Ecclesiastes 5:19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.
Recently, my family and I went on a fishing outing with a pastor friend and his family on their boat. It was a marvelous time. When we came back from a few hours of fishing, there was a lot of work to be done. There was taking fish off the boat, taking tackle off the boat, refueling the boat, and washing the boat. That is a lot of work! Upon later reflection, I thought about what a generous gift our friends gave us. We didn’t own the rod, the bait, the boat, or any of the worries that came with these things. As a friend has said, “It is better to have friends who own a boat than to own a boat yourself.” When that is the case, they own the trouble and you just own the enjoyment.
It is hard for people who don’t have things to actually believe that. It is easy for all of us to think that if we had more, we would be happier. Now, to be sure, the Bible has said that God has given us richly all things to enjoy. So, there is nothing wrong with having things or enjoying life, but taking joy in what you have is a greater gift than taking what you enjoy.
In Ecclesiastes 5:19 Solomon, who had everything and called it futility, says, “Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.” In the previous verse he says that God gives the things that we enjoy, and then in verse 19 he says that God gives the enjoyment in those things. Indeed, it is not just a gift to have health, wealth, and things we can enjoy; it is a gift to have the ability and capacity to enjoy those things. I think it is a greater gift to enjoy than to actually have, to take joy in what you have instead of having what you enjoy. There are a couple of reasons for this.
First, there is stress. Many times the more things we have the more stress we have. Solomon says in verse 10, “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.” Then he says in verse 11, “When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?” When you get some possession, you also gain a lot of friends. You get a boat and you all of a sudden have friends that want to enjoy your boat. It is not wrong to have the boat or friends, but there is no doubt that the more I have the more stress is available to me. We get things because we think they will reduce our stress, but many times it is the exact reverse.
Second, think about sleep. Verse 12 says, “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.” Again, there is stress, and that is exemplified in the kind of sleep we have. Sometimes the more we own, the more we stay awake because we worry about either getting more or protecting what we have.
Eventually there is death. We may not always sleep, but we will all eventually die, and Solomon says in verse 15-16, “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand…what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?” I am laboring for the wind if all I am doing is trying to amass things. It is not wrong to have things, but it is better to enjoy the things I have than to simply get the things I think I will enjoy. All of it is futile if I count God out. Life is futile if I count God out. This has been evidenced by stories of people the world over for centuries.
Today, enjoy what you have. It is not wrong to have things, but don’t think that things alone can give you joy because both the things we have and the ability to enjoy them are gifts from God. Taking joy from what you have is a greater gift than merely taking what you enjoy.