For Reading and Meditation:
     Ecclesiastes 2:12-16

There are some who believe that the writer of Ecclesiastes had lost all objectivity when he wrote this book, and his pessimistic mood affected everything he looked at. As if anticipating that very argument, he says in verse 9: “In all this my wisdom stayed with me.” Disillusioned though he was with the fact that things could not fully satisfy, his objectivity never left him. In the section before us today he re-examines wisdom, this time comparing it with folly. His mind grapples with the idea: “Shall I be a serious thinker, or just go the way of all fools?” His conclusion, initially anyway, is that wisdom has the advantage over folly: “The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness” (v. 14). In other words, it is better to be wise than foolish, better to be learned than ignorant. But would wisdom in itself stop him from slipping toward meaninglessness? In the final analysis, both the wise and the foolish have to face the fact of death. That is a card that “trumps” every other card in life. This, then, is his conclusion: “So what if I do have a fine education? What if I enjoy a good standard of living through the application of common sense? What’s the point when it all ends in death?” The answer, of course, is that there is little or no point if life just ends in death. But the reality is – it doesn’t. There is life in the hereafter, and the quality of life in the hereafter depends on what you are after here.

O Father, let me be gripped by the fact, as was the great apostle Paul, that when I know You, life here on earth is too wonderful for words. And to die? There is nothing but gain. All honor and glory be unto Your matchless Name. Amen.