1 min. read
Recently, while reading through Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth), one of my favorite sections of Hebrew scripture, I remembered how nothingness can be a gift.
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What if we really viewed life as a gift? This is the only conclusion we can logically come to when reading Ecclesiastes. The narrator, Qoheleth, asserts that God is the giver of the gift. We are the recipients. Our best response to this gift is to thankfully enjoy the goodness of life.
This is a bravely honest book, that questions basic assumptions of wisdom and blessing. We may observe a lot of nothingness in life. But by God’s grace, nothing can be made into something. Nothingness is not the last word. Perhaps, those who have received the gift–who have discovered the beauty of life as contained within the life of God–and are living lives of worship, must not cling to the gift; but must cast it away. This return to God of the gift given is a great paradox. Yet, it was the Wisdom incarnated among us in Christ Jesus, himself.
The wisdom tradition of scripture simply assumes that Yahweh is the divine God who instituted the created order. And the method of Wisdom is to always be observant. Wisdom keeps its eyes open. And looking at life with eyes wide-open yields a reverence, humility, and contentment in the simplicity of life. Looking at life through this lens, we can see the gift of nothingness. Though this book is often presented superficially as pessimistic, when we read deeper we find that there is great optimism and hope in enjoying the life God has graced us with.