Ecclesiastes 1:4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

Much of what is said in Ecclesiastes is obvious. What he observed then was limited. His view of the world was limited. Now we have satellites in space exploring every inch of our planet.

As long as man has been an explorer there will always be places we have not gone and life forces that are still mysterious to us. We don’t know what we don’t know.

Isaiah 6:9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

Observation is merely perception from a personal advantage point.

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

If we want to see things His way, then we need to seek Him and ask.

Ecclesiastes 6:10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.

Matthew 6:8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

God might answer “That is on a need to know basis and you don’t need to know.”

Ecclesiastes 1:3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?

My father quit school at thirteen and went to work for the Canadian Pacific Rail Road for ten cents a day. He never finished school.

He had the hardest work ethic I have ever seen. He was relentless, never stopping. Given that he was born in the depression era it is understandable that he struggled for a long time.

After the war life was a little better but without an education the hard labor he put never led to financial success.

The opening passage means as much today as it did when it was written. We ask ourselves the same questions thousands of years later.

The bible relates to life no matter when we read it, 660 AD or 2026 AD. His word is true for all seasons.

Psalm 9:18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Philippians 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

Gaining Christ is effortless.