Ecclesiastes 6 Devotional

When Plenty Is Not Enough

“For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?”Ecclesiastes 6:12 (BSB)

Ecclesiastes 6 describes a sorrow that is easy to miss. God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor but does not let him enjoy them (6:2). Even with a hundred children and a long life, such a man has less rest than a stillborn child (6:3-6). We work to feed ourselves, yet hunger always returns (6:7). Better to enjoy what is in front of you, he says, than to live in restless craving (6:9).

The chapter ends with questions it does not answer. Who can say what is good in a brief life that slips by like a shadow, or what follows it (6:12)? He leaves them open. Having is not the same as enjoying, and the ability to enjoy is itself a gift from God (5:19). Jesus warned that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions (Luke 12:15). What is truly good in our fleeting days can only be told by the one who gives them.

To think about: Where has restless desire kept you from enjoying what God has already placed in front of you?