Been There. Done That. Now What?
03/19/2006 - Portrait of a Disturbed Man
Vincent Van Gogh was an artist. He was born in Holland, the son of a pastor, in 1853. As a child he was described as being highly emotional and lacking in self-confidence. He had a difficult life. He failed at love in two unhappy romances. He failed as a clerk in a bookstore, failed as an art salesman, and failed as a preacher in the mining district of Belgium. It was then that he decided to pursue art and for the most part taught himself how to paint. Yet in his lifetime he sold only one painting.
Van Gogh is perhaps most famous for his self-portraits. He painted 22 pictures of himself during a tumultuous two-year period between 1886 and 1888 and then painted a few more before he shot himself in 1890 at the age of only 37. Yet even his attempted suicide failed as he lingered for two days after putting a bullet in his chest.
His self portraits reveal a tortured man who was struggling with life and searching for answers through his own painted image. Each self portrait contains detailed emotions of shock and anger, sadness and confusion. In one image called Self-Portrait with Bandaged Head (1889) he painted a picture of himself after the infamous incident when he took a razor and cut off his right ear and gave it to a prostitute.
And, as you can see, in this portrait he appears dazed and troubled. He looks lost, hopeless, isolated, a sign of how his tragic life would ultimately end one year later.
One author summed up Van Gogh's life this way, "The story of Vincent Van Gogh's tragic life filled with mental evils and artistic triumphs lingers, almost becoming that of legend. His work is still astounding millions around the world daily, and though he sold only one painting in his life, his influence on the outcome of art has been amazing and overwhelming. His paintings have reached new records when sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, and his persona has sparked number one hit songs. Vincent Van Gogh has altered humankind forever … and he believed his life was a terrible failure!"
Vincent Van Gogh was a tortured soul searching for meaning and purpose in life that he never found. His story is a sad one. In many ways Vincent Van Gogh was much like King Solomon the author of Ecclesiastes. Both were on an exhausting quest to discover what life is all about. And in Ecclesiastes 6, the passage we're going to look at today, King Solomon is much like Vincent Van Gogh as he takes time to look in the mirror, pick up a brush, and paint a sad portrait of himself.
If you have a Bible turn with me to Ecclesiastes 6 for a teaching I've called "Portrait of a Disturbed Man." We're coming to the halfway point of Solomon's journal. The richest, wisest, most powerful man on earth had everything a person could ever want, except peace, happiness and contentment. And without those what really do we have?
Look at Ecclesiastes 6:1-2, I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on the human race: 2God gives wealth, possessions and honor, so that people lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant the ability to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
Solomon opens this section of his journal with another evil that he's seen under the sun. He describes a man who has everything, but who, at the same time, can enjoy nothing. God has given this man wealth, possessions, and honor and anything else his heart desires, but he doesn't possess the ability to enjoy them. And because of that he's miserable.
Who is it that Solomon's talking about? He's talking about himself. He's looking in the mirror at a very disturbed and troubled man and he's painting a self-portrait. He's the one in the picture with the lost, hopeless, isolated stare. He's the one who was given wealth and riches and honor, but they've been driving him mad.
Remember what God said to him in 2 Chronicles 1:11-12, God said to Solomon, "Since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king,12therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have."
God gave these incredible blessings to Solomon, but God didn't give him the ability to enjoy them. Why? Because God is cruel and sadistic and doesn't want us to enjoy life? No, not at all. The Bible says God has given us all things to enjoy. God wanted Solomon to enjoy all his blessings. But Solomon turned away from God to follow other gods. He cut the single strand that held up the whole web and chose to live an "under the sun" existence without the presence of God in his life. And so a stranger, he says, enjoys them instead.
John D. Rockefeller, the world's first billionaire once said, "I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness. I would barter them all for the days I sat on an office stool in Cleveland and counted myself rich on $3 a week."
Henry Ford, the great automaker, said a similar thing, "Work is my only pleasure. It is only work that keeps me alive and makes life worth living. I was happier when doing a mechanic's job."
I thought of that quote by Ford this week when I read the results of a report published in the October 22, 2005, issue of the British Medical Journal. The report was titled "Younger Retirees Face Higher Death Rate" and starts out by saying, "In what looks like a jolt to the American dream of retiring early, researchers have found that workers who quit at age 55 face a significantly higher risk of dying in the following decade."
The thirty year study was conducted on 3,500 Shell Oil workers who retired between 1973 and 2003. And the results were that those who retired at age 60 or 65 lived significantly longer than those who retired at age 55. In fact, the death rate for workers who retired at 55 was 37% higher than for those who kept working until 65, which prompted Colin Miller, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging, to say, "We tend to build our lives around our work. When we are no longer working, we can lapse into lack of activity, and that can contribute to bad health. To be healthy, retirement must be active."
It's a pity that so many people work hard all their lives looking forward to retiring one day and enjoying the fruits of their labor, time to themselves, time with their families, but then a stranger comes and takes it all away.
That stranger can be death. I've known people who shortly after retirement moved to Florida and died. That wasn't their plan. That wasn't their dream. They were going to take it easy, play golf, and soak up the sun. But it never happened.This too is meaningless, Solomon says, a grievous evil.
That stranger can be illness. I've known people who have looked forward to enjoying the golden years of their lives only to come home from a doctor's office with a diagnosis that shatters their dreams and instead of retirement they're facing surgery and months, even years, of rehabilitation.
That stranger can be divorce. Empty nest divorce is on the rise. Couples stay together as long as the kids are the focus of the family, but when the children leave many couples call it quits. One counselor said, "The marital meltdown can be swift, often stemming from a mountain of 'little issues' that have accumulated and created an emotional distance between spouses." What's the solution? Don't make the children the center of your marriage and take the time to deal with the little issues.
That stranger can be natural disasters or crime or some other form of trauma. For those who sat around the table at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in 1923 it was the stock market crash of 1929 that took their fortunes away. For the employees of Enron Corporation it was white collar crime that stole their dream for a comfortable retirement along with billions of dollars in a pension fund that was largely invested in worthless Enron stock.
Strangers, like Solomon's describing, can do a number on us. They can steal our hopes and ruin our dreams. Which is why we need to choose joy now? Choose contentment now? Choose gratitude and thankfulness now? Because we don't know what a day will bring forth. It may not get any better than this.
At one point Solomon thought he could find what he was looking for in kids. Look at verse 3, A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. 5Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man.
Children were considered a great blessing in that culture. In fact, Solomon wrote these words in Psalm 127:3, Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. 4Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. 5Blessed are those whose quivers are full of them.
If one child was a blessing from God then a hundred children must be an even better blessing. Right? Frankly, I'm happy with three. But even a hundred children couldn't fill the hole in Solomon's soul. We don't actually know how many children he had. We do know that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines so he certainly could have had a hundred children.
We know that his son, Rehoboam, had 88 kids with way less wives and concubines. Second Chronicles 11:21 tells us that he had 60 daughters and 28 sons by 18 wives and 60 concubines.
But what does it matter how many kids you have if you can't enjoy them or are estranged from them so that no one shows up at your funeral. It's better to be a stillborn child with a name shrouded in darkness than to suffer that fate. In Israel at that time it was common not to name a stillborn child so that the child could be more easily forgotten when the next child came.
The still born child, he says, is better off than the person who has great wealth, but can't enjoy it and hundred kids who could care less about him.
Lots of children couldn't satisfy Solomon nor could a long life. Look at verse 6, even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
Lots of kids and a long life were considered the ultimate blessings in that culture, but when your life is full of heartache and pain who wants to live 2,000 years and raise 100 kids? Vincent Van Gogh didn't make it passed the age of 37. Adding more years only adds more pain especially if you can't enjoy your prosperity.
He ends this entry in his journal by asking five rhetorical questions. Look at verse 7,Every human effort is for one's mouth, yet the appetite is never satisfied. 8 What advantage have the wise over fools? What do the poor gain by knowing how to conduct themselves before others? 9Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Our appetites are never satisfied. The word translated "appetite" is the Hebrew word nephesh. It literally means "soul." Our souls are never satisfied. We always want more, don't we? The wise want more. The fool wants more. The rich want more. The poor want more. It makes no difference. So he says it's better to focus on what you have, better what the eye sees, and be thankful for it, than feeding the never ending, roving appetite for more.
Come to grips with reality. Come to grips with your lot in life. That doesn't mean we can't dream or set goals or try to improve. Those are good things. But while we're dreaming, while we're setting goals, while we're trying to improve and move forward, be content with the process and with all that God has given you along the way. Better to look at what you have and be thankful for it, than to look at what you don't have and be tortured by it, because if you had it, it wouldn't satisfy you anyway.
You see contentment is what we're all looking for. And contentment is not found in more stuff. You have everything you need to be content right now. The choice is yours.
Finally, look at verse 10, Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger. 11The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone? 12For who knows what is good for people in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?
Much of life is out of our control, so stop fighting with God. He is the one who is stronger. He is the one who is in control. He is the one who knows the future.
The prophet Isaiah put it this way in Isaiah 45:9,11-12, Does a clay pot argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others? Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing? Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill? The Lord, the holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future, says, "You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do! I am the one who made the earth and created mankind to live there. By my power I stretched out the heavens. I control the sun, the moon, and the stars."
Stop striving and let God be God in your life. Come to terms with your reality and be thankful for the good things God has given you to enjoy. As long as we fight the hand of God we will never learn the lessons that he's trying to teach us. Everything that happens to me and to you comes through the hand of a heavenly Father who made us, who loves us, and who cares for me and for you as a favorite son or daughter.
For who knows what is good for people in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow?
God does.
And who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?
God can.
Do you trust him?