Created in God’s image, we were meant to wield power lovingly for our planet and its people. Adam was a steward in the Garden with a mandate to be a worshiper who tended Creation for God.
We know how that turned out. After the Fall (Genesis 3), shame, fear, anger, and frustration entered the race, and rather than drawing on God’s strength to rule Creation, we began carving out parts of it as mini-kingdoms of our own. That goes on to this day.
We try all sorts of things that make us feel important and powerful: money, influence, political intrigue, and military might. But it all falls short because, in the end, we depart and leave it to others.
Solomon acquired vast wealth and constructed great buildings, but observed, “I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 2:18, 19
But that is not the end of the story. Realizing the fragility of this life, which ends with death, Solomon wisely lends a Godward perspective: “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This, too, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.”
So the “negative tone” of Ecclesiastes applies only if you are ignoring God. To those who love and follow Him, He grants joy and peace and meaning in this same “vain” life, and promises that when it ends, they will be with Him.
Life is vain only for those who forget that the world was never theirs to begin with. For us believers, there IS true satisfaction in our all-too-short and fleeting lives, not in building monuments to ourselves, but living for Him. Accepting our inevitable departure from this world helps us stay real, not to mention, humble.
Nothing done for God ever is wasted. Nothing is meaningless. He rewards even the lowliest acts of kindness done in His name out of a heart of love. Matthew 25:34-40
“No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.”
Psalm 33:16–19