The book of Ecclesiastes, like the books of Job and Psalms show how easily we confuse our own understanding with our thoughts of God.
How else can we read “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.“Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless…” (Ecc 1:2 NLT), followed soon by, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal… What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (3:1-3, 9-11 NLT).
Like Job in his losses, Job’s friends in their well-intentioned counsel, David in his times of suffering, and all who are trying to see in low light, the words of Ecclesiastes show what happens when, in the burden, confusion, and limitations of human perspective, we get a hint of something far better.
1Cor 13:12