Beware Neglecting the Joys
He walks into a room with a smile. He jumps around. He has no bad days. Maybe I’m just biased as a dad, but my four-year-old son is the epitome of joy. Recently, over dinner at some friends' house, he was running in their yard with their puppy named Happy. It was as if his personality was running alongside him. He leaps through life, fully open to the array of gifts that lay before him.
Even broken things are simply new toys for a surprising purpose. I came into the room one day, and part of the side of his treasure box had come off. I asked him what happened, fully anticipating his sadness. Instead, he said, “Oh, it broke. But that’s okay. Now it has a window!”
When life gives that boy lemons, he knows what to do.
Do you?
THE POWER TO ENJOY
Maybe you're like me, and your disposition isn't as sunny. If my treasure box broke, I'd lament, not revel in the new feature. Upon hearing good news, I search for the bad angle. When bad news is shared, I tend to find the other pieces the messenger forgot.
I need a power I don’t have—the power to enjoy. And you know what? The Bible says that power is available. Power is right there in Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
In context, The Preacher is warning of the dangers of loving money. His point is we look out to what we don’t have instead of into what we do. Our pursuit of the next hit of happiness never ceases. We can have it all, but without the power to enjoy, it's all a waste. When we're out looking for the happiness money can buy, we're missing the gift of happiness sitting right under our noses. It turns out, we already have what we need, and almost none of it came from what we purchased; it comes from what God has given.
We tend to think the life we most want out in some distant land, locked like some pirate’s buried treasure. Maybe we don’t need to try so hard. The happiness we’re looking for is so often right here, right now. And the power to enjoy it is ours for the taking in this great, big, beautiful world God has made.
BEWARE THE KILLER
But we don’t always see that, do we? We scratch and claw our way for another dollar, asking this life to give more than it can. We’re always disappointed. So, we fill our disappointment with more disappointment, heaping pile upon pile, experience upon experience, test driving things The Preacher already tried and warned against.
After all, The Preacher saw a lot. He saw that money can't satisfy (Eccl. 5:10). He understood that as our resources grow, so do those who consume them (Eccl. 5:11). The more we keep, the more opportunity for pain—physically, emotionally, and relationally. We end up toiling for the wind (Eccl. 5:13-17).
It’s all too easy to allow the pursuit of money into your life. It doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a subtle shift here and there. But doing so is simply asking too much of it. It’s not hard to make money an emperor. But it has no clothes. Only one Emperor has what we need, and his name is Jesus. Only Jesus comforts, satisfies, provides, and gives the life that we're really looking for everywhere else—abundant, joyful, never-ending. Money is a great tool, but it's a terrible lord. Don’t ask it to be. Doing so is to invite the killer into your house expecting it to bring life.
BEHOLD SOMETHING BETTER
In Ecclesiastes 5:18, The Preacher interrupts his warning diatribe to show us the alternative life available to us. “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.”
He redirects our attention away from the toilsome chasing after money that happens under the sun to the grace found under God’s hand. He saw something else, something “good and fitting.” It’s surprising because—on the surface—it doesn’t look all that impressive. “To eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil . . .”
If I asked you, “What is the gift of God in your toil?” how would you answer? Would you stop at finding enjoyment? Well, that’s The Preacher's answer. God may give you wealth, but has he given you lasting joy? He can.
OCCUPIED WITH JOY
Ecclesiastes 5:20 says the person who accepts this gift of enjoyment “will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.” He doesn’t mean life is easy—the toil remains—but the grace of God gives power to enjoy the good in life.
To press the point further, not everyone has this gift of enjoyment. As The Preacher opens chapter 6, he says, “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun.” You’ve probably seen it too. Ecclesiastes 6:2explains. “A man to whom God gives wealth, possession, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them.”
It’s possible to have it all, and fame on top of it, and still have a miserable life. Enjoyment is a gift from God. But it’s not allotted to all. Some of us need to ask him for it.
I was reminded of this while watching ESPN’s The Last Dance, the documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. During the 1997-1998 season, the Bulls allowed a camera crew special access to their season. One night, the camera crew knocked on Michael Jordan’s hotel door. He let them in. He talked about the questions swirling about his post-season retirement. He explained his reasoning. “This isn’t one of those lifestyles that you envy, where you’re confined to this room. I’m ready for getting out of this life. You know when you get to that point. I’m there. With no reservations at all.”
The life many of us could only imagine living is a living hell for the person actually living it. How can that be? Because the power to enjoy life comes from God and nowhere else. And here’s the secret to the universe: the power to enjoy your life right now also comes from God. You may not have much—or at least all you wish you had—but you can have joy! God can keep you occupied with joy as you toil in this broken world.
GOD WITH US
Remember the story of Mary and Martha? Mary sits at the feet of Jesus while Martha anxiously works. Martha grows impatient with Mary, but Jesus says Mary did the right thing. Jesus responds to Martha, “You are anxious and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). But there is a better way. We ruin our joy by forgetting one amazing reality: God is with us. We’re so focused on bearing the world’s burdens that we forget the One who overcame it all is among us. Will we sit awhile at his feet?
God is offering us right now our regular life infused with his divine joy. That gift of his power comes from his hand to all in Christ. Who are we to reject that gift?
Lest we not see the outcome, The Preacher tells a story in Ecclesiastes 6:3-6 of a man who rejected God’s offer. He fathered a hundred children and lived many years, but his soul isn’t satisfied. Upon his death, there is no burial. He was despised and unmourned. His end is so bad that a stillborn baby is better off. The Preacher isn't making light of stillborn babies. He knows the heartache of that. He means the baby at least avoids the toil and enters rest. He's saying a life void of the joy of God is a life not worth living, and some of us are living that. I've lived it too often.
Yes, life is difficult, but—in God’s grace—there is also good in it. As Ray Ortlund says, “The tears are inevitable, but the joys we might neglect.” Maybe more than ever, our biggest danger is neglecting the joys God graciously gives. This world is on fire. It seems to get worse each day. But your morning coffee still tastes good. The sun still shines. The gospel is still good news. Jesus is still alive, and his heart for you is the biggest love and grace and mercy this world will ever know.
There is so much to enjoy. So, enjoy it! When the side of your treasure box falls off, God’s giving you a window to better see him through it. Beware of neglecting the joys, even in the toil.
David McLemore is an elder at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He also works for a large healthcare corporation where he manages an application development department. He is married to Sarah, and they have three sons. Read more of David’s writing on his blog, Things of the Sort.