Work - Temporal or Eternal? Ecclesiastes 1-2

Ecclesiastes 2:20-21 (ESV)

So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

Remember, you can’t read Ecclesiastes without first reading the last verses (the conclusion) of Solomon’s quest.  In the book, Solomon (the richest man who ever lived) is taking a serous look at life to see what matters.  His conclusion:

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (ESV)

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

All that matters, in the end, is that we fear God and keep his commandments.  With that lens we can better understand the above statements of Solomon that as he looked at all his labor under the sun he fell into a feeling of despair.     Most of the older generation in the country lived to work.   The generation coming on the scene currently don’t seem to think that way.  They tend to work to live.   They tend to enjoy the comforts and wealth that were already created by others.   That is a very general statement because there are obviously members of the older generation who live off others and there are members of the younger generation that are full of toil that others live from and by.    But, what Solomon has learned is that, in the end, all we toil for is soon delivered to others.   Solomon is at the end of his life and he is reflecting on all that has been accomplished for him.  He is about to turn his kingdom over to his son, Absalom.   Absalom will end up making bad decisions and the kingdom will be split into then tribes and two tribes.   Perhaps, in the above passage, God is giving Solomon some revelation about the future.   The principle we should learn from this passage is that all the toil we do in life is not eternal, it is temporal.   Paul said it this way in writing to young pastor Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:7 (ESV)

for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

When we live to work and we trust in that toil it is vain and useless and full of despair.   It is only when we realize the eternal matters that the temporal can be enjoyed for His glory.