Lessons in Futility, pt. 1

Shelby Olive

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
12 I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, 13 applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. 14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
    and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said to myself, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.

Reflection:
In my Bible, this passage falls under a section titled, “The Futility of Wisdom.” I’m sorry–what? You mean to tell me that after reading all those verses in the Bible about the benefits of the Lord’s wisdom, the importance of seeking and asking for wisdom, and the power of wisdom in our life, that I’m supposed to tell you, dear readers, that wisdom is futile? I don’t think so. But after thinking about this passage for a while, I was immediately transported back to a time when wisdom, or really just sheer knowledge, didn’t work in my favor. Take a journey with me, will you, to my fifth-grade class.

My class made something we called a Slam Book. If you’ve seen the film Mean Girls, (released two years after this incident, might I add) you do not need an explanation. But for those who have not, suffice it to say that it was a notebook with pages for every kid in our class where everyone would anonymously write exactly what they thought of said child. Nothing was off-limits. You could certainly write kind things, which many kids did. But there is no doubt that it was the unfiltered, gossipy, trash-talking that captured our attention. Not only did we write these mean-spirited things, but we carefully scanned through our own pages, reading every single thing people thought about us—the good, but mostly the bad and the ugly. Myself included. I could not tell you why I wanted to know exactly what my classmates thought of me- this so-called “wisdom” of 5th graders. But I did. I desperately did. And, like everyone else in our class, I saw things that were hurtful, and I was not any better for knowing them.

Now, it did not take very long for teachers to figure out what was going on, and once they did, the school counselor put a quick end to the circulation of this book. And thank goodness because, as the teacher in Ecclesiastes points out, this “wisdom” only increased our sorrow. Relationships were damaged. Confidence was dashed against the wall. Children were left feeling unloved and unlovable. Wisdom, in this situation, had indeed been proven futile.

Life often shows us that wisdom doesn’t work. Knowing more things doesn’t make us feel secure; it just leaves us feeling bruised. We find that wisdom, yes, even wisdom, needs to be transformed by God. When we look back on the wisdom displayed in the Bible, we find that the best examples of Godly wisdom are those where wisdom is employed to build people up, to bring those who are lost into repentance, and to support those who are vulnerable. When used for its own sake, wisdom is, in a sense, futile. At best it contributes nothing to the world and the people living within it, and at worst it can bring real harm. But the wisdom of God bears fruit. It mends wounds. It is anything but futile. This wisdom’s name is Love.

Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for the ways you constantly impart your wisdom. I pray that you continue to transform the ways wisdom is at work in my life so that knowledge is not just something to have for the sake of having but so that your wisdom can be employed for fruitfulness. Amen.