Ecclesiastes 4

This passage, at first look, has a bunch of different themes. But as we look closer at it, we find a deep longing for community. In our society, one might say that we are looking for the same thing. I just read yesterday that the upcoming generation is the first generation to prefer text-based communication (texting, facebook, etc.) to voice-based communication (Click here for the story.) Yet with all of the ways we have to communicate, the longing for deep community has not gone away. Ecclesiastes surveys a world of oppression, where the powerless have to face evil after evil under the sun. And the lament of the passage is that there is no comforter- no one to stand by the powerless. No community for the oppressed.

Ecclesiastes surveys the work people subject themselves to. But there is no one to share the reward of that work. No family, nor friends. The laborer is left wondering what the meaning of his/her work is, and the truth of its meaninglessness comes out. And now we live in a country that has the longest workweek of any country in the world (surpassing Japan for the first time- click here for the story.) And yet family and household structures have never been more fractured. What is the point of productivity when there is no community?

Verses 7-12 are the epitome of this chapter- that community is necessary for survival. When community deteriorates, it cannot survive. God created people with an instinctive desire for community, going all the way back to Adam and Eve. Without community, all of the advancement in the world is meaningless. So appreciate your community today- your household, your family, your friends, your church family, wherever your community is, let's thank God for them.