Open Your Hands and Receive God's Joy

Introduction

"Everything under the sun is vapor." In the most common reading, Ecclesiastes isn't first a book about joy. You picture a lucid, almost jaded sage looking at life and finding it inconsistent. And yet every year this book is read during the Feast of Sukkot, one of the LORD's appointed feasts prescribed in Leviticus, a feast of joy. A feast that celebrates the time Israel spent in the wilderness, under God's hand, and that recalls the inheritance the Lord has prepared for his people.

That's no accident. Ecclesiastes actually shows you the path to a joy that can't be taken from you, while still holding a realistic picture of life. And it's precisely that vision that makes joy possible. In this survey of the book, this fourth installment lands on three convictions: joy is a gift, the fear of God contributes to it in a major way, and contentment in providence is the posture that receives it.

Jesus himself celebrated Sukkot. In John 7, when he stands up before the crowd during this feast, he says: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink... From within him will flow rivers of living water," speaking of the Holy Spirit. Everything brings you back to this joy in the inheritance the Lord has for you.

Message outline

1. Joy is a gift from God, not a conquest

• Ecclesiastes 3:10-15: "I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live... it is the gift of God."
• God "has made everything beautiful in its time" - a nod back to creation, where everything created is declared good because that's the truth of it.
• "He has set eternity in their heart" - that desire in you to look beyond this life, that groan of the spirit in the face of the world's fleeting quality.
• God sets limits, even for the most privileged people. Wisdom teaches you another posture: gratitude. And it's this gratitude that leads you to joy.

2. The fear of God opens the door to true joy

• Ecclesiastes 4:17-5:6: "Guard your steps when you go to God's house... for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few."
• God is constant, he is true; we are not. We make promises to God, and then when it's time to act, we change our minds. "It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay."
• Our world has been stripped of the sacred: we often live as if God were no longer in heaven. Is it because we're protected - or because we're careless?
• Never lose sight of what Jesus made possible: approaching God at any moment, without ritual purification, because he himself is the sacrifice that removes the need for all that preparation.

3. Contentment, the wisdom that receives providence

• Ecclesiastes 5:17-19, then 7:1-14: "Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor... this is the gift of God."
• God gives you small moments of joy received from his hand: work well done, a moment with a friend, the pleasure of a good meal.
• Biblical wisdom isn't first a body of knowledge - it's a life lived in wisdom. Asking for wisdom (James 1:5) means asking for the maturity, the perspective, the knowledge of God needed for a good decision.
• The joy God gives you is balanced: neither legalism nor license. "Don't be excessively righteous... don't be excessively wicked." Extremism scares people, and it doesn't come from God's hand.

Joy is a gift, in the face of an inconsistent world

"I know that whatever God does, it will be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him... I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live. Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God." (Ecclesiastes 3:14, 12-13)

You find your happiness in the portion God gives you. It isn't first an achievement to be seized - it's a joy to be received. The book was likely written during a time of exile, in Persia. Israel was going through a season of uncertainty, and yet it could look outside and see the beauty of creation - a reminder of the hand of God caring for his people. The book of Esther, in fact, comes from the same era: God chooses a beautiful woman, places her at the head of a nation, and through her saves his people. God makes everything beautiful in its time.

"He has set eternity in the human heart." You carry this desire to search for what lies beyond this present life. The fleeting quality of the world makes your spirit groan. As C.S. Lewis put it, we sense that death isn't natural. You want more, something that goes beyond. And if you try to silence that voice, you'll have to find something else to fill the void.

But God also set eternity in your heart so that you would recognize your limits - because you are a creature, standing before a Creator to whom you owe an account. Wisdom then teaches you another posture: gratitude. As Zack Eswine puts it well: open your hands, pay attention to what God gives and what he hasn't given, and receive with humility what he gives as sufficient.

Our culture loves to take matters into its own hands. There's nothing wrong with a little ambition - not in the excessive sense. But if you're always driven by a thirst, ask yourself: have I taken the time to drink? That new job I long for so much - will it really make me content? That person I'd like in my life - will they make me more content with who I am today? If I had more money, would I really manage what I already have any better? The Preacher invites you to contentment with what God has already given.

Facing this vanity, these limits, this death that awaits everyone, there are things you simply cannot know here below. This life remains full of mysteries. With all the scientific knowledge available, we keep discovering new species, new corners of the galaxy. As Moses says in Deuteronomy 29:29: "The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Some secrets belong to God, and mankind stands in wonder before them. But the things already revealed - the law - are for you. Are you managing to keep them as you should? And yet God, in his generosity, still chooses to reveal more of himself to you. As Calvin said: nearly all the wisdom we possess comes down to two connected kinds of knowledge - knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves.

If God allows something in your life, it's a gift from his hand. And these thoughts help you not to experience limits as failure. If God sets limits around you, is it really a failure when things don't go according to your own will? Or have you simply arrived at the edge of the boundary God drew?

The fear of God, a major contributor to joy

Second conviction, running against the grain of our culture: the fear of God becomes a source of joy. The Preacher describes this state of mind in how one approaches God.

"Guard your steps when you go to God's house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools... Don't be rash with your mouth, and don't let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few... When you vow a vow to God, don't defer to pay it... Better is it that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay." (Ecclesiastes 5:1-5)

The text sets you before the reality of God. He is constant, he is true. We are not. We change our minds. We make promises to God, and when the moment comes to act, we back away. God, though, is not a man.

Remember Martin Luther's conversion. He was walking home in the middle of a massive storm. His character was that of a man who charges ahead, very determined, who sees things through. But lightning strikes near him. He finds himself facing death, facing this force of nature, and he truly sees that it is God who is stopping him. "In his day, people thought that way" - but we're protected by our apartments, our houses. Ecclesiastes then asks you the question: is it because you're protected, or because you're careless?

Think of those American storm chasers. What madness. One of the most dangerous, utterly uncontrollable storms in the world - and people chase it down to get photos for Instagram. Are we protected, or are we careless? Add to that a world that has been thoroughly stripped of the sacred. Remember that terrible episode around the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, how everything erupted. If we in the West have desacralized everything, that doesn't mean everyone else thinks the way we do. But remember the God Ecclesiastes speaks of. "You are on earth. Let your words be few." Think about who you're addressing.

Back then, to go to the temple, you had to be Jewish. To draw near, if you were a man, you had to be circumcised on the eighth day. You never came empty-handed. Before presenting your offering, you had to be purified - ritual washings. Then you brought your sacrifice, which had to be slaughtered and burned on the altar with the priest's blessing. And all of that before you could even approach God.

Aren't you glad Jesus said: "But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4)? Jesus himself is the sacrifice that removes the need for all that preparation. You can approach God at any moment, to seek his grace in your time of need. Joy is a gift from God, even in an inconstant world. Life under the sun is not how God created this world. He made everything beautiful in its time - in creating each thing, he declared it good. He made the garden, placed the man and the woman in it, and gave them that garden to cultivate, out of the same generosity flowing from his image in them. Chasing after wind only entered the picture after the fall. It is, in fact, its inheritance.

Contentment, the wisdom that receives providence

God's goodness, despite everything, does not want humanity to live under an endless curse. Ecclesiastes 5:18-19: "Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him... Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor - this is the gift of God."

God allows these moments of joy in the simple things he gives you to do. That's his gift. He could have left humanity to rot in its rebellion, with no relief, no rest at all. But he gives these small moments of contentment: the satisfaction of a job well done, that moment with family or friends where you laugh together, where you feel good in each other's company, the pleasure of a good meal. The question is: do you enjoy these moments as received from his hand? Or do you assume they're just normal, something owed to you?

Zack Eswine puts it this way: the sense that we're owed something, discontent and ingratitude, push you to publicly mock what you have, or privately want to trade it for something more desirable. But the Preacher redirects you: taste the sweetness of ordinary joys. Learn to enter each day with the conviction that everything is already a gift.

The wisdom of chapter 7 leads you toward contentment: "A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart." (Ecclesiastes 7:1-2)

Who, in this world, urges you toward the house of mourning rather than the house of feasting? Yet when you see where death leads, it strips away the pretense of an endless life. Nothing quite like vapor to make you realize how brief your life is, and how much weight rests on every moment before you. Every decision matters. You get up, you flip on the light. Every action, every thought, carries a consequence. This world is uncertain, but God gives you wisdom - not as the world gives. This wisdom stands before you.

The Preacher once shared a memory of his four children. One of the sweetest seasons as a parent was when they were little, around Easter, hiding little chocolate eggs. At a certain age, kids will do anything to find those bits of chocolate. And when they find one, they're so happy they can outshine, as an adult watching, the one who found something just as good right beside them and saw it too. Too often in the Christian life, you're so rushed toward the next thing - "if only I could have this, if only I could reach that place" - that you miss the wisdom God has already set before you, maybe in the very situation you're in right now.

James 1:5 teaches you a beautiful way to be: "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him." This verse says more than a simple request for direction. It's not merely "Lord, show me what to do." It's a whole new life being asked for. Biblical wisdom isn't knowledge - it's life lived out in wisdom. Asking for the wisdom you lack means asking for the maturity, the perspective, the knowledge of God needed to make the right decision. It's receiving peace, the recognition of God's presence, who wants you to have the joy of a balanced life.

You can love and serve God with passion - without falling into an extremism that frightens people. Ecclesiastes 7:16-17: "Don't be excessively righteous, and don't make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?" So many things done in the name of holiness or justice are nothing but a somewhat extreme zeal. Remember that young man who stood outside the Pigalle metro exit, so zealous to share a gospel he'd only just discovered that he shouted, out loud, every prophetic passage of judgment he could find. Are you surprised no one came to Christ through his speech? Are you surprised he came away more discouraged himself?

"Don't be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?" (Ecclesiastes 7:17). The joy God gives you is balanced. Legalism and license are two extremes that, in the end, both rob you of that joy.

To close, God wants a life of wisdom and joy for you - and it's Jesus who opens the door to it. Think of Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." We love to quote it, but what's it actually about? "I know how to be humbled, and I know also how to abound. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Paul, it seems, had read Ecclesiastes. And where does he find the strength to live in both abundance and need? In Christ. It's the same for you. Draw near to him. He's the one who strengthens you for every trial, and for every joy.

Key takeaways

• Joy isn't first a conquest; it's a gift from God, to be received with open hands.
• God set eternity in your heart so you would search beyond this life - and recognize your limits as a creature.
• The fear of God - drawing near, listening, weighing your words, keeping your vows - doesn't crush you; it frees you for true joy.
• Jesus opened access to God at any moment: you no longer need a temple, a ritual, or a priest to draw near.
• Contentment in ordinary joys - a good meal, work well done, shared laughter - is one of the places where God's providence can be tasted.
• The joy God gives is balanced: neither excessive rigor nor excessive carelessness. It's in Christ that Paul "knows how" to live both extremes.

Personal application

1. What joy are you chasing today as though you had to seize it by force? Can you name it before God, open your hand, and ask him to give it to you... or to make you content without it?
2. When you enter God's presence - in prayer or worship - do you start by talking a lot, or do you pause to listen first?
3. Is there a vow, a promise made to God (or to someone before God), that you haven't kept? Ecclesiastes tells you it's better not to vow than to vow and not pay it. What would you do about that vow this week?
4. Name three ordinary joys from this past week: a meal, a moment of laughter, a job well done. Did you receive them as a gift from God, or as something owed to you?
5. Are you tempted toward an extreme - the rigor that scares people around you, or the carelessness that makes you live as if God weren't in heaven? Where is God calling you to a truer balance?

Scriptures cited

• Ecclesiastes 3:10-15 - joy as a gift from God, beauty in its time, eternity in the heart.
• Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 - death awaits everyone, and joy in labor is your portion.
• Ecclesiastes 4:17-5:6 - the fear of God, few words, vows to be kept.
• Ecclesiastes 5:17-19 - eating, drinking, rejoicing in labor: a gift from God.
• Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 - wisdom of heart, the house of mourning, patience, wisdom as shelter.
• Ecclesiastes 7:15-17 - don't be excessively righteous, don't be excessively wicked.
• John 7:37-39 - Jesus at Sukkot: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me."
• John 4:23-24 - the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and truth.
• Deuteronomy 29:29 - the secret things belong to Yahweh, the revealed things belong to us.
• James 1:5 - if you lack wisdom, ask God, who gives to all liberally.
• Philippians 4:11-13 - I have learned to be content; I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

FAQ

Is Ecclesiastes really a book about joy, when it keeps repeating that "everything is vapor"?

Yes. A quick read sees only disillusionment, but the book is read every year at Sukkot, a feast of joy. It traces the path to a joy that can't be taken from you, while still holding a realistic picture of life: vanity, death, limits. It's precisely that clear-eyed honesty that makes true joy possible, because it stops you from looking for it in the wrong places.

Why would the fear of God be a source of joy rather than fear itself?

The fear of God that Ecclesiastes describes means recognizing who he is - in heaven, constant, true - and taking your own place - on earth, changing. That right sense of proportion frees you from the pressure of trying to be your own god. And because of Jesus, you can approach this God at any moment, without ritual or sacrifice. That's the framework that makes joy lasting.

How do I know if I'm living in contentment or just resignation?

Biblical contentment receives what God gives as a gift - meals, work, relationships, simple moments - with gratitude, never with contempt. Resignation, on the other hand, just goes quiet from exhaustion, without ever giving thanks. Look at your last three ordinary joys: did you name them before God as received from his hand? Gratitude is the most reliable gauge.