Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Mixed Bag





In Work Matters, author Tom Nelson brings the following verses from Ecclesiastes to our attention:


    So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
    I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, ... What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
(Ecclesiastes 2:17-18, 22-23 ESV)
Nelson then goes on to comment
The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that work in this fallen world is a mixed bag. Work is both a curse and a gift. Work greets us with both frustration and exhilaration. Our work gives evidence of our glorious creation as well as our great estrangement from God and our need for a Savior who will redeem us from sin's devastating curse. (42)

2 comments:

  1. You know, I have always struggled to read the Psalms and even Proverbs. But when I come to Ecclesiastes, there is a natural enjoyment I have as those words seem to drip into my mind as honey, every one them sweet.

    Is this the same Tom Nelson who wrote the commentary on Song of Solomon?

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  2. Not sure if this guy wrote that commentary ... doesn't say anything in his bio in the book.

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