Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 12-14; 2:18-26 Eighth Sunday after Pentecost Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, August 3, 2025
“Finding Meaning In Vapor”
It’s perhaps an unfair time to ask this question, but do you remember what it is like on a cold winter morning? I’m talking about the mornings that don’t come around very often here in southern Arizona. On the coldest of our mornings the temperature drops low enough for us to be surprised to . . . Do you know? What happens on those cold mornings is we can see our breath. I can think of a couple times loading up to head to school when everyone was excited about this. Sure enough, in the right circumstances as far as light and cold, what is usually invisible becomes visible for just a moment. It doesn’t last long, does it? Maybe a second or two at the most? You see your breath, and then it disappears.
Picturing that helps us understand a word that is very important in the verses in front of us today from the book of Ecclesiastes. Eight times our verses talk about “vapor.” The Hebrew word being translated could also mean breath. The word becomes an expression for something that doesn’t last long at all. It just disappears, like seeing your breath on a cold morning. Almost as soon as you notice it, it disappears.
There are some unique constructions grammatically in these Hebrew words as well, and it gets kind of hard to figure out how to smoothly translate this into English. If you grew up knowing the first verses of the book of Ecclesiastes, you might think of the King James version: “vanity of vanities.” English has changed a bit since then. We don’t understand that this expression means something like “the most meaningless things of all” or “the least important things.” The NIV translators handle it like this: “Meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless.” Our chosen translation, the EHV, settles on “vapor, vapor that vanishes.”
There’s another word that we don’t use a whole lot except for in this book as the title of the book and the person at the center of its narrative: Ecclesiastes. This word seems to refer to a preacher or teacher, someone who presents to a gathered group. In this book, he is also identified as Solomon, the famous king after his father David. God leads Solomon to write the book of Ecclesiastes, a piece of wisdom literature that explores how to find meaning in life. Our verses cover the very first verses of the book and a few other verses from the first chapter, plus a larger portion of the second chapter, to help us understand the overall concept of this book.
Solomon, a very wealthy man, likely writes from the perspective of old age. He is drawing closer to his death and trying to make sense of his life. He is recounting how he looked for meaning and purpose in all sorts of things, in money, in work, and more. And he shares his conclusion upfront, it is meaningless. It is vapor that vanishes. There’s more to say, but let’s consider why he comes to that conclusion.
We have skipped some verses for the sake of a manageable portion of Scripture in our service. We haven’t read all of the first two chapters, so we’re missing some details of what Solomon calls exploring everything done under the sky. We aren’t focusing on how he examined whether amassing wisdom would bring meaning and fulfilment. We aren’t looking at his pursuit of pleasure. Those would be worthwhile to consider closely. What is at the forefront in these verses is whether money and wealth and possessions bring meaning and fulfillment. Of course, the answer is a clear no.
Solomon concludes that someone can work hard and amass wealth and possessions, and then you hand it over to someone else. You can’t take it with you. That’s the vapor. It just vanishes. All the hard work and what you have to show for it goes over to someone who did none of the work, and you don’t even know if that person will use it wisely!
And in spite of this reality, it is so easy for people to get fixated on wealth and possessions. Look at the story Jesus told about the man with his successful harvest. He thought it made sense to hoard it all. Tear down barns, build bigger ones. Hang on to all this wealth and be able to do whatever you want. What happened? That very night, he would die. All that he had, all that he worked hard for, all that he thought would make him happy, slipped away. He wouldn’t have or use or enjoy any of it. Vapor. Vanity. Meaningless.
Maybe you have had experiences that remind you of this truth. You’ve seen how easy it is for a big expense like a car repair to take a huge chunk out of savings that you worked so hard to accumulate. You’ve seen how hard work over days and weeks and even years can seem to disappear when a storm blows through or an accident happens. It’s a small personal example that occurred to me regarding how work can just sort of disappear. I have had days when I have unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher twice over, and I still go to bed with a counter full of dirty dishes. Spinning wheels. Chasing after the wind as Solomon calls it. So much vapor.
When you stop and think about it, it seems so obvious. But we don’t always think that way, do we? There are really two extremes we go to in relation to our money and possessions. It’s chasing after the wind, but we keep on chasing. That’s one. We look at possessions and money as though they have meaning in themselves. We get greedy. We get focused on the wrong things. We want the things that last no longer than a bit of vapor, that vanish in a breath.
Or, we do stop and think about it. And we’re forced to come to the same conclusion as Solomon. All these things that seem so important can’t be. They are too fleeting and too short-lived. They must be meaningless, so everything is meaningless. That’s a pretty depressing conclusion to reach. We wish and hope that there is an answer, a different reality.
The verses in front of us sort of hint at that reality. There is an answer. There is a truth that is not obvious to us. There are things that are lasting and meaningful. And it all hinges on recognizing the overarching truth. We have a God who blesses us and gives us not only the things that we have but also the meaning behind them. We have a God who created us and all things and gives us purpose and meaning and value.
We have a God who sent his Son to die on our behalf so that all our mistaken priorities and foolish focus are forgiven. As God tells us in Colossians, we died with Christ, and our lives are hidden with him. Things are not what they might seem and look like. What is more, we were made alive with Christ so we live a new life. It’s a different life than the way we lived before coming to faith, a different life than a life of sin. And that really is the turning point for Solomon’s quest for meaning. If you only consider things from the perspective of the earthly and physical, the things that happen under the sun, everything is meaningless. But when God has called us to faith and changed our perspective, we find meaning in all sorts of things.
Our possessions stop being a goal in themselves. They become a tool we can use in service to God. We honor God by valuing him more highly. We praise God by using his gifts to us for serving and helping others. Our work stops being endless drudgery with no purpose. It becomes a way that we serve and honor God. It becomes a way that we remind others of God’s goodness to us and to them.
The book of Ecclesiastes will go on to explore this more fully, but hear the hints of where Solomon is going: There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him?
We can enjoy what God has given us to do because we find meaning in serving him. This is not empty or useless or vain or meaningless. God has made us good by faith and so it is true that God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good.
Our lives are still hidden in Christ with God. Sometimes it will seem like we are just spinning wheels or chasing after wind. We may not fully appreciate the opportunities we have now until we see them from the perfect perspective of heaven. But Solomon, Ecclesiastes, gives us the reminder that apart from God, everything is meaningless vapor. With God, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can find meaning even in vapor. We have something that will never fade away.
The Text: Ecclesiastes 1:1–2, 12–14; 2:18–26 (EHV)
1 The words of Ecclesiastes, David’s son, king in Jerusalem.
2“Nothing but vapor,” Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.”
12I, Ecclesiastes, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my heart to seek out and explore with wisdom everything done under the sky. (What a burdensome task God has given the children of Adam to keep them busy!) 14I have seen all the actions done under the sun, and, look, it is all nothing but vapor. It is all chasing the wind.
18I also hated all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard under the sun, since I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. 19And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard and so wisely, under the sun. This too is vapor that vanishes.
20So I changed my course, and my heart began to despair over all my hard work at which I worked so hard under the sun. 21Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It’s so unfair! 22For what does a man gain through all his hard work, through all the turmoil in his heart, as he works so hard under the sun?
23Pain fills all his days. His occupation is frustration. Even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.
24There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. 25For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him? 26Yes, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good. This too is vapor, nothing but chasing wind.