Ecclesiastes 3:9-13
Real Satisfaction in Work: God's Gift to Everyone - Ecclesiastes 3:9-13
Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 (NIVUK)
What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil - this is the gift of God.
Commentary
Revd. Mark Fletcher: And let’s be clear at the outset. Work is essential. It was given to Adam and Eve in the garden even before the fall. It is something that we are made for, and by the grace of God, we can find real satisfaction in it. Verse 13 said, it is God’s gift that all might eat and drink and take pleasure in all of their toil. There’s a really interesting detail that this is about everyone. This isn’t just Christians. This is a common grace. And so whether that’s paid employment or caring for others or raising a family or volunteering, serving, creativity, in its right place, there can be found real satisfaction in work done well. But the Bible is also clear that work can be hard and frustrating. The consequences of the fall in Genesis 3 say that through hard toil you will eat food from the ground all the days of your life, and when you plant good seeds, thorns and thistles will grow. And some of you, that might be exactly your experience of work. You know, just as this has been an awful year for farmers, often our work will not bear fruit in the way that we hope, because the world is not as it should be. And so we need to not be naive or idealistic about work.