“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?”
The Finish
The Preacher names something worth taking with genuine seriousness here, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, worth holding as honest confrontation with the genuine limitation of mere longevity, mere labour, mere accumulated years, if pursued under the sun alone, without the further hope this whole book’s final movement will explore.
This is worth examining against however much your own sense of a life well spent has quietly rested entirely on merely accumulated years, achievements, or labour, under the sun alone, without this further, transcendent hope, worth holding as this book’s own honest warning against settling for merely this described vanity.
This is worth holding as necessary honesty, not nihilism, this whole book of Ecclesiastes eventually arriving, in its own final chapter, at fear God, and keep his commandments, suggesting this honest confrontation with vanity is meant to actually redirect toward this deeper, more lasting foundation, not abandon meaning entirely.
Whatever vanity you can honestly identify in mere labour pursued under the sun alone, receive today this Preacher’s own honest confrontation as needed corrective, not despair, but genuine redirection toward whatever lasting foundation this whole book’s final movement will more fully, more hopefully explore.
Finish Well
- Consider honestly what vanity might describe in your own labour pursued under the sun alone.
- Resist despair, receiving this honest confrontation as redirection, not final, hopeless word.
- Name one specific way your own life is currently rooted beyond merely accumulated years or achievement.
Prayer
Lord, all is vanity under the sun alone. Redirect me toward whatever lasting foundation exists beyond merely accumulated years or achievement, not despair, but genuine hope. Amen.
Carry this today
Mere accumulated years and labour, under the sun alone, are genuinely vanity without deeper foundation.