Thy Strong Word – Ecclesiastes 3:9-22. All is vanity: Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow…is the Lord’s!

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Rev. Jason Bredeson, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sacramento, CA joins Rev. Brady Finnern to study Ecclesiastes 3:9-22.

Solomon transitions from proclaiming the reality of the world to the joy of God’s people serving in this world. He encourages us to live with joy while we serve in our vocation as Christ is risen from the dead (I Corinthians 15:58). We can look at the world and use the tagline, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” More faithfully we can say, “In Christ, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow is in His hands.” “Lord God, give us joy in Christ that we may eat, drink, and be merry for You are a child of God and He has all authority. Amen”

Thy Strong Word reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations.

Thy Strong Word is hosted by Rev. Brady Finnern, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Sartell, MN, and graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-22

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 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. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.[a]

From Dust to Dust

16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. 18 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. 19 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.[b] 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 3:15 Hebrew what has been pursued

Ecclesiastes 3:19 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. esv.org