Since February, I have been anticipating getting to the part of my reading plan that takes me through Ecclesiastes. How come? Because a book I read back then shifted my paradigm on how I might read through the Preacher’s musings on how all things are but “vanity of vanities” (Eccl. 1:2). In Bobby Jamieson’s Everything is Never Enough he frames Ecclesiastes as a three-story house, with each floor giving a different perspective on life. And this morning, my reading let me visit the second floor.

When I’ve read Ecclesiastes in the past, using Jamieson’s filter, I have for the most part been preoccupied with the ground floor – the futility of, and the frustration from, all that is done “under the sun” (Eccl. 2:17). The floor that leads to the conclusion that “under the sun . . . all is vanity and a striving after wind” (Eccl. 1:14). The original word for vanity, hevel, means a vapor or a mist, thus life is but a striving after wind. Pretty depressing stuff, actually.

So, in past readings of Ecclesiastes the value was found pretty much in the reminder to “seek the things that are above” and “set my mind on things that are above” (Col. 3:1-2) and not focus and live for the hevel of things below. Good stuff, as far as it goes. But is the joy of the Lord intended only for a place and time that is there and then? Or can there be joy even in the toil of the here and now?

Welcome to the second floor!

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? For to the one who pleases Him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy.

(Ecclesiastes 2:24-26a ESV)

From the hand of God . . . that’s worth chewing on. Eating, drinking, toiling, enjoyment . . . all from the hand of God. All a gift from God.

Enjoyment . . . even under the sun, even amidst the hevel. The preacher understanding that happiness is found not in what we can achieve but in what we have received.

To be sure, much of life is a vanishing vapor. But equally to be sure everything good is an enduring gift from God (James 1:17). A gift to be enjoyed. A gift for which to give thanks. A gift which can act as foretaste of what is yet to come, of that which is waiting for us “above the sun.”

Wisdom, knowledge, and joy all gifts from the hand of God. That’s the view from the second floor that Jamieson’s book prepared me for. And I can’t wait to visit it repeatedly as I work my way through the Preacher’s tales of ground-floor woe. For in those visits to the middle floor there is wonder and worship.

So, though I am all too aware of the encompassing clouds of ground floor realities, I take a few moments to pause on the second floor. And I offer praise from the second floor, giving thanks for every gift from the hand of God.

Gifts which are sourced in His grace. Gifts which are to be enjoyed for His glory.

Thanx, Bobby.