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PGA Chaplain Bible StudiesWeekly Study No 19 - 28/07/2009 Ecclesiastes Ch 6:1-6 “I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: God gives a man wealth, possessions and honour, so that he lacks nothing his hearts desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil. A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say a stillborn child is better off than he.” (Ecclesiastes Chapter 6: verses 1 to 3 NIV).
When a Stranger enjoys all our prosperity!I recall some years ago now, when building a small house outside Lithgow in NSW, all my tools got stolen one night. I left them in the house locked up over night and someone broke in and all my electrical tools were lost. I remember the empty, grievous and bitter taste it left in my mouth. Our reading this week reminded me of this occasion and there may be similar experiences that you have had, where you struggle with the injustice of it. Life is great when we are free to fulfil the desires of our hearts, but it’s tough when you have to deal with loss. For the individual it might be a sickness that one suffers, a crime like the above or a crash like the recent shares, or loss of a job. There are many things that can happen in life where a stranger enjoys the benefits of our hard work. Behind most of the conflicts in our world today as nations groups and individuals is the desire for power and control over our lives and to enjoy our prosperity. But there is always someone lurking in the background ready to enjoy our spoils. You never feel safe, because of the desire in all of us to be selfish and to steal. In Australia we are only beginning to learn that so much of what we possessed when we settled in Australia as a European nation was to the detriment of our Aboriginal population. Now it is beginning to happen to us; the hide of those boat people taking away our prosperity. All of life is seen under God’s hand in Ecclesiastes and where we prosper in life is a gift of God, to be enjoyed. But again our reader sees this in a limited way, because of loss that we all have to face. A grievous evil is when a stranger, who has not worked for what we have, ends up with our spoils. This could be the result of a robbery or a promotion to our job by someone who has not earned it. Or it may be that someone is happy to see you dead, ready to enjoy your prosperity. This could be the case in our reading where proper burials were an important part of their culture, but some missed out on that recognition. I believe we can manage loss better by being prepared for it by not building your life on possessions, wealth and honour. Jesus presents a better model by giving up his life for others. It is in giving our life and possessions away that we can be set free from the burden that possessions, wealth and honour give us. That’s why Jesus said to sell our possessions, give them to the poor and have purses that don’t wear out. (See Luke Chapter 12: verses 33 to 34). Prayer. Lord, help me not give too much value to my possessions and to work towards sharing what we have. Amen.
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