9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. ~ Ecclesiastes 9:11-13
Solomon asks a very poignant question “What gain has the worker from his toil?” But this isn’t the first time he has asked this same question in his discourse. That question is splashed throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. Why? Because he wants you to think about it, consider it, and ponder it.
As a matter of fact, he starts his whole discourse with “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3). Jesus puts a spin on the same question, and He asks it this way “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37) It’s basically the same question: What gain has the worker from his toil?
And the answer is… nothing… because it will all soon be gone like the grass that is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire unless, of course, the toil is in the Father’s harvest field. All we do and all that we accomplish will be passed from one generation to the other. From one successor to the next, until eternity comes crashing in.
Our life is like dust in the wind or like the weed that is here today and tomorrow. It is thrown into the fire, but our souls will live on somewhere forever. So, if that is the case, then preparation to meet our LORD and Savior must begin now. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Today is the day of Salvation.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare For Eternity.