ECCLESIASTES
Ecclesiastes, a book in the Bible containing the thoughts of “the Philosopher – teacher”, a man who reflected deeply on how short and contradictory human life is, is not a book which many of us bother to read, or not too often. Especially when, right from chapter one, we are confronted with the words “It is useless, useless. Life is useless, all useless”. (GNB). Or “Meaningless, Utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless” (NIV). It makes very depressing reading. We are better off dead. Life is unfair, pointless, pleasures fail to satisfy and wise thinking is rendered futile. However after reading Philip Yancey book “The Bible Jesus Read” it gave me a new insight to the book and why it was probably included into our library of “Holy Books”.

CONTENT
The first six chapters dwell on the subject of trying to make sense out of life, with chapter three trying to offer some insight to the philosopher’s thinking, when he states that there is a “Time for Everything” Birth and death, tearing down and building up, weeping and laughing, time to mourn and time to dance etc. From chapter seven to the end, Ecclesiastes insists that the stones we trip over in life are good things in themselves. It is a book of truth which presents both sides of life on this planet, says Yancey. The book warns us to the danger that devoting ourselves to the pursuit of “pleasure seeking” ultimately does not bring satisfaction. God’s world is far too big for us. It is made for another home, made for eternity. Despite everything we may have seen or experienced, or observed in the world in which we live, “God has set eternity in our hearts.” Ecclesiastes sets forth the inevitable consequences of a life without God at the center, and the pitfalls it warns against, endanger the believer as much as the pagan. The book offers the following advice; 11:09-12:01 “Young people, enjoy your youth. Be happy while you are still young. Do what you want to, follow your hearts desire. BUT REMEMBER that God is going to judge you for whatever you do. Don’t let anything worry you. You aren’t going to be young very long. So remember your Creator while you are still young, before the dismal days and years come when you say, I don’t enjoy life”.”(GNB)

The book has an eerily modern ring to it because we have not learned its most basic lessons, “we chase the allure of the visible kingdom”. When injustices, acts of wickedness, war and violence, oppression and wrongdoings seem to flourish in our world and leave us in a depressive mood, Ecclesiastes tells us (11:05-07)
“God made everything and you can no more understand what He does than you understand how life begins in the womb of a pregnant woman. Do your sowing in the morning and in the evening, too. You never know whether it will all grow well or whether one sewing will do better than the other. Be grateful for every year you live. No matter how long you live, remember that you will be dead much longer. There is nothing at all to look forward to”. (GNB) Some deeply penetrating words.

CONCLUSION
The Jews had a custom of remembering Ecclesiastes once a year during the “Festival of Tents” They erected tents in their “backyard” and inside these they ate their meals and reflected on the Old Testament accounts of their ancestors in the Sinai wilderness. In the midst of that ceremony a leader would stand up amongst them and read the entire book of Ecclesiastes aloud. It served as a sober warning against depending on their success and prosperity. Perhaps it is time for us to reread the book as it is the “one book in Scripture that is expressly designed to turn us into realists”
From its opening words of “Meaningless, meaningless” the writer of Ecclesiastes ends his writing with these powerful words of wisdom. 12:13-14 ‘Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil”
To believe in God means to see that life has a meaning. This meaning does not lie in it but outside of life.