“… also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil — this is God’s gift to man” (Ecclesiastes 3:13)
We have seen that experiencing rest is far more than taking a pause from your work. We can work hard while enjoying inner peace and rest that come from God, or we can lie down all day while being restless and concerned.
Ecclesiastes 3 helps us to have the right perspective on life, and thus to enjoy our daily work and its results as a gift of God. This passage tells us that we are just little people living in the world that God has beautifully created. We can’t “find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (verse 11), we can’t add something to God’s work or take anything from it. We can’t change the world. And that’s okay.
Understanding and accepting that our role in the universe is limited, can be liberating. It’s our calling to do our work and to live our lives according to God’s commandments — and that’s it.
We need not worry about things we can’t change. We are allowed to “eat and drink and take pleasure in our toil”, while we are awaiting the eternal rest in God’s glorious future. If you find it difficult to have the right perspective on work and rest, please read Ecclesiastes 3:9-14 and let this passage shape your world view.
Do you thank God every day for His gift?