Soulfood

Laura Andrews

Finding meaning and fulfillment in a world of futility (Hevel) and frustration

Ecclesiastes reminds us that our work is generally mismatched to the results we get.

Scripture explores the sources of frustration, and illustrates how the frustrations and difficulties give opportunities to consider where we have usurped responsibility that ultimately belongs to God.

Frustration and futility: anything that opposes what we look for and long for our work to be.

We want our work to be constructive and lasting. We want our work to have meaning. We want our work to be successful – to accomplish what we set out to do. And we want our work to be satisfying., both for ourselves and others.

What do I struggle with feeling futility about? 1. Caring for my property. There is never enough time to do all that I want to do, and when there is time I am exhausted. 2. Caring for people with health issues that have no remedy. 3. My body is failing as I grow older. Things hurt no matter how well I take care of them.

The fall means (1)nothing works the way it should, (2) everything ends in death and decay, and (3) in our work we are constantly fighting the world, our flesh, and the devil.

Ecclesiastes clearly lays out the problem. Only at the end does Qoholet declare that futility and frustration are ultimately places where Jesus (the One Shepherd) reigns.

Where we feel pressure displays areas where we have usurped God’s responsibility for ourselves.

We think too much of ourselves and expect ourselves to have God’s power and responsibilities. But we don’t and can’t.

Jesus models for us one who seeks not his own will but wills to do what the Father wills. His trust in the Father allowed him to leave the ends to God while participating in the means.

Frustrations and futilities remind us that we are not in control over the ends – and limited ability to determine the means. We can pause and grieve the loss of our desired ends and remember that our participation in the means is the end of our responsibility.

Humor is the ability to laugh at what is broken because we know that brokenness is not the last word. God always has the last laugh and He is working for our good in ways that cannot be frustrated.

We are free to obey in the moment when we recognize we are not responsible for the future. Our participation in the means by doing what we are called to do regardless of the results is the next right thing.

We don’t rejoice in the results of the work but in the work itself which is a gift from our Creator. The work itself is the reward. The work we have been given to do by God is meaningful *because it is from God* rather than its result.

Being faithful in doing the work God has given us to do is never wasted or futile. Participating in the means is itself meaningful by virtue of its being a gift from God. In caring for sick persons who will never be well, in doing what I can to tend and care for my property, in taking physical care of myself even as my body falls apart, I prepare myself for an eternal weight of glory in the midst of these light momentary afflictions.