This week as we continue in our study through the book of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher turns to consider wisdom and folly. He concludes wisdom is better than folly, yet wisdom and foolishness have the same end. Both those who live wisely and those who live foolishly die and are no longer remembered. Therefore, "I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind" (Ecclesiastes 2:17).

The Preacher undermines hope that we may falsely put into living wisely. As Doug O'Donnell writes in the Gospel Transformation Study Bible, "Ecclesiastes was written to depress us into dependence on our joyous God and his blessed will for our lives." May we along with the Preacher hate life in the sense that we love it less than we love our King and Redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth. Would God use His Word, and our study through Ecclesiastes, to draw out the rival hopes in our heart and call us to find hope, joy, and satisfaction in Jesus. May He become more and more the interpretive center of our perspective, posture, and action. May we look up in this life "under the sun", to find true meaning and hope in Jesus. If you put your trust in Him, He will raise you up from the dead and join you together with God in life everlasting.