The Vanity of Knowledge Under the Sun | Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

SUGGESTED VERSES FOR MEMORIZATION & MEDITATION

Ecclesiastes 11:1 | Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 | He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

OPENING THOUGHT

No other book, inside or outside the Bible, is quite like Ecclesiastes. In its attempt to capture the brutal honesty of life under the sun, Ecclesiastes displays the vivid joys and pains of life in a post-Genesis 3 world. Written by the Preacher (most likely King Solomon), the book’s message is that everything under the sun is vanity. What does he mean by vanity? Vanity could also be translated as meaningless, pointless, worthless, futile, temporary, here-today-gone-tomorrow, a vapor, or a mere breath of air. The idea, then, is that everything under the sun fails to have any real substance. It’s all nothing more than smoke passing through the air. The Preacher, therefore, pleads for us to not waste our lives pursuing the things of earth. Health, wealth, pleasure, family, community, and time, all these things are gifts from God, but they are not God Himself. They will each pass away, so trying to capture them is like chasing after the wind. Solomon’s answer is to fix our eyes above the sun, upon God, instead. He claims that true enjoyment of life can only come as a gift from God.

This week, we enter Ecclesiastes’ penultimate chapter. In these six verses, Solomon discusses principles for taking wise action, even when we do not have all the knowledge that we need to make that decision. The lack of information can often paralyze our ability to make decisions, but Preacher notes that only God’s knowledge is perfect. We will never know the disasters and blessings that we befall us in life, but we are still called to do what God has set before us.

GROUP DISCUSSION

Read Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 and discuss the following.

Which verses stood out most to you as you read Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 this week? Why? What do these verses teach you about who God is?
Do you tend to be more overly-cautious or reckless in life? Why are both extremes harmful?
Have you ever been paralyzed by indecision or inaction? Why?
Why does the Bible call us to give away instead of store up?
How does the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) relate to our passage?

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Because all Scripture profits us through teaching, reproving, correcting, and training us, reflect upon the studied text, and ask yourself the following questions about the present text.