Work: a blight or a blessing?

⁴ And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

⁵ Fools fold their hands
    and ruin themselves.
⁶ Better one handful with tranquillity
    than two handfuls with toil
    and chasing after the wind.

⁷ Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:

⁸ There was a man all alone;
    he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
    yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
    “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
    a miserable business! Ecclesiastes 4:4-8

If you follow my blog you may remember that I am presently soaking my mind in the Book of Ecclesiastes, especially chapter 4. This isn’t because I especially like Ecclesiastes, but because it takes such an honest look at what so often seems the sheer futility of human life: it somehow intrigues.

The writer, who calls himself “the Teacher” in the opening verse of the book, has a kind of recurring motto: “Meaningless! Meaningless… utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless”. Taken alone, that of course flatly contradicts the good news of Jesus and the gospel; but haven’t we all sometimes felt that way? And isn’t it a fact that even the strongest Christians sometimes feel a sense even of despair? Didn’t Jesus himself feel like that when he cried out on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46)?

You may be feeling that way even as you read this - in which case please take comfort from the fact that you are in plentiful, and very special, company. You are not alone.

Chapter 4:1-3 was all about “the tears of the oppressed”, which have flowed abundantly throughout human history. But in verses 4-8 the Teacher turns his attention to the topic of work, which has blighted humankind since the curse uttered in Eden (Genesis 3:17). It’s a topic he re-visits several times in the book, but in these few verses he sums up most of what we need to know. I think it can be distilled under three headings.

First, the sinful stupidity of the rat-race: “I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another” (verse 4).

That’s an exaggeration, of course (many good people work hard and responsibly and often for little reward), but the Teacher obviously feels that exaggeration is justified when it is so obviously just that; he uses it to maximise the impact - and he’s not writing a scholarly discourse, after all. The fact is that many people ruin their lives by selling themselves to the great god work, determined to outdo both their rivals and everybody else, to “keep up with the Joneses” – and get to the end wondering what it was all for.

The Teacher gives a little pen-portrait of such people in verse 8: the kind of people who, lacking family or other personal ties (or perhaps neglectful of them?), seem to put all their time and energy into work, work, work; who even though they sometimes find themselves wondering what or who they’re doing it for, yet seem unable to climb off the treadmill. “This too is meaningless – a miserable business” indeed! It’s a “chasing after the wind” (can you picture somebody doing that, arms whirling and legs pumping, but achieving precisely nothing?).

That’s the Teacher’s own commentary on the folly of the “workaholic”. But better still is that of Jesus in his powerful parable of “the rich fool” (Luke 12:13-21). This is a passage worthy of regular re-reading, especially for those of us who live in materialistic, money-worshipping societies. (We must, of course, pass no judgment on the honest people who, through no fault of their own, are reduced to a life of pitiless toil.)

Are any of us sold out to the rat-race? Beware: lest we realise only when it’s too late to change that we’ve spent the bulk of our lives chasing after the wind.

Second, the sinful stupidity of idleness: “Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves” (verse 5). More literally, they fold their hands and “eat their own flesh”, a graphic way of describing a course of steady self-ruination. (I like the Message translation: “The fool sits back and takes it easy, his sloth is slow suicide”.)

The Teacher is referring to people we might dismiss just as lazy spongers, not those who are prevented from working by age or some physical or psychological difficulty. Again, the New Testament provides a good commentary on this, in 2 Thessalonians 3:10. This is Paul’s “rule” that “anyone who is unwilling to work should not eat” (note that: not anyone who is unable to work, a very different thing).

There’s quite a debate going on in Britain at the moment concerning people who raise suspicions about whether or not they are living unnecessarily off the welfare state, people who could work if they really put their minds to it, but choose not to. They are accused of self-diagnosing a mental health condition, and taking advantage of over-worked doctors who don’t have the time (or the confidence?) to make a proper assessment.

None of us looking on are entitled to pass judgment, but what we can -  and should - do is to pray for wisdom for our government to ensure proper provision and compassion where it is genuinely needed without in effect encouraging scrounging. (Oh Lord, give us wise and principled politicians!)

Third, the wisdom of the happy medium: “Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind” (verse 6).

I don’t think there’s much that needs to be added to that. But again Paul puts a good gloss on it from his own personal experience: “… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4: 11-12). No-one could accuse Paul of idleness, could they? But let’s take care to notice that twice-repeated word “I have learned…” It obviously didn’t come easy to Paul.

And it may not to us…

Father, whatever my circumstances in life, please help me always to learn the grace of contentment, not wearing myself out with misdirected labour, nor wasting my life away through idleness. May everything I do - or not do - be for your glory. Amen.

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