Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz wrote, "I'm still learning every day. I still try to do my best and refuse to worry about things over which I have no control."This is sound advice with regard to our careers. Yet, the Preacher of the book of Ecclesiastes has much more to say, consider the following:
"I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leaver it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless...For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?(2: 18-24)"
He says, "for without Him" we are unable to find full satisfaction regardless of our occupation. Can you identify with any part of this passage? Possibly you hate your toil? Perhaps you hate that you work so hard only to turnover with an incompetent person? Do you strive anxiously with a restless mind as you strive after your ambitious agenda? Or maybe you work with and for the One who is able to provide complete joy in the toil He has placed before you? Is it all really meaningless . . .?
