The Gifts of Toil and Time
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Ecclesiastes 3:9-15
“9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.
11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.
14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.”
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A Definition of “Justice” Beyond “Deserve”
The word “Ecclesiastes” is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Qohelet,” which means “Preacher.” It is found in the Old Testament, and is a book of wisdom literature that belongs alongside Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Solomon.
These “books of wisdom” are a miscellaneous collection of liturgical poetry, secular love poetry, and collections of generally wise sayings. The actual author of Ecclesiastes is unknown, but verse 1:1 attributes the book to “the son of David, king in Jerusalem,” or Solomon.
Personally, I would always counsel that reading any part of the Bible should be done in a state of prayerful reflection. But this is especially true of Ecclesiastes and its fellow Books of Wisdom. These books present subtle, complex, and powerful reflections on our state of being.
MOST OF ECCLESIASTES – AND ALL OF THE BOOK OF JOB – ARE CONCERNED WITH A SPECIAL BRANCH OF THEOLOGY CALLED “THEODICY.” Theodicy deals with what is more commonly called “the problem of evil.” But “evil” sort of overstates what theodicy is about.
THEODICY MORE OR LESS DEALS WITH ANSWERING THE QUESTION “WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE.” Much thought in Old Testament times held that, in fact, good people reap good rewards, and bad only happens to bad people.
THE IDEA THAT “GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE AND BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE” IS CALLED “RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE.” From that simple premise you can get to all sorts of strange conclusions. Let’s consider a few examples.
Do you know why people used to fight duels over a disagreement? If someone had a disagreement with someone else, they could either take that disagreement to a court of law and follow judicial rules (a trial, etc), or, in most Western cultures, fight a duel.
The idea behind fighting a duel was – believe it or not – theological in nature. It was believed that, since each person had around a 50-50 chance of shooting the other, God would protect an innocent person from being killed, and would guide the bullet to the guilty person.
The author of Ecclesiastes, however, didn’t see this model of “good things always happen to good people” as the way the world works. We read in Ecclesiastes 9:1-2 “the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands,
but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.”
Reading on in Chapter 9, we find “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all” (9:11).
Our fate, the author of Ecclesiastes maintains, is an inscrutable mystery that remains hidden in God. All attempts to penetrate this mystery and thereby gain the wisdom necessary to secure one’s fate are “vanity,” or futile.
In the face of such uncertainty, the author’s counsel is to enjoy the good things that God provides while one has them to enjoy. WE ARE TAUGHT IN ECCLESIASTES TO SEE EVERYTHING GOD GIVES US – THE “GOOD” AND THE “BAD” – AS GIFTS. BUT HOW?
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God Gives, and God Takes Away
If there is one person in the Bible who finds plenty of hardship in his life, it is Job. Job is a wealthy man living in a land called Uz with his large family and extensive flocks. Job has some profound indirect – and indeed, quite direct – interactions with God.
Job is “blameless” and “upright,” always careful to avoid doing evil (Job 1:1). One day, Satan (“the Adversary”) appears before God in heaven. God boasts to Satan about Job’s goodness, but Satan argues that Job is only good because God has blessed him abundantly.
Satan challenges God that, if given permission to punish the man, Job will turn and curse God. God allows Satan to torment Job to test this bold claim, but he forbids Satan to take Job’s life in the process. So Satan goes to work. And it gets really bad for Job.
In the course of one day, Job receives four messages, each bearing separate news that his livestock, servants, and ten children have all died due to marauding invaders or natural catastrophes.
Job tears his clothes and shaves his head in mourning, but he still blesses God in his prayers. Satan appears in heaven again, and God grants him another chance to test Job. This time, Job is afflicted with horrible skin sores.
His wife encourages him to curse God and to give up and die, but Job refuses, struggling to accept his circumstances. This is when he utters one of my all-time favorite passages of the Bible, Job 1:21. If you remember one thing from this sermon, remember that verse. Job 1:21.
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” God blessed me, and now those blessings are gone. He has given, and He has taken away. Pure poetry (literally, it’s a poem).
LET THE PROFOUND NATURE OF JOB’S UTTERANCE SINK IN. “WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THE GOOD IN MY LIFE,” JOB ASKS. “GOD GAVE ME EVERYTHING GOOD TO START WITH. IF HE TAKES SOME AWAY NOW, IT WAS HIS TO BEGIN WITH.”
THEN JOB SAYS “BLESSED BE THE NAME OF GOD.” Now, while I always use the New International Version of the Bible when quoting scripture in sermons, in this case I want to point out that this last part of the verse isn’t as straightforward as it seems in this translation.
The New Revised Standard Version, for example, translates “may the name of the Lord be praised” as “blessed be the name of the Lord.” So does the King James Version. I like these translations a bit better, because “blessed” has this sense of awe in it.
“Awe” as in “awesome.” But also “awe” as in “awful.” Awe has a sense within it of wonder. “God gave me everything, and He took everything away. I am in awe of God and bless his name.” To me, this verse is saying something more like that.
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The Dunning-Kruger Effect
Job’s reaction comes from a place of radical honesty. Honesty with himself and his situation. And because he’s starting from that place, he’s able to do something profound. He’s able to be honest about the role of God in his life as well.
Job doesn’t say “all the hard work I did to earn all the things in my life!” Instead, Job says “the Lord gave me everything.” And let’s look closely at what that initial honesty means for his situation.
In psychology, there is something called The Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people incorrectly overestimate their abilities in a specific area, and underestimate the abilities of others.
You see The Dunning-Kruger effect all the time with sports fans. When the team a sports fan roots for is victorious, it’s always “we won!” But when that same team loses, more often you hear “they lost.” We won, but they lost. Do you see what’s going on there?
Job doesn’t end up saying “I’m so unlucky that all this bad stuff happened to me” because he doesn’t start from the premise “I am so smart, and I worked so hard for everything I have, I totally deserve everything in my life.”
THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF “EGO,” WHICH STANDS FOR “EDGING GOD OUT.” LIVING IN EGO IS A WAY OF LIVING THAT IS AS SAD AS IT IS LIMITED. “I HAVE BLESSED MYSELF! I AM GOD! I HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS!”
Because Job is EGO-less from the start, and able to see everything around him in life as a blessing from God, Job is able to likewise praise God in the loss of those blessings. Job is operating from a place of radical honesty – honesty with himself, and honesty about God.
Job doesn’t find himself in fear when something bad happens precisely BECAUSE Job had trusted God when good things were happening. And most importantly, Job was able to recognize those good things as coming from God, not himself.
Because Job’s EGO was never at the center of his understanding of good times, it wasn’t there to be shattered when bad times came along. And because Job’s ego wasn’t being built up when times were good, he had less to be afraid of when times turned bad.
Likewise, Jesus, being fully man and fully God, shows one of his most human moments in the Garden of Gethsemane. Three times Jesus prays for a different outcome. A different way to achieve God’s plan for him in his time here on Earth.
This is one of the moments when Jesus is showing us precisely what it means to be human. Jesus is showing us here that it’s alright to doubt. It’s alright to want to be sure of God’s plan. It’s alright to ask God for the strength to follow-through.
Jesus is showing us what Doubt in Faith looks like. Not Doubting Faith, but Doubt done in Faith. Just like Job, Jesus is showing us how to execute God’s plan. Jesus is showing us that He was here on Earth to Do God’s Work, Not God’s Job.
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Do God’s Work, Not God’s Job
While Job utters that beautiful statement near the beginning of his story, that’s not the end. Job finally does let his EGO get in the way. He never thinks perhaps he might have done something to deserve all the bad that has happened to him. His EGO pops up in another way.
Remember that for Job to think he deserves the bad, Job must first think that he’s done something to deserve the good. This is, in fact, the very idea that Satan wants to test by asking God for permission to torture poor Job.
It’s called “disinterested righteousness.” Satan is testing whether Job is faithful simply because his life is so abundant. Does Job have faith only because he expects something good from God as a result? This is what Satan wants to find out. In Job 1:10-11:
“You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
At first, Job has the viewpoint of “God gave to me, and now He takes away. God is great and I don’t understand.” But there’s a twist to the story: Job’s friends show up. And for weeks, his friends give him trouble about his situation.
Job’s friends say he must have done something to deserve all the bad that has happened to him. But Job maintains that he did nothing to deserve the bad, just as he had done nothing to deserve the good.
But after weeks of this, Job starts to believe his friends a little. Job never questions whether he deserves either the good or the bad that’s happened to him. And he never questions his faith in God. But Job does start to think perhaps God has failed to understand Job’s faith.
And God answers him in Job 38:4-7: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone?”
Note the details of God’s response here. God doesn’t say “Job, I am all-powerful, and I will do to you whatever I want!” Of course, that would be true. God can do whatever God wants. It is never a good route to be taking when we find ourselves doubting that.
But what God tells Job is specifically “Job, I made this.” The most important part of that statement is the “I” part. God made creation. And God delights in blessing the righteous. There is no question about that. It’s all through the Bible.
But God is also wise. Quite a bit more wise than we are. God made us, and God made us in His image. What did we do to deserve to be born? Much less to be born in God’s image? Is there something we did to deserve the sunshine, or the abundance of God’s Creation?
We did nothing to deserve these things. And these fundamentals are given to everyone we know. Life. Our planet. The ability to do good, to be a channel for God’s grace. If God wanted to torture us, why would he make us with the capacity for such things as love? Forgiveness?
WHAT GOD HAS IN MIND FOR US HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT WE “DESERVE.” AND THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT. ALL WE CAN DO IS ASK TO CHANNEL GOD’S GRACE IN THE HIGHEST FORM OF HONOR WE CAN PAY GOD: TO BE USEFUL FOR HIS PURPOSES.
That is righteousness for the sake of righteousness. Because we believe that God is wise, and God loves us, and wants the best for us, we can trust Him. We try not to Edge God Out with our EGOs, and instead place our lives in His care and control.
When we have doubts, we doubt in faith. We don’t get into the pattern of doubting faith. We don’t fear, because we trust. And because we trust, we don’t feel the need to control everything. We know that God will use us for His purpose. And we take comfort in that.
When we suffer, we should focus on the future, on what purpose God has for us, rather than the past, on what might be the cause of our suffering. We want to make ourselves useful to do God’s Work, and the first step in that is recognizing that we can’t do God’s Job.
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The Gifts of Toil & Time
Today’s passage from Ecclesiastes has everything to do with two very big, very complicated ideas: toil, and time. We’re asked in verse 9: “What gain have the workers from their toil?” And we get a partial answer in verses 12-13:
“I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.”
Verse 11: “He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
TOIL AND TIME. EACH ARE OUR CONSTANT COMPANIONS IN LIFE. WHAT HAVE THEY TO DO WITH ONE ANOTHER? EVERYTHING. PERHAPS YESTERDAY WAS A TIME OF TOIL: HARD WORK, DONE IN THE FIELDS OF LIFE WHERE WE REAP AND SOW.
BUT TODAY, THAT SAME TOIL IS ABUNDANCE. WHAT WAS YESTERDAY’S DIFFICULT WORK IS TODAY’S FEAST OF CELEBRATION. WE REAP, WE SOW. A “LIFE” IS ALWAYS A “LIFETIME:” WE ARE, IN OUR VERY ESSENCE, BOTH A “WHERE” AND A “WHEN.”
Does something seem like toil in your life today? Let it develop in time. And crucially, let it develop in faith. In fact, consider this: perhaps what we think of as “faith” and what we think of as “time” are one and the same. How might that be possible?
WILL ALL “BAD” THINGS TURN “GOOD?” NOT AT ALL. BUT “BAD” AND “GOOD” ARE HUMAN-SIZED JUDGEMENTS, NOT GOD-SIZED ONES. WHAT WE SEE AS A “BLESSING” AND WHAT WE SEE AS A “CURSE” CAN BE ONE AND THE SAME, GIVEN FAITH.
WHY? BECAUSE WE EXIST IN TIME. AND GOD DOES NOT. GOD EXISTS OUT OF TIME. GOD “HAS PUT A SENSE OF PAST AND FUTURE INTO OUR MINDS,” READS VERSE 11. “YET THEY CANNOT FIND OUT WHAT GOD HAS DONE FROM BEGINNING TO END.”
TO ESCAPE TOIL WOULD BE TO EVADE TIME. AND TO ESCAPE TIME FOR WE HUMANS IS TO CEASE TO EXIST. SO MAYBE TOIL IS A GIFT? AND THE TIME WE NEED TO SEE TOIL AS REWARD IS ALSO A GIFT?
CONSIDER THIS: TIME IS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL GIFT OF ALL. IT IS THE ESSENCE OF OUR VERY EXISTENCE. AND TIME IS WHAT ALLOWS US TO START TO SEE WHAT MIGHT FIRST APPEAR A “CURSE” AS A “BLESSING.”
Verse 14: “I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is.”
There is that word “awe” again, from Job. CONSIDER THIS PAPER TOWEL ROLL. IF SEEN FROM THE SIDE, IT LOOKS LIKE A RECTANGLE. IF SEEN FROM THE FRONT, IT LOOKS LIKE A CIRCLE. WE HUMANS ARE STUCK SEEING IT AS ONE OR THE OTHER.
BUT GOD, WHO IS OUTSIDE OF TIME, CAN SEE IT AS BOTH AT ONCE. IS THIS A RECTANGLE, OR A CIRCLE, GOD? GOD SAYS “YES.” IS THIS A BLESSING, OR A CURSE? GOD SAYS “YES.” AM I A SINNER, OR A SAINT? GOD SAYS “YES.”
WHY? BECAUSE WE ARE NOT “BEING.” WE ARE “BECOMING.” TO GOD, WHO LIVES OUTSIDE OF TIME, WE ARE ALL EVERYTHING, ALL AT ONCE. WE ARE ALL SINNERS, AND WE ARE ALL SAINTS.
God offers the fulness of abundance to provide our needs. We were created to enjoy that abundance. But we have to get our EGOs out of the way. We have to start seeing our lives for the radical blessings that they are.
To do God’s Work and not God’s Job, we have to see that both the “good” and the “bad” things that happen to us are a part of God’s plan. We can’t hope to understand it. But if we go with the program and make ourselves useful to God’s purpose, we can find utter contentment.
We can find comfort, and peace in our lives by making ourselves useful to God. We can experience the joys of love, and kindness, and forgiveness. God has already given us all those. By getting our EGOs out of the way, we can pass them along to others. We can find purpose.
I’m reminded of this little reflection I read in a daily devotional recently. It goes like this:
“I prayed for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I prayed for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.
I prayed for courage and God gave me struggles to overcome.
I prayed for favors, and God gave me opportunities.
In the end, I have yet to receive what I wanted.
But I know I have everything God thinks I need.”
We pray not because God needs us to, or because we’re not getting what WE think WE want. We pray because IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO SEE THAT GOD MEETS ALL OF OUR NEEDS, ALL OF THE TIME.
We pray to live in God’s will, not self-will. We pray because WHAT GOD KNOWS I NEED IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING I COULD THINK I WANT. Because self-will is a failure of imagination. And God’s will is better than anything we could imagine for ourselves.
