Ecclesiastes 6:12 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ecclesiastes 6:12

Comments

Who knows what is good for man in life? Nobody in this fallen world knows; there is no one to whom the unbeliever can turn for advice about life, for there are none in this world who have learnt life’s secret and all man’s teachers are bound by the same limitations as he is. They are busy pursuing the same vain goals and dreaming the same empty dreams as he is, and how can the student be wiser than his master? Tragically, man rejects as worthless the one help to which he could turn, for his pride will not let him come to be taught by God. There is no more pessimistic description for man’s passage through this world than ‘the number of the days of the life of his vanity’. His portion here is vanity because that is all he will ever get out of life; it is measured in days. Whichever way he turns and whatever schemes he tries; however great the optimism of each new generation and no matter how much progress he makes in subduing the created order, he is still trapped by the same law of futility. Like a shadow on a summer afternoon our days pass by. Look again only a short while later and the shadow has moved; what was there a moment ago is gone, never to return. If we never seek and find the Lord, our days are like a shadow; they have no lasting significance. But I have a degree, I don’t like my life to be compared to this. Our life hangs by a thread; one blow from God and it is gone. A shadow has no depth, it is powerless; a shadow never did anything.Who can tell a man what will follow? Who can predict what will happen in even an hour with any certainty? All our knowledge is contingent. We can do nothing that has a guaranteed outcome, for time and chance can interfere with the best laid plans. The future is largely a mystery to us, but if so, should we not approach life with much greater humility, with an awareness of how limited our power is?

Application

When a soul begins to sense how vulnerable it is, to be aware of what great enemies are arrayed against it, and to grasp the eternal consequences of this short life; when it begins to be awakened, and to realise its desperate need, that soul longs to find an authoritative answer to the pressing questions of life. The person begins to ask the most important questions about life: Can I know God? Can my sins be forgiven? How can a man be right with God? Where do I begin my search for him? In its ignorance it may turn to the great ones of this world, those who have risen to prominence, professional people, doctors, teachers, leaders. Surely, they will have the answer to life’s most important questions. The seeker is ready to put implicit trust in the answer he receives, but to his amazement and disappointment he finds that the great ones of this world are shallow and out of their depth when it comes to matters of the soul. They may pretend to know out of shame of their ignorance, but they have not begun to understand the problem, let alone the solution.

How can the heart of a Christian not be moved to pity at such a predicament? They are as sheep without a shepherd. How can the believer knowing that he has the solution to man’s emptiness, the only message of hope in an otherwise hopeless world; how can he know this and remain silent and not tell his fellow human travellers who are perishing all around him, of the love of a Saviour, the Son of God who came to redeem sinners? Though no one who belongs to this world can tell them, we can tell them. In spite of their constant rejection of the truth and their apparent determination not to be saved, while we have breath we must continue.

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Ecclesiastes 6:12 Commentary and Bible Study