Ecclesiastes 11:8
However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless.

Depressing, isn’t it? Ecclesiastes is not the happiest book of the Bible to read through, simply because the author repeats that “everything is meaningless” while we live “under the sun.”

But indeed, everything purely worldly (“under the sun”) is ultimately meaningless–“in a hundred years, what will it matter?” as my mom always says when I get upset about something breaking or not going right. Without God and a grand divine plan to give life an overarching meaning and goal, life can seem a bit pointless. After a while, we get tired of searching for pleasure, power, and wealth; most of us start looking for a deeper meaning during our “days of darkness.” And, if we’re not looking toward God, we simply won’t find it.

This is why the author of Ecclesiastes (possibly King Solomon) keeps insisting that “everything is meaningless”–because life without divine direction leaves us ultimately wishing for something more, something only God can give us.