- The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. -
I know. Had one good day where we heard wisdom is better than foolishness, and now Solomon is taking the wind out of our sails.
This guy is a huge jerk.
Yes, wisdom is like having sight. Remember our discussion on darkness last week?
Tangent – what about your other senses? Tells you how much your body relies on vision.
Fools? Those guys don’t know where they’re going. They jump into things for today not for tomorrow, believing the judge of the future couldn’t possibly want to hurt them.
It’s easier in an affluent society to be a fool. The hard corners that fill our lives are padded in rich countries, i.e. the consequences for thoughtless actions are milder.
What’s the end of turning on the lights before you walk into the room? Well, after enough rooms, death.
No amount of acting wise saves you from it. The lights go out, the dreams end, and you find yourself for the first time not able to take that next breath.
It doesn’t matter if you smoked weed, had a happy marriage and children, or even served widows and orphans every chance you got.
You get death. It’s not obvious that knowing this makes your life better or worse.
Look, one of my favorite parts about Ecclesiastes is how unrelenting and honest it is in the search for meaning. The book is just shy of twelve chapters, kicking you in the teeth about removing false meaning from your life.
That makes it hard to write this blog! Because there’s a punchline in Chapter 12, brief though it is, that puts everything in the proper context.
And trust me, I think you’re supposed to read Ecclesiastes thinking, when is this going to get better? That’s a lot like life, and I’m thrilled God gave us a book that took life seriously.
One of the big confusions we have with questions like “what’s my purpose in life” or “does life have meaning” is we focus those questions on us.
It’s completely necessary to answer those questions. It’s also completely necessary to realize the answer sets you aside.
The answer to the meaning and purpose to your life is that it is indeed meaningless and purposeless. You don’t make a difference. Your life doesn’t matter. Your actions hold no weight.
So why not act like the fool? He’s a lot happier than you most of the time.
Because meaning and purpose exist outside of you. Here’s the crazier idea, meaning and purpose incorporate you within them!
Where do they reside? God.
Yes, the Sunday school answer is the only sufficient answer, yet it leaves you lacking something.
“Hunter, I’m not asking the purpose question denying that! I want to find my meaning in following God!”
I hear you, and my heart breaks for you. We all live in that tension – the space of knowing the right answer without the conclusion given.
To live there is human. To believe in the answer is Christian. To journey towards it is sanctification.
That expedition can only be taken with a single Compass and only one explorer is qualified.
God and you.
Brilliant!