I Can't Get No Satisfaction! - Ecclesiastes #20
Ecclesiastes 5:8-12
8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion
of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter;
for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are
over them.
9 Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the
king is served from the field.
10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver;
Nor he who loves abundance,
with increase.
This also is vanity.
11 When goods increase,
They increase who eat them;
So what profit have the
owners
Except to see them with
their eyes?
12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet,
Whether he eats little or
much;
But the abundance of the
rich will not permit him to sleep.
In 2009, I
had the opportunity to visit coffee bean farms in El Salvador as a part of a
mission trip. The typical worker earned $1.00 for every bag of beans they
picked, thus living in abject poverty. Their foremen and farm managers drove
them hard and were often seen as oppressive, but they answered to the owners of
the farm for productivity. The owners often lived outside of the country (Miami,
Costa Rica, etc.), shielding them from having to see the poor conditions of the
workers and the inevitable curses coming their way.
In previous
devotions, we’ve discussed the lack of hope or eternal satisfaction in acquiring
wealth, possessions, and power (Links here and here). Now we have the insight that what
may be observed as oppression could simply be a properly functioning economic
system that happens to be in place. In these systems, there will always be a
massive difference between the people in power and the unfortunate. In this
passage, we not only see a great difference in wealth, but also in perspective.
The rich think they need a growing fortune just as much as the impoverished
need necessities. They can’t get no satisfaction!
What the typical
laborer needs to be satisfied is considerably less. Their sleep is not only
needed, but much deserved! The wealthy will often be so smitten with that
wealth that they neglect basic needs such as sleep. There’s nothing inherently
wrong with being wealthy, but acquiring wealth for the sake of acquiring wealth
will never lead to anything good. As the well-known verse says: “For the love
of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10a). You don’t have to
be wealthy to love money, to be greedy and hoard for no good reason. Watch out
for this temptation by thinking about how to serve the Lord and proclaim the Gospel
with the money.
In Christ Alone,
Dan
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