- Hevel
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Devotion by JD Greear
As a kid, I remember looking up at the clouds and thinking about how cool it would be to bounce around in them. They looked like gigantic, comfy pillows. Then I had my first airplane flight, and we passed through the clouds as if they weren’t even there. I was so disappointed to realize that even the thickest clouds were still mostly empty space. They looked so solid and substantive from the outside, but if you were to reach out to grasp them, you would only get a handful of nothing.
The author of Ecclesiastes uses that metaphor to describe our experience of life. The word he uses is hevel—translated “futility,” “emptiness,” or “vanity.” Literally, hevel means “smoke” or “vapor,” like a cloud. From the outside, so many of our earthly experiences look solid and substantive. But when you press into them, you only find them to be full of nothing.
Some scholars say the best translation of hevel is “absurd.” Life has a quality to it that doesn’t make sense. Even when you are walking with God, things don’t always end up how you think they should. You pursued marriage God’s way, but your spouse cheated on you. You raised your children God’s way, but they grew up to leave the church and ignore you. You worked with diligence and integrity, but you were laid off.
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? We follow the advice of books like Proverbs, but we end up with an experience more like Ecclesiastes. It’s hevel. It’s absurd.
I find it interesting that Solomon, the same guy who wrote Ecclesiastes, wrote the book of Proverbs. They’re right next to each other in your Bible, both examples of wisdom literature. That’s intentional. Proverbs is full of wise advice—and following it does generally lead to better outcomes—but Ecclesiastes is honest enough to point out that there’s a glitch in the system.
Contrary to some interpretations of Ecclesiastes, the author isn’t saying that life is meaningless. It’s just problematic. It’s simply unsolid, like a cloud. It’s absurd. It’s hevel.For those of you who think life can be managed by neat and tidy “Proverbs guarantees,” a book like Ecclesiastes is troubling. It should be. Because at some point the hevel of life is going to smash you in the face.
For others of you, Ecclesiastes is helpful because it tells the truth about the way life feels in a fallen world. It teaches us how to trust in God when it’s all gone to hevel.
The last verses of Ecclesiastes provide a summary for how we should live in light of hevel:
“When all has been heard; the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, for this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.”
(Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 CSB)
Life may be full of hevel, but there remains a God who is greater than the hevel. One day he will bring justice to our unjust world. He will vindicate those of us who have been wronged. He will satisfy those of us who have been sorely disappointed. Even when life is hevel—especially when life is hevel—seek him.