Catching Breath and Taking Stock (Ecclesiastes)

Big Idea: While earthly pursuits ultimately fail us, trusting God and resting in Christ transforms our fleeting lives with lasting meaning.

If you ever have a summer day to spare with nothing to do, I recommend a field trip to North Bay. Your timing has to be just right, but if it is, you will encounter a most fascinating insect that will give you reason to think.

I don't have to give you very precise directions, because you can't help but run into this insect. I mean what I say: you'll run into it, so bring some extra windshield washer fluid. The insect I am talking about is called the shadfly.

The shadfly is an insect with no sight and no capacity to eat or drink. They live for about twenty-four hours, and their only functions appear to be flying and reproducing.

Each summer, shadflies swarm North Bay, creating a scene reminiscent of an Egyptian plague. Some years are worse than others. You can't walk, drive, or move without hitting a shadfly. Just as soon as they come, they're gone again.

Settle yourself on a park bench near Lake Nipissing, a bug net draped loosely over your shoulders. Observe the shadfly closely. Reflect on its fleeting existence—consider the shadfly, you sluggard.

For the briefest of periods, they come into this world and make their presence known. And then they're gone. What have they contributed? What were their lives worth? What lasting impression did they leave behind, other than on your windshield?

From a human perspective, they're little more than nuisances. Now sit on that park bench a little longer and consider your life. In the bigger scheme of things, how much different are you than a shadfly?

How much longer will you live? Not long. A few dozen years, if we're lucky. And yet, many of us are beginning to realize just how fleeting that really is. So, the question presses: What is your life contributing? What's the bottom line? In the grand scheme, you and I aren’t so different from shadflies—here for a moment, then gone.

We’ve seen the rise of the executive exodus—driven professionals trading briefcases for lakeside cottages and mountain retreats. Their decisions reflect a cultural shift, a move away from relentless achievement toward deeper questions about meaning and purpose.

People are stepping back, reevaluating, and asking the hard questions: What’s real? What truly matters? Career success and wealth are losing their appeal, making way for a desire for a slower, more intentional lifestyle.

And the questions are coming earlier than ever: “Is this stress worth it?” “Is my career stealing years from my life?” “Is this all there is?” These aren’t idle musings, they’re urgent reckonings. And they’re no longer reserved for midlife—they’re surfacing in our thirties, demanding answers while there’s still time to change course.

I don't claim to have the answers, but the Bible does.

Five Truths from Ecclesiastes

Many would be surprised to discover how Scripture addresses meaning, fulfillment, and life's bottom line. For six weeks, we've explored Ecclesiastes—an Old Testament book written by "the preacher." We're now halfway through.

Rather than plowing ahead, I've chosen to pause and distill what we've learned. We shouldn't rush past the critical message of these first chapters, which speaks directly to you this morning.

Like every human, you seek meaning. Ecclesiastes clearly conveys the true meaning of our existence more so than the brief life of a shadfly.

Here are five key statements that summarize the Bible's answers to humanity's fundamental questions about life's purpose. These are straightforward statements, but their implications are monumental for every one of us.

Here's the first:

Earthly goods cannot satisfy our deepest hunger.

The so-called "goods" of life cannot satisfy our hunger for happiness. Health, riches, possessions, pleasures, honors, career achievements, prestige—these hollow promises fail to fulfill our deepest cravings.

Everything we gather and achieve ultimately turns to dust.

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
(Ecclesiastes 1:2)

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. (Ecclesiastes 2:1)

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

And I could go on. Ecclesiastes makes it unmistakably clear: our souls are hungry for something deeper. We often seek pleasure, health, wealth, possessions, or prestige, believing these "goods" of life will fill the emptiness inside us. But they never do.

Like the shadfly drawn to the light, we too are irresistibly pulled toward these things, convinced they’ll satisfy. Yet, they leave us empty every time.

So why do we keep chasing them? Why do we think that earning more, owning more, being healthier, experiencing more pleasure, or gaining more respect will make us complete? Why do we persist in looking to these fleeting things to satisfy the eternal hunger of our souls?

Earthly goods cannot satisfy our deepest hunger. Here's the second truth:

Life's treasures are too fragile to trust.

These goods are not stable or reliable; if we trust in them, we are in danger of losing them. Ecclesiastes is clear that life is fragile and transitory. What we possess today may very well be gone tomorrow. So what we call the "goods" in life are not deserving recipients of our trust.

So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. (Ecclesiastes 2:20-21)

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. (Ecclesiastes 5:13-15)

For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 6:12)

Jesus said: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19)

Don't depend on that which can so easily be taken away! Your bank balance could disappear tomorrow. Your job, your reputation, your health—all of it could be gone at the snap of a finger.

...lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:20-21)

Earthly goods cannot satisfy our deepest hunger, and life's treasures are too fragile to trust. Here's the third truth:

Pursuing happiness leaves us empty-handed.

The pursuit of happiness does not necessarily bring happiness. This is illustrated throughout the book. Solomon observed people trying to find fulfillment and happiness and concluded that it is out of their control.

A word that Solomon uses a lot is "striving." People are striving for happiness or fulfillment, and what does it gain them?

I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:3-11)

What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23)

Earthly goods cannot satisfy our deepest hunger. Life's treasures are too fragile to trust. Pursuing happiness leaves us empty-handed. Here's the fourth truth:

Human wisdom cannot grasp God's purposes.

Man is powerless. Man is utterly unable to penetrate and understand the laws of government and the universe in this world.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 6:12)

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17)

Memorize these words: "I don't know." They will serve you well. We don't really understand life, do we?

As one hymn says:

I am not skilled to understand
what God has willed,
what God has planned.

And that's true of all of us.

In times of illness, stillbirth, losing a child in an accident, or unemployment, we encounter many questions but few answers. Ecclesiastes confronts us with a sobering reality: we are powerless to grasp the complexities of life and God’s providence.

Here is what we've seen so far. Earthly goods cannot satisfy our deepest hunger. Life's treasures are too fragile to trust. Pursuing happiness leaves us empty-handed. Human wisdom cannot grasp God's purposes.

But there’s one more truth—a truth that changes everything. It would be easy to stop here, to sink into despair and conclude that life is hopeless. Yet Ecclesiastes doesn’t leave us there. Instead, it points us to the most important truth of all:

Rest in God and receive his gifts with gratitude.

Cease striving, avoid all speculation, and put your trust in God. Set aside all anxious striving and labor. Avoid all speculation on God's ruling of the world. Don't second-guess God.

And be thankful to God for whatever satisfaction he gives you, valuing and measuring everything as a gift from him. Never forget that although you are not in control, God is, and we will have to render strict account to him. Stop trying to be God; let God be God.

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)

I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13)

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19)

Ecclesiastes reminds us that what could lead us to agnosticism or skepticism can instead draw us closer to God. Facing life's challenges helps us recognize God's presence and encourages us to believe that solutions exist, even if we don't understand them fully. But Ecclesiastes also leaves us longing for something more, something beyond its own pages. It points us to the gospel, where the ultimate answers to life's questions are found.

God loves us and cares for us. He makes everything beautiful in its time. But the beauty of God's plan is most clearly seen in Jesus Christ. Ecclesiastes highlights the futility of earthly life, while Jesus offers eternal, abundant, and meaningful life above it. He came into our broken world to redeem it and rescue us from a life lived without God. Jesus's life, death, and resurrection provide us with the greatest gift: reconciliation with God and the hope of eternal life.

I speak to you today as a shadfly among shadflies—here for only a fleeting moment. Don't waste your brief life chasing the goods of this world. They can't satisfy, and they're as temporary as we are. But here's the good news: Jesus has done what we could never do. He has bridged the gap between our fleeting existence and God's eternal purposes. He invites us to stop striving, to stop chasing after the wind, and to rest in him.

Acknowledge that you can't manufacture your own happiness. You're not in control, and you don't have all the answers. But Jesus does. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Surrender your life to him. Trust in his finished work on the cross, where he bore the weight of our sin and opened the way to eternal joy. Focus on his kingdom and righteousness, and he will meet all your true needs for both now and eternity.

Learn to find contentment in his hands. Be still, and know that he is God. And know this: because of Jesus, your life is not meaningless. In him, your fleeting days are filled with eternal significance. Turn to him today, and discover the life that truly satisfies—the life that only he can give.