What does it take to make you happy?
My chronological Bible reading of late brought me to Ecclesiastes where I discovered an irresistible urge to pause and linger for awhile.
Maybe the desire stemmed from my recent milestone birthday (70) with the need to reassess the meaning of my life. With more years behind me than before me, am I placing importance where importance should be?
What, according to the Preacher (Qohelet in Hebrew, pronounced, "Go yell it") is fundamental to happiness?
Is it pleasures found in retirement?
Is it leaving a financial legacy to family?
Is it meaningful ministry?
The list could go on.
I don't think I'm alone in pondering these questions along with Qohelet. I believe his ancient and existential quest for meaning hits a nerve in contemporary culture.
No wonder--since God's Word, though written thousands of years ago, is timeless.
In masterful philosophical, poetic language, Qohelet poses several questions that invite the reader to evaluate what is truly profitable in life.
Author Jamieson focuses his camera lens on a three-story structure . . .
With Qohelet, the reader enters the ground level where the Preacher sets his heart to investigate what makes for wisdom and folly, and in doing so, discover what is truly profitable. In his all-consuming quest, he determines that all is hevel or vanity ("absurdity" as Jamieson notes).
Qohelet strikes "blow after blow to our sense of what's worth living for" (7). It's as if the world and all its possibilities offered one cheek and then the other.
In the midst of it all, we are left feeling totally out of control, even as we continue to grasp for an anchor, whether in pleasure, work, education, relationships, money, power, or position. To top it off, the reality and finality of death hunts us down while we work hard to ignore its vicious pursuit.
Just when Qohelet has plunged us deep in despair, he leads us to the second level in his three-story structure. According to Jamieson, the Preacher now moves from observation to conclusion based on what he saw and experienced. He maintains that life is a gift sustained by God. Recognizing the multitude of good things God's given moves the reader from despair to delight. Qohelet has effectively invited us to a higher level which points to the Creator.
After spending the bulk of his time on the ground level and the second floor, Qohelet moves us to the third level in the structure. In compelling terms, he urges the reader to understand and embrace the Creator as the One who will also judge him. Yes, receive his gifts with gladness, but also obey him with reverence (xix). This is the whole duty of man, says Qohelet, backed by the wisdom and authority of the one Shepherd, God Himself (Eccl. 12:11).
I left the book, both Ecclesiastes itself and Jamieson's treatise on Ecclesiastes, with my spiritual lens wiped clean.
Once again, Qohelet and Jamieson reminded me of what's truly important: that God has set eternity in my heart, that He has gifted me eternal life through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that supreme happiness comes from enjoying Him in this life and the next while inviting others into relationship with Him, too.
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Check out Everything is Never Enough by Bobby Jamieson
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