The book of Ecclesiastes provides the reader with a difficult interpretive decision. What is the preacher of this sermon ultimately trying to communicate? In his book Knowing God, J. I. Packer provides two possibilities. First, the preacher could be an old man at the end of his life reflecting back and seeing that there was no point to anything. The preacher sees all the disconnected events of his life, the great injustices present in the world, and concludes that no purpose exists in the world. Second, Packer suggests that this sermon could be an evangelist calling out for an unbeliever to believe. The evangelist would be pointing to the things of this world, showing how they cannot provide the fulfillment the unbeliever seeks. The evangelist then points to God, explaining how only in God can one find true fulfillment.
In the end, Packer rejects both of these options. He agrees with the preacher in Ecclesiastes that this world looks like a conglomeration of disconnected events that have no purpose or logic. Packer states that a person cannot begin to find true wisdom until he embraces this reality. True wisdom then comes when a man accepts this reality and then says I am going to still trust and obey. I am going to trust that the Lord’s plans are true and best. True wisdom comes when a man looks into the chaos of life and says God is still there and he is still in control.
This lesson is one that I have personally been learning over the past year and a half. Several events have arisen in my life that have caused me at times to say, “God what are you doing?” I have not been able to see the big picture of God’s purposes in these events. Time and time again throughout this period I have had to preach the truth of God’s sovereign rule to myself. I have had to remind myself that God is good, that he is in control, and that he has my best interest in mind. I have at times had to force myself to fear the Lord and obey his commands. And as Ecclesiastes says: this is the beginning of true wisdom.