The Frustration of Life on Earth

Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

Life is frustrating - very frustrating. Many cultures and religions recognize that. One religion teaches that life’s like a giant wheel - a cycle of sorrow one can only escape after many life times. Here, the Bible says that life under the sun - life on earth - is pointless and full of frustration. If we accept this reality, we can face the frustrations with greater understanding and we can finally understand what is truly important in life. But many of us don’t accept reality. That’s why we become frustrated, unfulfilled, disappointed, dissatisfied, and perhaps even depressed when life doesn’t match up to our aspiration. We all have dreams - for jobs, children, health, retirement. But things don’t always happen the way we expect. It’s the same or worse for religious people. They think since they’ve done good, dotted the i’s and crossed their t’s, that good karma should follow them. I obey my god, why did I fall sick? But we must never forget - the living and true God never promised a disappointment free life. Instead, he calls us to find resolution in the afterlife. There are 3 truths to learn from this passage. Firstly, life on earth is frustrating; secondly, life on earth is more frustrating than we actually realize; and thirdly, the source of life’s frustration is sin.

Firstly, life on earth is frustrating. Verses 1-3 say, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” The Bible says everything is vain, lousy, empty, miserable. Wow. Parents would scold their children if they said these things. No! You can do what you put your mind to if you’re positive! If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again. People don’t like the idea that everything is vain, lousy, empty, miserable. But the one who came up with this conclusion was a wise investigator. Verse 1 calls him the preacher -someone who gathers people to speak to them. But can we trust him? The verdict is so negative! Yes, we can, because he’s Solomon - the son of David and king of Jerusalem. Verse 16 says he surpassed all others in his wisdom. No other king was wiser than he. 1 Kings 4 says that God gave Solomon wisdom, great understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sand on the seashore. Furthermore, the length of his reign and his immense wealth gave him time to investigate many things. Verse 13 says he gave his heart to investigate with that wisdom all things done under heaven. Verse 14 says he’d seen all the works that are done under the sun. That’s a bold claim. To do that, he had to have the resources and time. Solomon was an expert in all things. In chapter 2, we learn that he was an expert in architecture, horticulture, viticulture, and agriculture. This is what he said about himself - “So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem.” In other words, he worked hard and it showed. He also understood wealth as a banker, wisdom as a philosopher, leisure as a connoisseur. He said, “And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly.” And who can do this better than the king? He had wealth, time, resources, and people - he investigated every area of life - work, family, religion, government, leisure, etc. He examined every aspect of life and death, success and failure.

And what was his conclusion? His verdict? All is vanity. It’s a messy and frustrating world. We see the frustrations of life. Verse 2 says, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” This word vanity is the Hebrew word hevel. Literally, it means breath or a wisp of vapor, a puff of wind. But figuratively, it’s translated here as vanity. Vanity because breath doesn’t last. This word can be translated as senselessness, messiness, wackiness, frustration, emptiness, absurdity, futility, elusiveness. We hope to have a fulfilling life on earth - but it doesn’t turn out the way we hope. We put in so much effort for our marriage, or work, or children, and what we want doesn’t come to fruition. Our hopes go up in a puff.

Now, most of us get what we want. But we’ve all experienced hevel. We’ve worked so hard for exams. We’ve gone through ten year series, get tutors, and are ready to take the exam - we’ve even prepared answers to key questions. Then there’s a leak! Some exam questions are leaked - key ones - so they have to revamp the exam. Hevel! You’re angry the questions were leaked, your future is uncertain, how different will the new key questions be. You feel disappointed. And there’s nothing you can do - some parents kick up a big fuss but what can be done? Or you’re preparing a big meal for some holiday - like Chinese New Year or Deepavali - some ingredients need to be finely chopped. You prepare all the ingredients, stick it in the food processor, turn it on, and it dies half way. It leaks everywhere. Hevel! It’s frustrating. You’re mad at the machine, manufacturer, and dinner is delayed. You hate to disappoint guests! You feel winded - not only after preparing the ingredients, but having no solution, and no proper star dish. Frustration.

But there are worse things. You marry the love of your life. You raise your children to be respectful, hardworking, principled. Your spouse and you are one minded on so many things. But somehow, your children become wayward - fall into vices. You wonder if you’ve done any good. Then your spouse gets cancer. Did you do something wrong?

Life is frustrating and disappointing. And many cannot take it. Verse 8 says all things are wearisome, no man can describe it. Not everything goes according to plan. In fact, sometimes, nothing goes according to plan. Sure, there are good times - Solomon describes in later chapters about eating, drinking, and making merry; about studying, working, and having kids. He talks about joy and sadness, life and death. Life is full of good things - but it’s mixed with bad. There’s disappointment. The phrase “under the sun” is used twice. Verse 14 - “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” This phrase describes all of life under heaven, on the earth, in the whole world. In other words, we’re living in a frustrating world. Just turn on the news. He was looking forward to his last big holiday with his wife - and he died during turbulence. That’s life on earth - it’s frustrating.

But secondly, life on earth is more frustrating than we realize. Life down the ages has always been and will always be frustrating. There are those who say, “in my day, things were simpler. Better times.” Not really. Verse 9 speaks about cycles - “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” There’s nothing new. Whatever was done will be done again. Verse 4 - one generation dies, another is born. If you look at photo albums of your parents and grandparents - they had birthdays, graduations, weddings, funerals; your albums are the same. There was the Spanish flu, SARS, MERS, and just only COVID. There’ll be another one. There was WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Gulf, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Russia, now Hamas and Israel. And this life cycle is very punishing. This is illustrated in different ways. Verse 5 says, “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.” The sun rises and sets - every day. And it hastes - the word literally means to stomp back panting. The sun is very tired. Day after day, huffing and puffing. Verse 6 - the wind is like a merry-go-round - round and round. But what’s the gain? The sun goes back to the same place - it doesn’t progress in its journey. The wind goes round and round. And verse 7 - the rivers are constantly flowing and filling into the sea - but the sea is never full. The point of pouring water is to fill up something. We all want things to work, to progress. But no matter what, the roof still leaks, dust still settles, ants still come in, and children still don’t do this or that.

And the more you know about life, the more frustrating it is. Solomon spent time examining life. And his conclusion? Verse 18 - “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” When you know more, the more frustrating it is. Why? Because you don’t know how to fix it. No matter how smart or successful we are, we still have problems in our lives. My cousin - many years ago - had a failed marriage. Her son, graduated from university in London. At night after a party, he fell off the balcony and died. Then she had breast cancer a few years later. And she died. She had so many problems she didn’t know how to fix. You may have fewer problems. But you also get frustrated. And why you’re frustrated is because you think we can fix them. You demand they be fixed. You can’t accept that this is what life is. Not every problem can be fixed. You have to live with regret. You can’t fix everything. Verse 15 - “That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.” And that really disturbed Solomon. That’s why he said in verse 14 - “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” What he saw troubled him. What’s the solution?

There’s an answer. We know why life on earth is frustrating. It’s because of sin. That’s the third point. Why is life so hard? Because God’s responsible. Verse 13 - “And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.” We see that life under the sun is described as a sore travail, a tragic existence, an unhappy business, a heavy burden, a grievous task. And who has given it to mankind? God. God hath given it to the sons of man to be occupied with. But God did this not because he’s unkind and mean. It’s not his fault that life is messy. You see, frustration in life is the result of sin. When God created man and woman, he gave them a perfect world - where everything worked, there was perfect joy. And he gave them a condition - obey me perfectly and you will have perfect joy. It’s the same thing - you want to enjoy the benefits of law and order in Singapore? Keep the law. But the first man and woman, Adam and Eve sinned. They disobeyed God. And the penalty for disobedience was the curse of sin. Not God’s fault - they brought it upon themselves. And as a just ruler, God had to give the penalty. And yet, the penalty God gave was merciful - he let them live. Before the Fall, God warned them that in the day they sinned, they’d surely die. But they didn’t surely die. Now, God was not wrong in not giving them that penalty - God was merciful. He delayed the ultimate judgment to give them time to repent. And before that final judgment, life on earth would be hard and frustrating. Man would toil with sweat on his brow; marriage life would also be hard - marriage relations would be a tug of war; family life would be challenging - there’ll be enhanced pain in childbirth and child rearing.

The sin belonged to man, but God pronounced the curse. And that’s why, verse 2, all is vanity. That’s why - verse 15 - crooked things can’t be made straight. That’s why - verse 18 - the more you know, you have more grief. In the beginning, after God created everything, he said all was very good. But now all is vanity. Why? Because mankind sinned. And man can’t change it. Why? Because man is a sinner. Man can’t solve the problems he’s responsible for. Aren’t you responsible for your messiness in life? Your marriage, your relationships, your work; other people also add their sin to yours and that’s why your marriage suffers, your work suffers, your relationships too. How do you break out of the cycle of life’s messiness when you add to it everyday?

But man tries to break free. He does it by trying to make a name for himself. If I win that medal or if I make my mark on society, then along after I’m gone, I will be remembered. Yeah right. Aside from select people, you won’t be remembered. Verse 11 tells us that no one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them. Even if you do works of significance, it will be one day obscured. We know the name of Steve Jobs, but what’s the name of the one who actually invented the mobile phone? Another invention will come and Steve Jobs will also be forgotten. Verse 9 tells us history repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sure, there’ll be new inventions, great deeds - but there’s truly nothing all that new. Many inventions are no longer used - like the unicycle - unless you’re a clown. Medical science has advanced but people still die. No matter how many boosters you get, you can still get the virus. Every generation born will die. Nothing man can do will break him out of the cycle of a messy life. And yet, what’s the response to this frustration and messiness? What’s the response to people not getting what they want? They still try to get it. We move houses so our kids get into good schools, but if they can’t study - how? We save up for a final holiday, taking the best airline in the world - but turbulence ends the holiday in tragedy. It’s our K-drama. Difficult family, bad investments, unreasonable boss, serious illness, or just a boring life. We experience it differently. No such thing as an ideal life!

Why are these things unchangeable? Because of our sins. The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of God’s glory. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Before death, it’ll be a life of frustration. And at death, there will be judgment. The Bible tells us - it is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment. Life on earth is nothing compared to life in judgment. Our frustrations now are nothing. God will pay us for our sins by pouring out his anger on sinners. Frustration on earth, but infinitely worse and lasting frustration after we die. Why is the frustration given to us? God gives this to man to be occupied with so that we’d turn to him for the solution. And what’s God’s solution to the frustration on earth? It’s the good news - the gospel of Christ. But God gives a way to solve the sin problem - the thing that causes frustration now and judgment later. And the way he did that was to provide a savior - Jesus Christ - God came to be born as a man, without sin, to live through life’s frustration because of the sins of others, to die at their hands, so that he could face death and judgment for our sins. We can escape frustration because we are sinful. We need someone to live without sin to purchase salvation for us. And if we have him as our substitute - to take God’s judgment and have him as our savior - to give us his moral strength and perfection, then God forgives us. He receives us into heaven to live without frustration forever. That’s the good news.

But does life on earth change? Surely, frustrations will be removed right? Will things will go right for us on earth once we believe? No, because there’s still sin - and other people’s sins. Until all on earth turn to him, there will be strife and frustration. Yes, things will be eventually be made right. One day. What God has bent, no man can straighten. Only God can straighten it. And until people realize that, there will still be frustration. But not all will accept this solution for sin. Some religions teach that life is a cycle of sorrow, but you must do good over many life times to escape. When at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again. That’s not good news. How terrible to live through it many times. The good news - the gospel of God is that you can escape it by the payment of another.

And our focus shouldn’t be here on earth. That’s the problem with too many of us. We try to make it here. But Solomon already asked - what do you get from all your labor under the sun? Nothing. Jesus asked - what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? Nothing. What’s the solution? Jesus said - “He that comes after me, must deny himself, take up the cross, and follow me. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

By going to Jesus, you can escape the final judgment. You will be with him in heaven where there is an everlasting joy, a sin free eternal existence. And now, with that hope of heaven, with his help as your God, you can go through life, denying self, seeing all things from his hands, going through life’s messiness and frustration with joy and peace. Because there’s a hope. And you can receive from his hands, good and evil, knowing his tender fatherly care on you to deliver you as he sees fit. And the reason why we can do that is because we are yearning for a better life in heaven. And what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory of heaven. All of creation is waiting for that day. Everything was cursed - subject to vanity and frustration - but one day it will not be anymore. So until that day, we live by faith.