A Sweet Night's Sleep

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

A SWEET NIGHT’S SLEEP

Eccl 5:10-12

10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.

NIV

Although we ended with verse 10 yesterday, it really fits with the rest of these phrases. The idea of the goods increase and do they that consume them has to do with the everyday problems of business. Let’s say a wealthy man employees ten workers in his shop and produces one hundred items to sell. Because he wants more, he hires 10 more workers and now he has two hundred items to sell, but his expenses increased at the same rate so he has the same amount of profit, all he can do it just look at how big is shop is. He has gained nothing because his cost of goods sold has increased. It is just vanity that he wanted that bigger shop. But he keeps at it because he is never satisfied with what he had, never enough wealth. The workers go home and enjoy their evening, their family, and they get a good night’s sleep, all is well. No worries, no troubles about how the next day’s business will be. The abundance of the rich man keeps him up at night, he tosses and turns, concerned about his profit margins, how he can make them better, how can he gain more wealth. Does it sound like sour grapes because we have little wealth, and we are but the worker? How can it be sour grapes? We did not write these verses, Solomon did, under the inspiration of God. The Lord did not intent for man to be so consumed with wealth, that it becomes an idol, a mini god, a treasure of value, which is stored up or hoarded for some future needs. Those needs never come because they never have enough wealth, never have enough stored up. That is God’s thoughts, not ours. Maybe we should take heed to his thoughts. Maybe?  "Maybe" is a horrible idea. We should take heed of his thoughts. We are supposed to listen to God. So we go to work and enjoy our labor as we labor as if we labor for the Lord. We have enough, we get paid just the right amount and we trust in the Lord for all we have. He provides us with the right job, career, profession or position that he knows is best for us. We can go home without concern for the next day, without anxiety, without stress. Life is good living content in the Lord. Do we have enough? Absolutely, we have far more than many others and far less than many others. But what concern is that of ours, we need only be content with what we have. No envy, no jealously, no greed or lust for more is far better than the alternative. Always discontent with what we have, always looking for a way to get more. It is a vicious cycle, the more we have, the more we want, and that is not enough, so we want more and on and on it goes, until we die, and leave it all behind. Even if it is not money, we want the things it buys, we store up stuff. We have to rent places to store our stuff so we can go open the door once and a while and look at all our stuff. Sure, sometimes there is no other way to do it, but it is the same idea, how much do we want to store up? We need to see the Lord as the greatest treasure, the pearl of great price. He is the only one who can give us life. He is the only one we can find true joy and contentment, peace and security in. Nothing else really matters.  We live as he provides. We have what his hand gives. We have learned to be content in whatever situation in life we are in. We have learned to be content with much and with little, life is more than how much we have, how much we have to eat, how many clothes we have to wear, or what kind of house we have, or car we drive. Life is more than our position, our station, our profession, our title, or the amount of education we have, or degrees. Even if we have all of that, our life is about our relationship with the Lord. There is a gauge we can use to see how our life measures up.  What is our main focus? What do we spend the most of our thought life about? What do we spend the most of our energy on? Do we get a sweet night’s sleep?