According to Ecclesiastes (3: 1), to everything there is a season. The wise person understands that lives have their natural cycles, which include “a time to break down and a time to build up. “A time to laugh and a time to mourn, a time to get and a time to lose.”

According to the Book, all people must respect divine timing since life remains outside human control. The Teacher comforts us through his belief that everything has its proper season and heaven assigns its own time for all purposes (Ecclesiastes, 3:11).

Life’s meaning, combined with the pursuit of happiness and the constraints of human wisdom, stands as the Book’s central focus. The Book’s opening starts with someone identified as the Preacher, who says, ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity’ (1:2), indicating that human achievements are short-lived.

Happiness pursued through worldly means remains forever useless, according to Ecclesiastes. Throughout his search for meaning in wisdom, pleasure, and hard work, the Teacher discovers that ‘everything is ‘chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11). But he accumulated great wealth, sought entertainment, erected awesome structures, and was not contented.

This Book was written during ancient Israel’s reign, probably during a time of prosperity and intellectual growth, King Solomon’s reign. They valued wisdom literature that guided the Israelites to live righteous lives.

Today, many still chase glitter the stuff that money can buy, fame and luxury, and then feel empty. The Book says that true contentment is not in external accomplishments and the focus on them; rather, it lies in a life centered on God.

However, there is one difference between Ecclesiastes and other wisdom books: Ecclesiastes offers a skeptical view of human efforts, and there is meaning only ultimately from God. Since God has been left out of many individuals lives, who is left to turn too?

The Book of Ecclesiastes holds excellent importance in biblical records because it reveals the human desire for meaning and proves the necessity of having a relationship with God. We continue to receive hints to return but so far, the hints have been ignored. Perhaps next year.

The poetic segment mentions that human existence follows a cycle of birth and death, planting and harvesting, and mourning and dancing. According to the Book, all people must respect divine timing since life remains outside human control.

The Teacher comforts us through his belief that everything has its proper season and heaven assigns its own time for all purposes (Ecclesiastes, 3:11). Such truth should prompt believers to rest their lives in God’s divine rule instead of being consumed by uncertainties.