Thank you LORD for the simple blessings of our work.

Thank you LORD that you gave me and my family members work or jobs, which sustained us through all these years.  Thank you LORD for giving a new job to my third daughter.  Work can and should be a blessing, especially if we dedicate our toil for You. We can find rewards and satisfaction, and it can provide for our daily needs. Thank you LORD for the simple blessings of our daily work. LORD, please help me to be grateful for Your every blessing in my life.  I worship You, Oh Lord. 

Text:  Ecclesiastes 2:17-26  New International Version

Toil Is Meaningless

17   So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18   I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19   And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 

21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 

26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Watching the morning crowd pour onto the train, I felt the Monday blues kick in. From the sleepy, grumpy faces of those in the jam-packed cabin, I could tell no one looked forward to going to work. Frowns broke out as some jostled for space and more tried to squeeze in. Here we go again, another mundane day at the office.

Then, it struck me that just a year before, the trains would have been empty because COVID-19 lockdowns had thrown our daily routines into disarray. We couldn’t even go out for a meal, and some actually missed going to the office. But now we were almost back to normal, and many were going back to work—as usual. “Routine,” I realized, was good news, and “boring” was a blessing!

King Solomon came to a similar conclusion after reflecting on the seeming pointlessness of daily toil (Ecclesiastes 2:17–23). At times, it appeared endless, “meaningless,” and unrewarding (v. 21). But then he realized that simply being able to eat, drink, and work each day was a blessing from God (v. 24).

When we’re deprived of routine, we can see that these simple actions are a luxury. Let’s thank God that we can eat and drink and find satisfaction in all our toil, for this is His gift (3:13).  By Leslie Koh

[From Commentary]  In Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon—who had everything—begins to despair. But he notes in chapter 3, “[God] has also set eternity in the human heart” (v. 11). He understood that we must look outside ourselves for the answers to our biggest questions. The story of the Bible shows how those answers are found in Jesus. As the apostle Paul reminded us, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). Paul concluded, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (v. 20). Jesus’ death and resurrection infuse our lives with meaning and purpose.  by Tim Gustafson

[From me]  Thank you LORD that you gave me and my family members work or jobs, which sustained us through all these years.  Thank you LORD for giving a new job to my third daughter.  Work can and should be a blessing, especially if we dedicate our toil for You. We can find rewards and satisfaction, and it can provide for our daily needs. Thank you LORD for the simple blessings of our daily work. LORD, please help me to be grateful for Your every blessing in my life.  I worship You, Oh Lord. 

Posted June 24, 2023