A woman was lamenting the death of her son in a car accident. She asks why God did this to her. A hospital chaplain replies that God did not have anything to do with her son’s death and the woman snapped back, “Don’t you take away the only hope that I have”. [1] Like many who suffer devastating tragedy, she was hoping God had some significant reason for imposing so great a loss upon her.
If we stand back and objectively look at the personal tragedies we experience in our lives, we must face the fact that most are meaningless. The author of the book of Ecclesiastes (who is identified as the Preacher, who is thought to be Solomon, and who many consider the wisest man who ever lived) provides us with a whole book full of examples. In fact he states that all of life is vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2), or as other translations put it, all of life is a vapor, is meaningless, or is pointless.
Now most commentaries conclude Ecclesiastes teaches that life not centered on God is meaningless. They have a hard time accepting the fact that our existence is pointless. However, look at what the Preacher says. Whether one is centered on God or not does not change the fact that there is nothing new under the sun (1:9-10), that no one is remembered after their death (1:11), that work is meaningless because we must leave the results to someone and we do not know if they will put it to good use (2:17), that God has set eternity in our hearts yet we cannot understand what God has done in eternity (3:11), that we cannot not really know what happens to our spirit after death (3:21), that oppression exists for all regardless of their beliefs (4:1-3), that wisdom is difficult to obtain (7:23-24), that “. . .The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned. . .” (9:11), that wisdom is better than strength but wisdom is not always rewarded (9:13-16), that we cannot understand the works of God (11:5}.
The Preacher states what we know to be true, if we are honest about what we have experienced and know about our life. He gives us an accurate portrayal of the human condition. Do we really think that 500 years from now any of us will be remembered? Do we really think that 500 years from now the events of our lives will have a meaningful impact on that generation? To answer that question, do you know who your ancestors were 500 years ago? What do you know of their lives?
So what is the conclusion of the wisest man who ever lived given that our lives are meaningless? The Preacher simply states:
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ESV)
What makes our lives meaningful is the type of person we become. What makes our lives meaningful is if we utilize our life experiences, whatever they are, to become more like God. The events of our lives are fleeting moments in eternity but what will live forever is our soul. And we determine what our soul will be like by the decisions we make, by our deeds, by whether we keep God’s commandments during the seemingly meaningless events of our lives.
So how should we respond to people who are experiencing deep and painful suffering such as the woman who lost her son? In such a situation our first response is to provide comfort and trying to correct someone’s theology at such a time is not appropriate. Even though God is not responsible for all that occurs on our earth (we do have free will), in times like these we need the faith that Paul expresses in Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Even the seemingly meaningless and sorrowful events of our lives will work together for our good if we allow God to do so.
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[1] Marvin Olasky, “What Price Hope”, World Magazine, December 8, 2018, p. 42.
