Ecclesiastes 1

The last time I studied this book in a Bible study group, someone thought that Solomon would have been diagnosed with severe depression if he was living in today’s world. Certainly, someone could read Ecclesiastes 1 and get that impression! But I’m not so sure. There’s part of me that thinks Solomon—far from having a view of life that was skewed by depression—actually got it.

After all, he makes no secret about the motivation behind this book: “I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (vs 12-14)

I think there is something important to note about this passage (and the entire book) right off the bat. Solomon says he is writing this commentary based on everything that is done under the sun. This is a key phrase in Ecclesiastes. Solomon uses it 29 times in this book, and it is not found anywhere else in the entire Bible. What it means is that Solomon (whether for philosophical or experiential reasons) is viewing and commenting on life without God. He is musing about human existence from the perspective that the universe ends at the sun.

And what is his conclusion? He begins the whole book with it: “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’” (vs 2) What does humanity gain by their work? he asks. Generations rise up and fall away while the Earth constantly repeats its cyclical rhythms. No one can come up with anything new, and nobody is remembered after they’re gone. It’s all empty and meaningless.

And, of course, Solomon is right. When you remove God from life’s equation, it is all empty and meaningless. If you don’t know God, and especially if you don’t know the kind of person He is, very little will seem to make sense in this life. Without God, things quickly turn dark, empty, and worthless.

The June 13, 2011 edition of The New Yorker included an article written by Aleksander Hemon titled, “The Aquarium: A child’s isolating illness.” It is the heart-rending personal account of the ordeal Hemon and his wife went through in losing their year-old daughter, Isabel, to a rare brain cancer. Hemon’s conclusion (which I initially read on a Facebook friend’s wall) was this: “Isabel’s suffering and death did nothing for her, or us, or the world. We learned no lessons worth learning; we acquired no experience that could benefit anyone. And Isabel most certainly did not earn ascension to a better place, as there was no place better for her than at home with her family. Without Isabel, Teri and I were left with oceans of love we could no longer dispense; we found ourselves with an excess of time that we used to devote to her; we had to live in a void that could be filled only by Isabel.”

When I found the article online and read it (which was nothing short of a traumatic experience, as Hemon is an extremely talented writer and pulls you right into the ordeal), I discovered that the one thing he and his wife would not allow anyone to talk to them about during Isabel’s illness was God. They refused to see chaplains from the hospital. They made it clear to friends that God was not to be mentioned.

When I discovered that, it was not surprising to me that Hemon arrived at the conclusion he did—just as it shouldn’t surprise us that Solomon arrived at the conclusion he did. Without God, nothing in this life makes sense. It is pointless to look for meaning outside of God, for God is the meaning. This is not to say that suffering—great or small—is caused by God, just that it will never make sense removed from Him.

And, if Solomon is to be believed, nothing else makes sense removed from Him, either—even the good stuff! For who was ever in a better position than Solomon to experience all this life really has to offer? He had enormous wealth, power, influence, wisdom, and popularity. He was in the best position to see all the world had to offer, to travel, to relax, to enjoy leisure, to do whatever he wanted. And at the end of a life filled with the very best, he still says, “It’s empty. It’s worthless. It didn’t mean anything.”

So, no matter what your life holds right now—wealth and plenty of leisure time or wearisome burdens and brain cancer—do yourself a favor and don’t take God out of the equation. Without Him, everything is meaningless. He is the meaning.