We share the same fate

Shew Solomon really seems to be having a bad-hair day towards the end of chapter 3. His dark mood permeates the end of this amazingly complex chapter, but we have come to expect this of him. Remember that I encouraged us to read Ecclesiastes 12 before we started chapter 1? The reason for this was to remind us that Solomon eventually gets things straightened out in his heart, but he goes through a lot of turbulence before he makes peace with the Lord. 

"I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die. " - Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

A few words of Solomon's rant grab my attention today:

1. People and animals are given life by God and we will all return to dust one day. 

2. Could Solomon be suggesting that animals and humans will be together in the afterlife? Quite a comforting thought for many of us.

3. We spend a large portion of our lives in some kind of work - best we enjoy this as much as we can or perhaps find something that fulfils us. 

4. Solomon never knew Jesus, but it is reassuring for us that Jesus has conquered death and given us a foretaste of eternal life with him.

What do you think?

Living in Grace

D3LM3