The Emptiness of Pleasure
For Meditation
Last week we listened as Qohelet began his epic search to find meaning in our confusing and often world. The first of his experiments was with wisdom, to determine if he could learn enough to make sense of the human experience. That experiment didn’t work out. As chapter 2 begins, we read about Qohelet’s second experiment, this time with pleasure. Qohelet says, “I said to myself, 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good’" (Ecc 2:1). Because he is a person of such tremendous wealth and power, he is able to test out every imaginable pleasure, far beyond anything than a typical person is able to try. Laughter, food and wine, art and nature, sex, music and accomplishment "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure” (2:10). And yet in the end, he was left with the same experience of hebel as before. He again concluded that everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
The problem of pleasure, as we’ll find throughout this book, is not pleasure itself. Again and again, Qohelet affirms the goodness of the created order and expresses gratitude for the simple gifts of life that God has given. The problem is what St Augustine called “disordered loves.” The satisfaction that pleasure promises can never ultimately fulfill the deep cravings of the soul. The meaninglessness of pleasure comes not from the pleasure itself, but from the meaning that we seek to extract from it.
In preparation for worship this week, meditate on Isaiah 55:1-2 and reflect on the ways God promises a deeper joy and happiness that any pleasure “under the sun” can provide.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
11Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.