Have You Had a Vacation?

Ecclesiastes seeks to answer life’s greatest mystery: How can one live a meaningful and purposeful life? Trapped between birth and death (3:2), he explores area after area of life. All that humanity can pursue – intellectual pursuits, knowledge, pleasures, happiness, accomplishments, material possessions, work (chs. 1-3) – to show that life without God – life “under the sun” – is “meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (1:14) In chapter 2, he discusses human labor, concluding that work without God is pointless, joyless, worrisome, miserable and grievous. (vs. 17-26)

Work is a necessary part of life, a part God appointed to us in Genesis 3.  Solomon wrote of the seemingly meaninglessness of work experienced by those not working for God’s honor (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23).  He says even when they’re not actively working, he says their “minds do not rest” because they’re thinking about what still needs to be done.

How long has it been since you have had a vacation?  We all have been in and through a pandemic, and for many, life has been the same since the pandemic started. Researchers in Helsinki, Finland discovered something they had not been looking for. They discovered that the death rate was lower among those who had taken time off for vacations.

When we remember that God is part of our labor – our purpose – we can both work hard and take time to rest.  We can trust God to be our provider, for He’s the giver of all things.  Solomon acknowledges that “without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” (vs. 25) Perhaps by reminding ourselves of that truth, we can work diligently for God (Colossians 3:23) and also allow ourselves times of rest!

Prayer: Father, life is full of busy schedules but when we acknowledge who you are and what you would have us to do, we realize that we can work hard and also take time off to rest.  Amen.

Ecclesiastes 2:22 – What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?

Author: Tommy Herndon