Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 6.9
9 Better what the eye sees 
than the roving of the appetite. 
This too is meaningless, 
a chasing after the wind.

Reflection: Appetite for Distraction
By John Tillman

Distraction has a meme. Of course it does.

The “Distracted Boyfriend” meme started out as a normal photoshoot. Photographer, Antonio Guillem, typically supplies images to iStock and other photo platforms. He set out one day in 2015 to take some images around the concept of infidelity using models he often collaborated with. They took many different images of the stages of a relationship slipping into infidelity but one image caught the imagination of the Internet. The male subject, walking with his girlfriend, looks back at another woman in a red dress. The man has an openly lustful gaze and the girlfriend an open-mouthed look of shock and disgust.

Creative people on the Internet started labeling the image to discuss distraction or abandoning one’s first love. By way of example, historically-minded meme creators made a series with the first image showing the man as Henry VIII, the woman in red as Anne Boleyn, and the offended girlfriend as Katherine of Aragorn. Successive images rotated the women through the cycle with Anne Boleyn being the girlfriend and Jane Seymore being the woman in red, then continuing through with Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Katherine Parr.

But the meme was rarely about sexual infidelity. Most of the time the people were labeled not as people but as things. A popular version labels the woman in the red dress as “new project” and the offended girlfriend as “all my unfinished projects.”

This meme struck a chord because we all recognize something universal within ourselves. We long for more. This makes us susceptible to temptation, distraction, dissatisfaction, and infidelity. Our eyes lead us astray when our hearts are not settled.

The teacher of Ecclesiastes knows something about distraction and temptation. He purposely tested himself in every area imaginable. The conclusion is that being satisfied with “what the eye sees” is better than having a “roving appetite.”

Our roving appetites, whether for sex, money, or power, will lead us to distraction before destruction. We need to have a settled eye, looking upon things that have true value, not upon the distractions of this world. With our eyes on the treasure in the field, we won’t invest in wickedness. With our eyes on the pearl of great price, no costume jewelry will suffice. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, we can let the world be offended that we would disdain its affections.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught the people, saying: “Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of the world is to be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself.” — John 12.31-32

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ecclesiastes 6 (Listen – 1:44)
Psalm 108-109 (Listen – 3:08)

This Weekend’s Readings
Ecclesiastes 7 (Listen – 3:37) Psalm 110-111 (Listen – 1:57)
Ecclesiastes 8 (Listen – 2:41) Psalm 112-113 (Listen – 1:49)

Read more about Wisdom in Houses of Mourning
We limited Jesus, the Bible, and prayer, to “when we have time” as if time was the issue and not our heart.

Read more about Our Opportunistic Opponent 
It is unwise to make too much of Satan…It is unwise to make too little of Satan.

Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 5.8-10
8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. 9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields. 
10 Whoever loves money never has enough; 
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. 
This too is meaningless.

From John: As this re-written post from 2018 reminds us, we should never be surprised to find oppression, cruelty, poverty, or any other evil in the world. We also should never willingly be complicit in it or passively give approval to it.

Reflection: Unsurprising Oppression
By John Tillman

Solomon, the teacher of Ecclesiastes, says, “do not be surprised” to see oppression of the poor and systemic corruption in the government. Jesus, the teacher of Galilee, says the poor will always be with us. (Matthew 26.11) Either of them would be shocked to find their words abused today as endorsements of a laissez-faire attitude toward poverty and oppression.

Rather than an endorsement, Solomon’s statement is a confession of complicity. The profit of the corrupt system, and the guilt for it, passes up the chain of authority and distributes itself throughout the entire economic system to every citizen. The king himself profits from the fields and Solomon calls this profit, “meaningless.”

Christ’s words, often misquoted by politicians looking to cut social spending, reference an Old Testament passage everyone in the room would have instantly recognized. (Deuteronomy 15.11) The other half of the verse is, “Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”

This passage comes from the abandoned economic practices of Jubilee. (Deuteronomy 15.1-11) Under this system, debts (regardless of their origins or the wisdom of the debtors) were to be forgiven every seven years, including a complete reset of property rights once in a generation. (Leviticus 25.10-17)

There is little biblical evidence that the system was ever followed as God prescribed it. If it had been followed generational poverty would be impossible. However, the pull of meaningless profit and gain for gain’s sake was too strong for ancient Israel and is too strong for us today.

As the teacher says:
Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.

The meaninglessness of accumulating wealth is a universal symptom of our sinful condition. We are all affected by it, from the top economic strata to the bottom.

The Bible doesn’t exist to dictate an economic system. Neither Capitalism nor Marxism are on trial. Our hearts are. The Bible commands us to be generous not just with tangible resources, but by influencing the way our culture thinks about poverty. Instead of condemning and blaming the poor for their own oppression, may we speak words of truth and comfort backed up with tangible aid.

Poverty and corruption will always exist, but that doesn’t mean we are free to be complicit, complacent, or callous about it.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for my hope has been in you. — Psalm 25.20

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ecclesiastes 5 (Listen – 2:50) 
Psalm 107 (Listen – 4:12)

Read more about Stories of the Redeemed
What is your story of redemption? Tell it to someone who needs a turnaround.

Read more about Blood Spilled
We need the Holy Spirit to confront us with the enormity of injustice around us and to stop saying, “I am innocent. I have not sinned.”

Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 4.2-3
2 And I declared that the dead,
    who had already died,
are happier than the living,
    who are still alive.
3 But better than both
    is the one who has never been born,
who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.

Reflection: Existential Dread
By Erin Newton

Something I have learned in counseling was the advice to let people express themselves without correction. Suffering leads us to heavy emotions with thoughts that are far from optimistic. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes sees suffering and declares that it is better for those who are not alive. This response feels out of place in a faith which declares the preciousness of life.
Ecclesiastes reveals the temporal nature of pleasure, possessions, wisdom, and life itself. Everything is futile. The mature Teacher is attempting to help others navigate the transitory nature of human existence. In the face of oppression without comfort, the truth is that only the dead avoid such pain.

Is it wrong to look at life this way? Is the Teacher promoting hopeless, meaningless existence? In the following chapters, the Teacher will point back toward enjoying life centered on God.

Our faith in God does not remove these moments of existential dread. Sometimes we feel the need to put on an air of optimism in bad circumstances. It can be tempting to hide our emotions even in our prayers. However, pain needs to be voiced. Understanding that pain exists in the world of the living is not an unfaithful observation.

The Bible gives us examples of people who have faced this type of despair. Elijah felt the pain of suffering without comfort. He sat under a tree and hoped he could die (1 Kings 19). But God was not finished with the prophet. Similar to what the prophet learned, the book of Ecclesiastes does not end with a defeatist attitude. Wisdom leads us to God.

Through Paul’s words, we see the release from suffering through death but also the value of fulfilling God’s purpose through living.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith… (Philippians 1.21-25)

Existential dread is answered in a life with God. 

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Let us make a vow to the Lord our God and keep it; let all around him bring gifts to him who is worthy to be feared. — Psalm 76.11 

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ecclesiastes 4 (Listen – 2:18) 
Psalm 106 (Listen – 4:52)

Read more about What to Expect When Suffering
When in suffering, we can at times be surprised by the emotions that are stirred. We can encounter deep sadness, anguish, and even rage.

Read more about Helping Fathers and the Fatherless
May we…introduce…a definition and example of fatherhood that is based on the love that God has shown us.

Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 3.1-8
1 There is a time for everything, 
and a season for every activity under the heavens: 
2 a time to be born and a time to die, 
a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, 
a time to tear down and a time to build, 
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, 
a time to mourn and a time to dance, 
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 
6 a time to search and a time to give up, 
a time to keep and a time to throw away, 
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, 
a time to be silent and a time to speak, 
8 a time to love and a time to hate, 
a time for war and a time for peace. 

Reflection: What Time is It?
By John Tillman

There is a time. There is a season.

There are many well-known poems in the Bible. The Psalm of the good shepherd. (Psalm 23) Paul’s poem about love. (1 Corinthians 13) The poem describing the creation of humans. (Genesis 1.27) The Lord’s prayer. (Luke 11.2-4)

The teacher’s poem about time and seasons, however, might be the most well-known biblical poem in our culture. No small part of its fame is that it was turned into a megahit song by The Byrds, released in 1969. The song landed in a turbulent era. It seemed that the song’s opposites were all flooding the world and contending against each other. 

Our time is not so different from that time. We see, hear, and feel all around us the elements of the song. Love and hate, war and peace, deconstruction and reconstruction, sowing and harvesting, mourning and joy, harm and healing. 

Reading a little further, we find that the teacher also tells us of another time and season. There will be a time “to judge every deed.” There will be a season when the unseen will be seen and both the righteous and the unrighteous will face a time of judgment.

What time is it? What season are we in?

Today, let us pray that we will understand the times and seasons that we find ourselves in using some scriptures focused on seasons.

Thank God for his assurance and presence in all seasons.
Ask him to depose wickedness (within and without us) and grant us wisdom.
He changes times and seasons;
    he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
   and knowledge to the discerning. (Daniel 2.21)

Pray for strength to prioritize gospel cultivation.
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4.2)

Pray for grace to understand the present time.
And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13.11)

Rest in him. He holds all things together.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3.8)

The time to do good is always now. Let us not be weary in it, for the time of harvest is coming. (Galatians 6.9)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Our God will come and will not keep silence; before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm. — Psalm 50.3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ecclesiastes 3 (Listen – 3:02) 
Psalm 105 (Listen – 4:02)

Read more about Miracles of Deliverance and Judgment
We pray for more than just miracles of weapons that do not prosper against the innocent. We pray for the even more miraculous deliverance of the hearts of evil leaders to change.

Read more about Why Do We Need the Leading of the Spirit?
The leading of the Spirit—O, how highly necessary is it! Who can be without it?

Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 2.10-11, 16-18
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; 
I refused my heart no pleasure. 
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.

16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. 
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; 
the more knowledge, the more grief.

Reflection: Over the Brink of Success
By John Tillman

Proverbs gives us expectations about wisdom and its outcomes. The wise prosper, find success, and are satisfied. Then Ecclesiastes dumps cold water on our optimism.

People love stories from the brink. We’ve all heard testimonies from those who approached the brink through drug use, alcoholism, sex, greed, or violence. They reached the edge, saw emptiness, and turned back. Ecclesiastes feels like one of those stories. However, Ecclesiastes is not about reaching the brink of failure or addiction. The teacher plunges over the brink of success and finds an equally empty void of meaninglessness. 

“All is meaningless,” says the teacher. “Trust me. You think wealth will satisfy you? Doing what you love? A great job? Impressive accomplishments? Unlimited sex? Sorry, folks. I did it all and it’s all meaningless.”

The word translated “meaningless” is difficult. Many Bible translations render it as “vanity.” It means something transitory or unsatisfactory. It’s figurative meaning is like vapor or breath. Ecclesiastes clarifies, saying it is like “chasing after the wind.” Imagine grabbing a handful of smoke. The smell of it might still be on your hands and clothes, but there is nothing substantial there.

How can Solomon, the teacher of the book, say “all is meaningless”? Isn’t one of the strengths of our faith that it gives us meaning? Is Solomon jaded and dissatisfied? Did he misuse the unique wisdom God gave to him?

The teacher sees the world as it is, up close, and to excess. Whether sex, wealth, or the wisdom (and foolish idolatry) of other cultures, Solomon drank deeply of it all. It was, at least partially, a lived-out experiment.

This experiment comes at a cost of grief. Humans bit the fruit in the garden because it was “useful for gaining knowledge.” (Genesis 3.6) Solomon takes a big bite of the world’s so-called knowledge, as do we all. 

It is uncomfortable to hear the success we long for is pointless, but it’s healthy. We can’t succeed our way to joy, pleasure ourselves into love, or spend our way into significance. Joy, love, and significance come to those who pursue the treasure of our gracious God, not the trophies of a ruthless world. (Matthew 13.44)

The wisdom of Proverbs and the wisdom of Ecclesiastes are not in conflict. Both call us to trust not in attainment of success but in attuning our lives to God’s voice and our actions his purpose.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
How great is your goodness, O Lord! Which you have laid up for those who fear you; which you have done in the sight of all. — Psalm 31.19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ecclesiastes 2 (Listen – 4:03) 
Psalm 104 (Listen – 3:37)

Read more about Solomon’s Folly
Most people seek to retest Solomon’s findings. “Sure, sure, wealth and pleasure are meaningless,” we say, “but let me try.”

Read more about The Identical Nature of Greed and Lust
Lust and greed are the exact same sin. One is concerned with material goods and one with flesh.