Musings on Ecclesiastes: The Meaningless Cycle

Hello All,

‘Let us break out from the routine of life and live life to the fullest!’ You may have heard aspiring idealists utter this phrase before.

No matter how hard one would endeavour to break out from mundane routines, no one can ever escape the meaningless cycle of life. You were born into this world, you try your best to survive, you grow old and then you die.

Musings on Ecclesiastes: The Meaningless Cycle

By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling (14th Jan 2014)

I awoke one morning and remained on my bed

It was yet another dawn of the day ahead

The metal cog in the wheel must not cease turning

Just as the sun shall not miss a day of rising

I arose to attend to my chores and duties

The eye is never satisfied with what it sees

The hands find little fulfillment in their labour

The heart discovers little that it can savour

'You should be more thankful,' my mind whispers to me

'You're not starving like those entrenched in poverty

Life has been kind to you, why are you unhappy?

Why do you wallow in sadness and misery?'

But my heart beats in rhythm with the vain cycle

Of a meaningless world with its empty people

Where happiness is short-lived and sorrows abound

Can the true meaning of this life ever be found?

The thirst of dreams and desires remains unquenched

Disappointments and wounds leave their unpleasant stench

'Why give me desires without their fulfillment?

Why give me mere dreams without their accomplishment?'

Well, a wise man once said, 'If there remains in me

A desire that cannot be quenched by worldly

Things; This means that I was made for another world'

Within God's Word, the meaning of life is unfurled

We are but weary pilgrims sojourning the earth

Who can look forward to life of eternal worth

After death, we shall see Jesus Christ face to face

And find such boundless joy which nothing can erase

Points for Reflection:

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.

(Ecclesiastes 1:9-10)

·         Our world boasts of new inventions and advancement in technology. It promotes new products which serve to enhance beauty, intellect and the comforts of life.

·         But if we were to take a step back and observe those so called ‘new discoveries’, we will find that they are not new at all but are just innovations of old things in history.

·         We place such great confidence in such ‘ground-breaking’ progresses which has not made the world a better place but it has instead generated a competitive culture of selfishness, individualism, strife, animosity and even violence.

·         Have you been placing your confidence in technological advancement and ‘ground-breaking’ progresses over God? Remember that it is God who created men with the ability to invent things from materials created by God.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

(Psalm 20:7)

All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

(Ecclesiastes 1:8)

·         Many of us (on a good day) would have the impression that the writer of Ecclesiastes composed his book on a very bad day. We might feel like patting him on the back and saying to him, ‘Hey, cheer up! Life is not that bad… Look at the bright side of life. You are far too pessimistic!’

·         We strive to suppress the void in our hearts by rewarding ourselves with pleasures, relationships and achievements to gain our self worth. ‘This is what life is all about,’ we tell ourselves as we place the object of our hopes in finite things. But as much as we would try to deny it, those things have never satisfied us the way we have expected them to.

·         There are times when the emptiness of life would hit us very hard. It could be just an ordinary mundane day which turns like a cog in a wheel - a meaningless cycle. You wake up, work, do your chores, socialize, relax and retire to bed. Even if you were rich enough and did not need to work, your life of leisure would be just another meaningless routine – luxurious vacations and enjoyments of life tend to lose their potency if you have too much of them.

·         Is the weight of life’s emptiness resting heavily upon your heart? Do you ever wonder, ‘What is the point of life? What am I actually living for? Why am I not satisfied? Why do disappointments and emotional hurts leave scars in my heart? Why is happiness short-lived and why do sorrows abound?

·         In his book entitled, ‘Mere Christianity’, C. S. Lewis said, ‘If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.’

·         Mankind has chosen to reject God, the source of life’s meaning, and that is why our fallen, sinful world is full of suffering and emptiness. We were made to be in a loving relationship with our Creator, whom we have often neglected and even ignored. We were made for another world – God’s kingdom, heaven itself. While we are living on this earth, we will face many trials but we can draw strength and comfort from our God who helps us to keep our eyes fixed on the precious hope of eternal life offered to those who trust in Christ.

·         What is keeping you from finding true hope and satisfaction in Jesus Christ? Do not turn to anything else in the world but look to Jesus for life’s true meaning.

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

(John 4:13-14)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

(Romans 15:13)