Reflection: What do you get for the man who has everything?
The book of Ecclesiastes contains the musings of one called only “the Teacher” or “the Preacher”, a king of Israel traditionally identified with Solomon. Solomon, you will recall, was the son of David specially gifted by God with wisdom. Both by his inward nature and his outward circumstances, this Teacher is better equipped than most to get a handle on “all the things that are done under the sun”.
And the spectacle is an overwhelming one. The Teacher’s bird’s-eye view of human activity makes him cry out, like Macbeth, that the whole shebang seems “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
By nature we humans know both what it is to be limited, finite, fragile; and what it is to desire fuller knowledge, the ability to grasp the big picture. Is that tension itself part of the “burden” that God has laid on us, as creatures made in his image?
Question: Where do you feel your limitations? Do you identify with the Teacher’s longing to grasp the big picture, or does his quest seem unappealing?
Prayer: God, you alone are almighty and all-seeing. As your creatures and your image-bearers, we cannot be oblivious to the bigger picture, as we imagine the industrious ant or bee is. Neither can we understand all we wish to. May the tension between our desires and our limitations lead not to discouragement but to wonder and worship. Amen.