We are Not as Wise as We Think (Why we toil for Worldly Gain)

Think above the sun not Under the Sun

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It is like a big puzzle, isn't it? This deep thinking that no matter how hard we try, our big hunger for knowing things, and how much we look for answers, God's work, the way He does things in the universe, stays hard to catch.

How can this be? And why does the writer of Ecclesiastes, who people think is King Solomon, talk about human searching in a kind of sad way?

The Hard to Catch Nature of God's Work

What do we mean by "God's work"? It's not just about how God made the world, though that's part of it.

The "God's work" is the big, mystery ways of how God looks after the cosmos, the secrets that are too hard for people to get.

It talks about the order and mess, the come and go of life and end, the good and the bad, the happiness and the sadness, that we see every day under the sun.

But, no matter how hard we try to get it, we end up at a stop. We might try to get it with our small minds, try to map its path, or even say we've found its secrets, but in the end, we hit a wall.

Like the wise man in Ecclesiastes who "says he knows," we too find out that even our best thoughts and biggest discoveries are not enough to really get the whole picture of God's plans.

The writer's message is clear: the plan of God is big, hidden, and ultimately hard to read. It is a puzzle too complex for people's minds to solve. "Man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun," says the author, meaning, no matter how much we try and search in our hunt for truth, we will never fully get the reasons behind the events of our lives, much less the big design of the universe.

This is frustrating if we were to leave it at that but we can figure this out and God has given us the tools with the Bible to do just that. You will come to find that we are not meant to know everything, we can’t possibly thing we can know everything God Knows.

When we get to Heaven we may know more , we probably will, but I am not sure we will ever know all that God knows.

The Limits of People's Wisdom

This humbling thought shows a big fight in the human experience. We are born with a want for knowledge, a natural wish to get our world. We make new things, we find out stuff, and we push what we know further. But no matter how hard we try, we hit a limit. There’s a point where even the deepest wisdom stops.

Look at the words of Job, another voice from the ancient writings. After his big suffering, Job, in a moment of deep asking, questions God, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world? Tell me, if you have understanding" (Job 38:4). This question from God, which starts a series of talks from God, shows the big gap between people's knowing and God's wisdom. God's answer to Job is not a clear explanation of why suffering is there, but rather a reminder of our small view. God asks Job to think about the making of the world, the complex ways of nature, and the mysteries of life, all of which are beyond Job's getting. Through this, God shows that the plan of God is not for us to fully catch.

In Ecclesiastes, we see a similar view on the limits of human getting. The "wise man" who "says he knows" is not just someone who lacks info, but a person who wrongly thinks that they can catch the uncatchable. Yet the truth is, no matter how much one knows, no matter how many books we read, how many scientific models we make, how many philosophies we look into, we will never come to a full getting of the "God's work" that operates beneath the surface of our everyday lives.

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The Humbleness of Accepting Mystery

So, what should we do with this knowing, or rather, this lack of knowing? If God's work is beyond our getting, should we give up all search for wisdom and go back into not knowing? Absolutely not. The Bible text does not tell us to stop looking for knowledge. Instead, it tells us to have a humbleness in our search.

Solomon, as the wisest of men, is not saying no to wisdom itself, but he is reminding us that there are limits to what we can know.

The wisdom of Ecclesiastes tells us to see our limits. It tells us to look for getting, yes, but with the knowledge that there are mysteries in life that will always be just out of reach. It teaches us that peace comes not in solving all the mysteries of life, but in accepting that some things are beyond our getting. This matches the Psalmist’s words: "The secret things belong to God our God, but the things that are shown belong to us and to our kids forever" (Deuteronomy 29:29).

In short, Ecclesiastes 8:17 invites us to a deeper kind of wisdom, one based not in the pride of thinking we can know it all, but in the humbleness of knowing that some answers are outside our reach. To know that there is more to the universe than we can ever catch is, in a way, to start to get what real wisdom is. It is to embrace mystery, rather than beat it.

The Part of Faith

In the end, this thought brings us to a place of faith. Faith is not just blind accepting, but trust in the truth that the "work of God" is good, even if it is unknowable. There is a divine reason at work, even when we can't see it, and this is a basic idea of the Bible story. In times of suffering, not sure, or joy, the believer is called to trust that God's hand is at work, even when the details escape us.

This “Faith” part is difficult for many and easy for some but it is a work that we must do on a daily basis. The longer you stay in the word the stronger your faith becomes but we are all capable of losing our faith if we are not careful.

I think of it this way “what do you have to lose by praying?” , by living a Godly life while on Earth? … Nothing

What do you have to gain? Eternity in Heaven.

Jesus Himself, when faced with questions about the mysteries of God's kingdom, often didn't give straight answers, but with stories and teachings that called for faith and trust. "The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed," He said, "which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds sat in its branches" (Luke 13:19). In this picture, we see the mystery growth of God's rule in the world, something that can't be fully gotten but is still a truth.

Conclusion
Ecclesiastes 8:17 is not a call to give up, but a deep reminder of our place within the big mystery of life. It talks to the fight between our human want for getting and the vastness of divine wisdom that escapes our getting. We are invited to try, to seek, and to explore the deeps of life, but also to humbly admit that some things will remain out of reach.

In a world that often asks for answers, this thought calls us to embrace not sure, trust in the unseen, and find peace in the knowing that, though we can't know everything, we are held by the One who knows all.