PROP: Since God is the creator of this world and he is at work in this world for our good, we can find joy in the things he gives us in this world.
1. Solomon considers wisdom and folly again and ends up hating life.
2. Solomon hated all his toil and gave his heart over to despair at the thought of dying and someone else receiving all his things.
“My question—that which at the age of fifty brought me to the verge of suicide—was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man … a question without an answer to which one cannot live. It was: ‘What will come of what I am doing today or tomorrow? What will come of my whole life? Why should I live, why wish for anything, or do anything?’” —Leo Tolstoy
3. Solomon’s wisdom for how we should live that we might find joy in our living.
“If we neglect God in our pursuit of joy, everything good in life—for example, possessions and pleasures—slips through our grasp. But if we give ‘thanks to God the Father’ through Jesus Christ (Col.3:17; cf. 1 Tim. 4:4-5) for every good gift, then we receive from him—practical wisdom, daily bread, red table wine, our lifetime labors, and so on—is seen as a gift that brings genuine joy.” —Douglas Sean O’Donnell
“Isn’t it strange that the more you run after life, panting after every pleasure, the less you find, but the more you take life as a gift from God’s hand, responding in thankful gratitude for the delight of the moment, the more that seems to come to you.”—Ray Stedman