The world experiences the turnover of generations, the repetitive cycle of the sun, the endless incessant pattern of wind currents, the perpetual round of rivers to the sea becoming vapour and rain and then seas again. The writer's own familiar words in Ecclesiastes 1:4-7 are these:
"Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever."
"The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises."
"The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course."
"All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again."
Always there are questions. What is it all for? What’s it all about? What is it good for? Why am I here? What am I doing? It’s a bit of a set up really because the Author is going to give an answer. The author's intent is not to cast a pessimistic pall over the reader's life, but rather to improve our understanding of priorities. In the previous post I recited verse 3 which asks, "What do people gain from all their labours at which they toil under the sun?" Under the sun is a key idea and it means in this present world. God has not intended for us the live life with an exclusive 'under the sun' perspective. Then redundancy becomes obvious. We are more than mere creatures of earth, breakfast, lunch dinner and bed; breakfast, lunch, dinner and dead. The Father's House is the compelling goal and being here is preparatory. Enjoy life but don't let it be everything, all that you care about. Don't commit merely to the cycle that repeats, but by faith become transformed so you can be with Christ where he is.
