Part 1: The Limits of Life Under the Sun
Day 1
'Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter. And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. '
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
Watch this segment of this week’s Going Deeper podcast episode before continuing today’s devotional.
The Teacher looks out at the working world under the sun and sees tears piling up on one side and power sitting comfortably on the other, with no one positioned to comfort either side. He runs the math out loud: the dead are better off than the negative experience of living, and someone never born is better off than either, because at least zero doesn't hurt. The teacher will go onto scan the horizon for anything that could push that number back into positive territory. What would have to change to move your life from a loss back into the positive?
Action: Text one specific person tonight and name, in one sentence, the load you've been carrying without anyone to share it. You were not built to carry weight in isolation.
Day 2
'And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves. Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. '
Ecclesiastes 4:4-6
Watch this segment of this week’s Going Deeper podcast episode before continuing today’s devotional.
Lest we blame the system, the Teacher identifies that at its root is human envy. Yet the Teacher won't let us escape the system either lest we ruin ourselves. So the Teacher offers the only advice he's found: one handful with tranquility is better than two hands full of toil spent trying to shepherd the wind. What would it look like for you to take the one handful with tranquility instead of grasping for two?
Action: Choose the one built-in stopping point in your day, a specific time you clock out, a task you leave for tomorrow, and hold to it instead of reaching for one more thing.
Day 3
'Again I saw something meaningless under the sun: There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless— a miserable business! Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. '
Ecclesiastes 4:7-12
Watch this segment of this week’s Going Deeper podcast episode before continuing today’s devotional.
The Teacher shares the story of a man who has toiled to the top of the ladder who asks himself for whom was all of my toil? The loneliness at the oppressed bottom and the loneliness at the successful top turn out to be the exact same. For the Teacher, at least two people can pick each other up after a fall, share warmth in the cold, or stand back to back against an attacker. Moreso, a three-strand cord that won't snap under pressure. If you fell tonight, is there a name you could say out loud of someone who'd actually come?
Action: Look at the people already in your path this week, coworkers, neighbors, family, whoever's nearby, and move one step closer to one of them in pursuit of friendship: eat lunch together, walk out to the car together, ask a real question instead of a surface one.
Day 4
'Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning. The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor. There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.'
Ecclesiastes 4:13-16
Watch this segment of this week’s Going Deeper podcast episode before continuing today’s devotional.
The Teacher offers one last story about a man rising all the way to the throne, and for a while everyone under the sun rallies behind him. Yet overtime, those who come later aren't happy with the current king and look to follow the next young, up-and-coming successor. Getting to the top and having a crowd around you – the very two things that promised fulfillment – turn out to run through the same cycle as everything else in this book. What are you hoping success and friendships will finally give you that not even a king could hold onto?
Action: Enjoy one success and one friendship you already have today (i.e. a finished task, a good conversation). Hold both loosely as your portion and express your gratitude for these things knowing that they might be here for a breath and gone like everything else under the sun.