As a young pastor, I valued Ecclesiastes as Holy Scripture but didn’t feel prepared to serve it up to the church family. Ecclesiastes’s author spoke from life experiences still in my future. Besides, there were 65 other books to preach through. It wasn’t until I had matured as a Christian that I was able to wrestle Ecclesiastes to the ground.
When I finally preached through Ecclesiastes in my 31st year of pastoring, I had many good exegetical resources to draw on. Unfortunately, I didn’t have Bobby Jamieson’s book, Everything Is Never Enough: Ecclesiastes’ Surprising Path to Resilient Happiness. Jamieson, senior pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, offers an engaging exposition of Ecclesiastes that will help many people pursue happiness in a broken world. His framework brings clarity to an important book of the Bible in a difficult genre.
Three Floors with Different Views
Opinions on Ecclesiastes’s structure and interpretation are notoriously diverse. The author, identified by the title “Qohelet,” seems to be all over the literary map. He pronounces disjointed enigmas and artfully contradicts himself. Yet Jamieson shows there’s a flow to the argument. He describes Ecclesiastes as a building with three floors offering different perspectives on the human experience.
From the first floor, Qohelet reflects on his lifelong search for happiness and meaning in work, sex, marriage, food, drink, wealth, and power. His conclusion is dismal: Life is hevel. Jamieson teases out the nuances of this Hebrew word: absurd, meaningless, pointless, futile, enigmatic, hot air. The precise meaning may be debatable, but the cause of life’s absurdity is clearly the fall of man and the subsequent curse of God.
The cause of life’s absurdity is clearly the fall of man and the subsequent curse of God.
Jamieson argues that Qohelet climbs to the second floor precisely seven times throughout Ecclesiastes to view the same subjects. Yet this time, he pronounces them satisfying gifts to be enjoyed. Viewing them as good and undeserved gifts is the key to enjoying them. Even so, the fulfillment fades, time runs out, and what was gained is eventually lost. Death comes to all.
Occasionally, the author of Ecclesiastes ascends to the third floor, where he offers a bird’s-eye view of the human condition. From the third floor, Qoholet exhorts the reader to “fear God because . . . he is going to judge all that you do and all that everyone ever does” (xvii). God is Creator and Judge of all, so “in addition to receiving his gifts with gladness, you should obey him with reverence” (xix). You aren’t in control, but God is. He will right all wrongs on some certain and future day. All that was lost will eventually be gained. When we embrace this truth, it makes life worth living. It’s good news.
“But is it good news for you?” Jamieson asks (204). Ecclesiastes assures us that God will someday right all wrongs, but it doesn’t explicitly tell us how. Neither are we told how to face our Judge with confidence. Who has truly satisfied God’s moral demands? For the answers to those troubling questions, we need all of Scripture. Jamieson mercifully leads us to the gospel, proclaiming, “Jesus alone is God’s answer to your life’s absurdity” (211).
Pursue Resilient Happiness
Ecclesiastes’s themes are timeless and universal. Every generation seeks resilient happiness, choosing paths thought to satisfy but ultimately proving to be “striving after wind.” Ecclesiastes’s themes of honest despair and brutal futility will resonate with thoughtful unbelievers, especially high achievers. They’ll recognize the disappointment that normally follows after success. Qohelet’s longing is ultimately satisfied in Jesus. Jamieson’s book is a long-form gospel tract for your well-read and thoughtful unbelieving friends.
This book also serves believers well as we battle discontentment. Thirty-three years ago, when I first came to my church, my wife and I were poor parents of two small children, fresh out of seminary, and filled with youthful optimism. The church offered an annual salary of $32,000. We didn’t know how we’d spend all that money! Surely, we’d never need, or even want, more. Surprisingly, it soon didn’t feel like enough. Likewise, when our church grew to 300 members, I thought that was big enough. But soon, 400 had a nice ring to it. We’re always looking for more.
Of course, it’s not always wrong to be ambitious or discontent with the status quo. But pastors, like the people they shepherd, aren’t immune from the ceaseless striving to have, do, and be more. In striving, we can forget an important truth: “Everything is never enough, but Jesus is. Jesus is enough to satisfy God’s judgment on your behalf. And Jesus is enough to satisfy your soul forever” (211). Here’s a book to calm your restless soul and put you back on the path to resilient happiness.
Rich Resource
This book isn’t a verse-by-verse commentary on Ecclesiastes. There’s little introductory material except to say that Ecclesiastes was written “well over two thousand years ago and is arguably the Bible’s only work of philosophy” (xiii). Jamieson’s purpose isn’t to engage the latest scholarship regarding authorship, date, genre, or historical setting.
All that was lost will eventually be gained. When we embrace this truth it makes life worth living.
Everything Is Never Enough is meant to serve average readers more than scholars. There are no Scripture references in the text, and the pages are devoid of footnotes. Those trying to track down sources have to flip to the endnotes.
Yet combing through the endnotes will prove fruitful for future research. As the apostle Paul enlisted the work of Greek and Roman poets and philosophers to persuade unbelievers, Jamieson draws from a wide range of sociologists, poets, authors, and philosophers. He especially relies on the work of German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, though other thinkers like Peter Kreeft, Blaise Pascal, and Wendell Berry are involved in the conversation.
By the book’s end, the message is clear: The bad news of hevel creates tension that’s finally relieved by the good news of the gospel. The path to resilient happiness leads to Christ. As Jamieson paves this path, he offers interpretive insight, illustrations for preaching, ideas for application, and a good example of cultural apologetics. Above all, Everything Is Never Enough is a helpful companion for anyone teaching or preaching Ecclesiastes.