E C C L E S I A S T E S     F O U R

Devotions written by Julie Hammer

Monday
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

To the casual reader, the Book of Ecclesiastes is nothing more than a running list of life’s dead ends. In looking more closely, however, we discover the writer’s intent is to demonstrate the one and only way to have a life of meaning and purpose is living a life centered on God. So in his literary process of elimination, Solomon first looks outward to the human experience. He sees human oppression and notes there is no comfort for the oppressed. They have no power. He surmises the world is so broken and evil that it would be better for them to never have been born.

One has to look no further than the border of Texas to see a complex, present-day illustration of this truth. For those of us who follow Christ and are called to be his hands and feet to the oppressed, how should we respond? Do we seek to comfort and empower those who are oppressed or chalk up oppression to the meaninglessness of life?