Talking of Ecclesiates 1:2-3 Matt Chandler gave what i thought was a very good explaination:
"Each generation is born into this world and runs with all the vigor of the sweaty man on the treadmill at the gym. And when all is said and done, he didn't go anywhere. He's sweaty, his heart rate is maybe a little bit better, but he didn't go anywhere. And just like the sun does the same thing every day and the wind does the same thing every day and the streams and the oceans, just like nature testifies that we're stuck in this kind of circular silliness.
And so our lives work. And in the circular silliness of life, you and I have found our lives to be somewhat boring, somewhat in a rut. Like, here's what I mean by that. No matter how hard you work, there's always laundry. Isn't there? I mean, I know. I do the laundry at our house. No matter how many times you wash it, it's dirty again.
I had to mow the lawn yesterday. I just did it a week ago. I had to get my hair cut this week. I got my hair cut a month ago. It needed to be cut again. It grew back. I had to pay bills again. He's going to say this. He's going to say, “Listen, all of this is just exhausting because it doesn't matter.
Look at verse 8, “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
So, he's just talking about this non-satisfying existence that we get ourselves into. Maybe this circular pattern, I can best explain to you like this.
Tomorrow morning, the alarm will go off at 6:30, we will wake up, shower, get dressed, get in our car, we will stop at Starbucks, and you will sit in traffic, you will get to your office, your cubicle, even worse, your workstation, which just means you're in a closet or your shop, where you work. You will get there, you will work until lunch. At lunch, you will eat something, probably with some friends.
Now, after lunch, you will go back to your workstation/cubicle/office/shop/classroom/whatever, and you will work until 5:00, 6:00, whatever. You will then leave there, maybe go to the gym, probably not. You'll want to, you know you should, but instead, you'll go to dinner, you will eat dinner, you will go home, you will watch a little television and you will go to bed.
And guess what you're going to do Tuesday. Same thing. Same drink at Starbucks. Nobody ever orders anything different.
Maybe the same lunch. If it's different, it's one of three things you order from there.
Back to the same office, same traffic, same television shows, same bed. Life is more like the film “Groundhog Day” than anyone wants to admit."
