of the world. Did he suffer hunger as the King? Solomon was never alone without wanting solitude. He never lacked for money. Every yearning of his heart was soon satisfied, leaving him craving for more, even while bored, a thirst unquenched.
The wise one looked at life. He reflected on what his eyes took in—vapor, empty wind, and nothing more. His life was a gold-plated mist, melting in the heat of the day. His life was a silver-lining of nothingness. Life without meaning ached within him.
The more Solomon got, the more he realized something. None of what surrounded him lasts. Even if it would, we don’t. You can’t take your belongings with you. You feast today, but the worms will be feasting on you tomorrow. The more you clamor to hang on to this world, the more it wisps through your fingers like a passing breath.
How much wisdom do you need to learn that? What do you hold on to for meaning in life? Take a ripe peach in your hand: fuzzy, the essence of the fruit’s flesh entering your nostrils. The fruit with sweet juices to savor, but tomorrow it will be rotten. I hold a paycheque in my hand, but soon enough the money will disappear and be gone.
Meaningless. Such despair is disheartening, dispiriting, and you hate it—but you can’t say it isn’t true. Why bother at all if, in the end, you die? Ah, so here’s the truth: life is only meaningless if you mistake the stuff of this world for life.
Even so, does God tells us to work? Yes! We need to eat. Scripture contains these stern words: ‘The one who is unwilling to work should not eat’ (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Jesus also directs us to pray for food. But none of those are life in themselves.
Are you looking for meaning in all the wrong places? Do worries make you anxious, as you twist your sheets around your legs, unable to sleep? Do you think you deserve more, jealous of your neighbor’s stuff, which keeps you pining for more? Solomon’s voice echoes across the ages: ‘Are you looking for meaning in the meaningless? Are you trying to fill your sails in the evaporating vapors of this world?’
Oh, but the Teacher’s story is not yet ended, for his father, King David, named him Solomon because it means peace. David also gave him a second nickname: ‘Jedidiah,’ which means the Lord’s love is resting on him.
David wanted God’s peace to rest within his son. Even so, Solomon walked away from God for a while, not experiencing His peace—but God never walked away from him. God would send someone who would change everything. His name would be Yeshua; not meaningless vapor, but Savior. We call Yeshua ‘Jesus.’
Jesus was the Savior to come, who would also come to save Solomon. David, Solomon’s father, wrote how Jesus would die for our sins. Men would pierce His hands and feet so we could walk in heaven. Because of Yeshua, we will live in the house of the Lord forever.
Solomon made the same point. Every deed done on earth is not meaningless. He was using poetic license for effect, contrasting our life now with eternal life. Solomon calls us to recognize: We have more to our life than what takes place in this world.
The wise Teacher tells you to put your hope and trust—not in money, food, or fame—but in the Lord. God gives us those gifts, and then provides us with an eternity beyond the ages! So, look to your Savior! Hold on to the life waiting for you in eternity! The life our Lord gives you lasts forever, which is, what in the end, matters.
What God will grant to us in the creation to come gives us meaning, even here and now. Holding on to the life God promises, something odd begins to happen. Everything ‘meaningless’ in this ‘meaningless’ life starts to take on new meaning. Here is how Solomon described it: ‘A person can do nothing better than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I also realized even this from is from God’s hand, for who can eat or enjoy life apart from him?’ ‘Even this from is from God’s hand.’
I hold a peach in my hand. Soon the fruit will decay—but today that wholesome essence of the earth gives strength to my body! Through it, God loves me and cares for me. I cut a piece from the peach and hand the dripping goodness to another; a smile now spreads across his face. Through me, God now loves him. Through such an act of kindness, even the peach receives its meaning and purpose.
I hold a paycheque in my hand. The money will disappear—but for now, it provides a roof from the rain and food for the table. I work many hours for my paycheque, but that is not all. Through my salary, you are bringing God’s love to me, as well.
I, in turn, thank God, returning some of what He gives me back to Him. Sheri does, as well, for through that paycheque, I am showing God’s love to her when she receives the money and uses it. Even our money now receives its meaning and purpose.
I go home and kiss my wife. One day, death will come calling; but today, we are here, each for the other. Through her, God loves me; through me, God loves her. That love of God lasts forever. So, all those little acts of love are not empty or meaningless, for they now take on a meaning and purpose.
A life that only revolves around your days on this earth before you’re under the earth IS meaningless! Not so when you remember that your Savior prepares a life for you beyond this fallen world. Then, everything changes. What you have doesn’t give meaning to life—but life in Christ does give meaning to what you have.
Augustine, a pastor who lived over 1500 years ago, wrote a revealing prayer. ‘You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.’ What is its meaning? You are more than a morning mist or evaporating vapor.
You are a creation of God, first made in His image and likeness, first animated by the breath of God Himself. God gives you a purpose and meaning beyond any money or mere object. You’re a child of God because of God’s love for you in Christ Jesus.
So, hold on to what gives meaning in a meaningless world. Set your eyes on Jesus, who died and rose for your salvation. You are God’s, and He is yours. Then see your life with new eyes, for it springs from Him, is lived in Him, and even for Him.
Like Jedidiah, Solomon’s other nickname, the Lord’s love is resting on you. Like the Teacher, you know the wisdom from above. Like Solomon, God gives you His peace. With what God gives you, you now know the meaning of life. Amen.
