As you plan your steps—as you see the sands of your hourglass sifting away—there are going to be times in which you will not know the work that God is doing. You will not find out the work that God is doing. Nevertheless, God knows the beginning from the end.

In the previous article of this series in Ecclesiastes 3, we considered Solomon’s wisdom regarding the providence of time. In this article, we will examine another facet as portrayed in the passage: the purpose of time.

The Purpose of Time

What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Eccl 3:9–11)

Solomon asks, “What advantage is there to the worker from that in which he labors?” We have seen some similar language to this from Solomon before; when we look back at chapter 1, you see some of that similar language, but he is not reverting to some of his past anguish about the vanity of life under the sun.¹ Contextually in chapter 1, you’ll remember that was about the vanity of everything from a worldly perspective, which led him to ask, what is the point? What are we doing here? Furthermore, in 2:11, there is a similar negative contrast.² Within that context, he was speaking about his empty pursuit of worldly pleasures.

However, in Ecclesiastes 3, we have a different perspective. Throughout this autobiographical journey, we have seen that Solomon reflects upon the flaws of his past and his simple-minded folly, but at the same time we also know that he is a man blessed of God who can and does operate with biblical wisdom. And as he communicates this part of his life’s journey, he is certainly anchored in the right perspective.

Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 3:10:

I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

Remember when Solomon spoke about the endeavor under the son as a grievous or evil endeavor in the first chapter? We know that nothing God gives man is evil. But we also know that when man is focused on himself and the things of this world—when his perspective is out of sorts—he is definitely bound to feel as though some of those moments in time or providential experiences are grievous or evil.

But in v. 10, Solomon speaks from a different perspective. Why is the endeavor or business no longer grievous? He underscores first that God has given it to man. However, there is more to help answer this question, because even when Solomon was speaking from the wrong perspective, he knew that God had given man those circumstances. Verse 11 reads,

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