The Meaning of the Meaningless

Can you believe a church once asked me not to teach on Ecclesiastes?
To simply avoid that book of the Bible when talking to young people?
I don’t know whether it was the words’ intensity
or their perceived sadness
or whether those parents couldn’t handle the thought
of their own labors and legacies eventually fading away.
Regardless, I’m reading Ecclesiastes right now
and, admittedly, I’m reading somewhat out of spite,
but I’m finding so much hope there.

I’m not quite done yet, but these are the lessons I’m taking away:

The word often translated as “meaningless”
Actually carries a deep and rich meaning.
A good friend broke out his lexicons and helped me out,
Finding the most apt translation to be “vanity” or “absurdity,”
But I favor an alternate translation:
Smoke or vapor or fog—
The idea being that this smoke is
Something sublime
That cannot be
Captured
Or held onto.
It is beautiful for a moment and then dissipates quickly.
But further complicating things is the quality of smoke to obscure.
If you’ve survived a house fire,
Spent time in a cigar bar,
Or driven to work on a foggy Florida morning,
Then you’ve seen this effect firsthand:
Smoke limits your ability to see what’s ahead.
And so the Teacher in Ecclesiastes cautions us that
Our present toil,
Our present riches,
Our present wisdom,
Our present pleasures—
All of them are smoke,
So be careful how much weight you place on them.

With all the stresses and social pressures of high school,
Can you think of any demographic in the world
That needs this lesson more than teenagers?
(Well, maybe their parents.)

The second important thing is this:
In spite of all this smoke filling your attention, calling to your heart, and obscuring what may lie ahead,
Know that God’s heart is for you.
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.
(Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Eternity is in you
Because God is with you
And though you may not understand
And you may long to hold onto the vapors of this world,
There is something so much better
If you will simply look beyond this cloud.

Think of it in these terms:
Breath is an ongoing metaphor for God’s Presence and Spirit and Life.
Breath and Wind and Movement of the air—
It was Breath that God Breathed into Adam,
Filling his lungs and invigorating him with Life;
Inhale,
Exhale,
The Rhythm of Life repeating;
And at death, the last act is to exhale that Breath,
As if to return it to God.
“The Giver of Breath” is a title repeatedly given to God,
And “Breathing his Last” is repeatedly a euphemism for Death.
Breath is Life,
And It is God’s Gift to us,
And each time we Breathe, we ought to think of that Gift,
But now consider this:
Sometimes, that warm holy Breath
Comes into contact with something else,
The cold air of our earth,
And when that interaction occurs,
What does it produce?
Vapor.
A cloud.
A beautiful but temporary obscuring presence
Where the Exalted meets the Earthly,
And something ethereal and exquisite emerges
With elegance exceeding expectation
But only
For an instant.

This is Life.
Enjoy its beauty.
Appreciate its joy.
But trust that there is greater still
When that cloud at last dissipates.

This post draws inspiration from the book of Ecclesiastes, The Bible Project’s outstanding video on Ecclesiastes, the Rob Bell Nooma series video “Breathe,” and the song “Breathe” by The Brilliance.

 

Leave a Reply