Joy Through God’s Sovereign Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 9: A Call to Cautious Living

One key takeaway from the book of Ecclesiastes is Solomon's constant argument that everything in life is vain apart from God. Nothing brings true enjoyment without Him. Before making any decision, ask yourself: Is what I'm about to do vain? Am I seeking enjoyment without God, or with Him? This thought process helps avoid the vanity Ecclesiastes exposes.

I've called this cautious living—living intentionally in light of our circumstances, routines, and daily activities. Pause to consider: Is this vanity or the superior life Ecclesiastes teaches? Are we pursuing pointlessness or purpose?

Philosophy classes ask what Ecclesiastes answered long ago: What's the point? For those without God, life has no purpose. But for those with God, there is the highest purpose: to find absolute, unceasing joy in Him. God is glorified when we enjoy Him.

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Ecclesiastes does not say enjoy the God of your imagination, but the God who made life vain without Him—a holy, righteous God to be feared. Fearing God leads to joy.

The Satisfying Joy of Christ

The New Testament reveals life's purpose: God's glory through our enjoyment of Him, saved from sin. Jesus, the true author of Ecclesiastes, offered the woman at the well living water—symbolic of joy. Imagine wandering in a desert, then finding a well that quenches forever. Encountering Christ draws that well in your soul, satisfying you eternally.

Grasping this satisfies like the lesson of Ecclesiastes, bringing lifelong joy.

Joy in God's Sovereignty

Ecclesiastes 9 describes those who experience purpose and joy through the theology of God's sovereignty: God controls everything. The joy comes from knowing this.

But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know, both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live. And after that they go to the dead.

1. Knowing You Are in God's Control

The righteous, wise, and their deeds are in God's hand—His constant presence and control. Not a distant God who occasionally intervenes, but one who surrounds and holds you. As Colossians 3:3 says, your life is hidden with Christ in God. You are seated with Him, safe like Noah in the ark amid wrath.

The alternative? The same fate for all: death, with hearts full of evil and madness. The dead know nothing under the sun; their memory is forgotten. Their pursuits perish. Life without God is pointless—no U-Haul to the grave.

But in God's hand, even if earthly deeds are forgotten, you are with Him. He holds your righteous deeds, prepared beforehand, with eternal significance.

2. Knowing God's Commands

God commands joy in ordinary life because He has approved, accepted, and determined it—positionally through Christ's righteousness and penalty paid.

These commands free us to obey. Sovereignty without obedience is rejected sovereignty. Eat bread with joy, drink wine with a merry heart in daily meals—not partying, but resting in God's control. Enjoy life with the wife you love—a conscious effort, not automatic. Marriage can be vain without it.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with might, for Sheol awaits. Commands produce joy; the psalmist delights in them.

3. The Superiority of God's Wisdom

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. ... I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it, and besieged it, building great siege works against it. But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor wise man. I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

A small city saved by a poor wise man from a great king—glorious in ancient eyes, yet forgotten. Wisdom is better than might, weapons, or glory. A living dog is better than a dead lion; poor wisdom trumps riches without God.

Wisdom—personified against sin, embodied in Jesus—is life's greatest advantage. Pursue it through constant study of Scripture, not osmosis. Spend time in God's Word and obedience to rise above vanity and experience joy in His hand.