The Futility of Trusting in Wealth

Solomon had more reason than anyone alive to trust in wealth, and the word he kept reaching for was he·ḇel: "futility," "vanity," "meaningless." It will one day evaporate like smoke.

In the prior chapter, Solomon warned about the futility of wealth. In Ecclesiastes 6 he continued with those warnings. Those who trust in their wealth instead of Jesus will ultimately experience: (1) loss, (2) regret, (3) eternal sorrow, (4) insatiable desires, (5) futile rebellion, (6) futile pride, and (7) a futile lack of faith.

Avoid placing your trust in the gift instead of the Giver

Solomon watched God give a person "riches, wealth, and honor, so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires," and then withhold the opportunity to enjoy any of it, while "a foreigner enjoys them." (Ecc. 6:1-2). He knew the pattern from his own house. "As he came naked from his mother's womb, so he will return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand." (Ecc. 5:15). His son Rehoboam squandered the inheritance, and Shishak of Egypt carried off the shields of gold that Solomon had made (1 Kgs. 14:25-26).

Greed can never be satisfied

"Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, nor are the eyes of a person ever satisfied." (Prov. 27:20). Wealth cannot fill the appetite, and it will not hold still long enough to try. "Do not weary yourself to gain wealth; stop dwelling on it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens." (Prov. 23:4-5).

One day with God is better than a thousand years without Him

"For a day in Your courtyards is better than a thousand elsewhere." (Ps. 84:10). Martin Luther saw what that does to our accounting: "As I shall forsake my riches when I die, so I forsake them while I am living."

The warning is not that wealth is evil. It is that wealth cannot bear the weight of your hope. Place your hope in eternal life with Jesus, not in your wealth.