18 I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

20 So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun. 21 When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great evil. 22 For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

24 Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God. 25 For apart from Him, who can eat and who can find enjoyment? 26 To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Gus Cameron

Many of us know people who have fled warzones and arrived in Fairfield with nothing. Many of them have worked incredibly hard to create a new life for themselves, and especially for their children. They aim to instil in their children the discipline of hard work. Their hope is that their children will have a better and far more prosperous life than they themselves had.

But then I was talking to a tradesperson this week who has lived the Aussie dream. He came as a refugee, and now he runs his own business instead of working for someone else. He said he’s making a lot more money, but he also has a lot more stress in life. He works hard, but his hard work hasn’t given him peace or freedom.

Today’s passage is a sobering reflection on the futility of toilsome work. It asks: “What do we get for all our toil and labour?” – and the answer is: death. We cannot work ourselves out of death. Even the hope of leaving our kids better off is not certain, because we cannot control our kids once we are gone. They might make wise decisions, but they might not.

Work has been painful and difficult toil ever since God said to the man in the garden of Eden, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17). Hard work is not the answer to life’s problems; it is a reminder of life’s greatest problem. We face death because of sin, and hard work will not overcome death.

There is work we should do – we should work to provide food and pay the rent. But there is also a type of work that will endure forever – what the Apostle Paul calls “the work of the Lord”. As we saw on Thursday, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.”

Ask God to protect you from being drawn into the lie that hard work can free us from the curse. And pray that God would help you remember the joy of working for our Lord Jesus, who really has freed us from death. Ask God to help you fix your mind every day on the hope and security we have in him.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gus is one of our Assistant Ministers.