Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 – All things culminate in Christ

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks about how he set out in search of wisdom. He wanted to know the meaning of life and what it is all about. Tried as he might, he didn’t seem to be able to find the perfect answer. In the process, he had wrestled and grappled with different issues trying to make sense of the world. He admitted that he had not found a perfect answer. More often than not, he seemed to come up against a wall. Reading Ecclesiastes is unlike reading a mystery novel, that one always finds the answer unraveled at the conclusion of the book. In Ecclesiastes, we find struggles after struggles that Solomon had with the different issues of life. And with each struggle, he learned to trust God a little more, even though the answer is not always patently obvious.  As disciples of the Lord Jesus, we also discover that this is what discipleship practically looks like. We don’t arrive at the climax all at once. We realize that discipleship is a process, a journey where we discover the answer progressively. We learn precept upon precept, line upon line, and faith upon faith, here a little, there a little.  

Even though we are now at the end of Ecclesiastes 8, we still encounter Solomon’s struggle with the same question concerning the meaning of life. Accepting his inadequacy, he said in verses 16-17, “When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However many men may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.” Here Solomon was talking about spiritual search very openly and frankly. His objective was to learn as much as he could about life. As he discusses his personal experiences as well as his observations, he found to his chagrin, there has been no yield to his search. He also realizes that no one could say with all certainty that he has discovered the plan of God. It would be a lie for anyone to claim he has unlocked the mystery to the meaning to life.   

What Solomon said in these two verses remind me of a Suntan cartoon featured on the Sunday Times many years ago. This was what Suntan said in that cartoon: “The older I get, the more I learn. The more I learn the more I worry. The more I worry the older I get.” The point is this: life is a fruitless and frustrating endless cycle of futility. All this, of course, is under the sun perspective. Man can spend sleepless day and night in the quest for the meaning of life. And their fruitless search had generated much anxiety, and still come nowhere near to uncovering the answer to the meaning of life. This was also the frustration of Solomon. However much he tried, he had come against a wall and acknowledged that it had all been an exercise in futility.

It is true that God’s ways are unfathomable. It is beyond the capacity of human search. With all the modern technologies, man’s understanding of the mystery working of God is only a small fraction of what God had revealed concerning Himself. We thank God for revealing His plan in Christ. And we now know that it is in Christ that all the plan of God will culminate. Life can only be fully known in Christ. We are privileged that He has revealed that to us.  Instead of being frustrated with what we do not know, why don’t we get on with life, with all that God had revealed concerning Himself. Even though we do not know everything about Him, we certainly do know enough of His wisdom to worship Him for who He is. And to get on with life with hope and joy!