Special Note: As with last week’s emphasis on Ephesians, this week (and maybe some of next) will focus on Ecclesiastes, my favorite book of the Bible. In particular, I’ll focus on the purpose and meaning of life as discussed by this book. For an overview, see my sermon, Live Life in Light of Death. I encourage you to read one chapter of the book daily to go along with these devotions.

Today’s Reading: Ecclesiastes 1

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1:2

Vanity! 

Gosh, I love Ecclesiastes. 

To understand this book, and to understand why I love it, we must dive into that word vanity. Different translations will choose different English words for the underlying Hebrew word, including vapor and meaninglessness. That’s because the underlying word, havel, can be translated in all these ways. 

Think of the vapor when you get out of the shower. It’s here for just a moment and then gone. Even if you don’t run the exhaust fan, it still disappears quite quickly. That vapor is havel. As we’ll see as we read, the author thinks of life as that vapor: here for a moment, quickly gone. If life is that short, it’s easy to think of it as meaningless, void, empty; as the author of Ecclesiastes says, “a chasing after the wind.” The Hebrew word havel connotes all of that meaning in one word. That’s why it’s hard to translate into English.

The author is traditionally thought of as Solomon, but probably someone wrote as Solomon. I’ll refer to the author as The Teacher or Qoheleth (pronounced Koh-hel-et), which is the Hebrew word for Teacher. That’s how the author most often refers to himself as he writes. 

What I love about Ecclesiastes is how it puts life in focus. We stress over things that, in the end, will not matter. We labor so hard to try and accomplish things that are quickly forgotten. If life is that way, it begs the question, what does really matter in this life? It’s there that we’ll turn our attention in future devotionals. 

Think
What are the greatest stressors in your life right now? 

Pray
Ask God if those stressors might be havel. 

Do
Consider the grand scheme of your life. What has mattered the most? Where have you put the most energy? Make dual lists and see if they align. 

Think, Pray, Do. As we respond in faith to scripture, God moves in power through our minds, hearts, and bodies. We are the people of God. Thanks for reading today. Go in peace. Amen.

Think, Pray, Do devotionals by Ted Goshorn follow the suggested bible reading plan from his website and book, Prayer Changes Us. Find this Bible reading plan at tedgoshorn.org/biblereading. If you have found today’s devotion helpful, don’t forget to subscribe for daily emails at tedgoshorn.org and share with others that we may think, pray, and do faithfully.