Understanding reality

Many of the observations in Ecclesiastes are related to work. We might even say that Solomon is investigating the significance of our work on earth. This is highlighted by the repeated phrase "under the sun". If you want more on this topic and an interesting overview of the book, read this article. 

We often wonder if what we do will have any real significance for the future. We seek not only to find meaning in our own lives through what we do, but also to have what we do or say have a significant impact on future generations and to help them find meaning through what we leave behind.

Solomon gives us no guarantees! There is no assurance, from his perspective, that what we do will be significant either for us or for those in the future. So what is the point of life? Chapter 1 focusses on the repetition revealed within all of nature. There is nothing new. There is nothing that is unique enough to be remembered or to make a real change in the cycles of the years and seasons. He even observes that, "in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain." Eccl. 1:18

What can we observe from this reality in our fallen world?

• The more we know, the more we find that we don't understand.
• The more we try to repair, the more we find to work on.
• The more we see, the more disappointed we are with the the brokenness around us.
• We are always surrounded by grief and pain in this life.

These realities are where we live and what constantly causes anxiety and fear in our own hearts and in our relationships. This is the starting point but it does not mean that we must maintain this perspective forever. If we stay here, if there really is nothing more than this, then we certainly have nothing to live for and nothing to hope for. Our task now is to gain a higher perspective which acknowledges this temporal reality but sees beyond it and beyond our limited humanity to a spiritual reality. A new and hopeful perspective is not possible without a calm and reasoned assurance that a spiritual reality does exist and can actually inform a higher perspective.

So, where do we stand? We have to know what is real. We have to know our current context and how our current culture has shaped our concepts about identity and reality. Most importantly, we have to be able to measure and evaluate our perceptions of reality against what is actually true for all time and all people in all situations. Only then as we begin to broaden our perspective of reality can we get a better understanding of our own purpose and value within that reality. 

Solomon summarizes it in this way: "I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him." Eccl. 3:12-14 (NIV)

What is real? God is real. He is the Creator and His power and wisdom maintain both the spiritual and physical realities of our existence. "In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." Heb. 1:2-3 (NIV) What is valuable in our universe? That which He has called "good" as described in Genesis chapter 1, which includes the heavens and the earth, the sea and dry land, the birds and the fish, the animals and the plants, and finally humanity made in His image. 

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV)

This is central to our reality, that God has created the physical universe, that he made us in His image as the caretakers of this reality and that we honor the value that He has placed on His creation by faithfully carrying out His commission. There are many opinions on the "what" and the "how" of reality but no good answers can never be reached without the "why" of reality. Everything begins with God. There is no purpose to anything without Him as Creator. Our own purpose begins to take shape when we understand this reality.