Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave… (with John 9:4): — I have taken these parallel texts because the second supplements and completes the first. 1. I want to dwell upon the first verse: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 'with thy might'," etc. We cannot read these words without feeling that they dwell very forcibly upon man's capacity for work, and his opportunities for service, in this life. The very mention of the word "hand" is significant. The hand is one of the distinguishing gift's of man. It is his hand that represents much of his power and the secret of many of his triumphs. The hand is pre-eminently the instrument for work: that with which a man tunnels the mountains, steers the ships across the mightiest seas, builds his monument's, wields the pen. The hand ought to be restless until it has found it's work. It' has been given to man wherewith to work. The "loafer" tells us that he has not been able to find work. Yet, after all, even his hollow excuse tells us that down deep in his heart is the consciousness that there is a work: that it is his duty to be dissatisfied until he finds it; and that the hand is that which should find it. It is the instrument not only for work, but that of exquisite feeling and touch. Thus the figure is doubly used here — "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to de," or, "reacheth out so as to find." The human arm comes in here in its usefulness. "Reacheth out so as to find" — whatsoever work that hand of yours, with all the advantage that the human arm gives to it, can find in its search for toil and service, do it, and "do it with thy might." Now, man's energy or might can express itself in the hand as it cannot in any physical part of his nature. No member of man's body can express human might like the hand. The hand with the arm as its lever is the universal symbol of power. This is applied even to God. The inspired writers do not hesitate to speak of "the right hand of the Most High": and no one can mistake what is meant by that. Again, the phrase "thy might" is significant. It is the strength of your body, the force that is behind the hand, and to which the hand gives expression. Only by the dignity of labour can man rise to the true level of manhood; only by using the hand as the instrument of human industry and toil can he fulfil his mission. Observe next the hint given here concerning the transient opportunities of life in respect to life's work — "For there is no work nor device in the grave whither thou goest." We are here urged to work while we have the opportunity. The opportunity is transient and will soon be gone. When once allowed to slip, it never comes again in the same form. The greatest sorrow possible to man at the close of life is to realize that he has done nothing worth the doing, that his life is worse than a failure, and that the record of so many years does not include any service which has enriched his nature and prepared him for the higher and nobler service yonder. 2. I have taken the first words as an introduction to those still nobler words uttered by our Lord Himself: "I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work." Jesus Christ here identifies Himself with man in view of this common responsibility of toil. He does not claim exemption. When we view the life of Christ, even as a human life among men, we are greatly impressed with the amount of work which He condensed into so brief a space of time. Here and there, in the record of one day's toil, we gain a truer conception than we 'otherwise should have had of the nature of that ministry that extended over a few brief years; but which was so full of activity and so rich in toil. Moreover, we learn that in all this Christ identified Himself with our race, and thus left us an example that we should follow His steps. When the Son of God became the Son of Man, in no instance did He more fully identify Himself with us than in His consecration to duty and His consciousness of the incessant claims of service. This brings us to a new truth which is here brought into prominence by our Lord — namely, the consciousness of a mission — "I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day." Now, the consciousness of a mission is a different thing even from the consciousness of labours crowding upon one and demanding one's attention. Our Lord here emphasized the truth that there was One who had sent Him. There was not only a work awaiting Him, but that work awaited Him which the Father, who had sent Him, had given Him to do. And so there is given to life a motive force which otherwise it would lack. Now it is this consciousness of a mission — not only the consciousness that there is a work to do, but also that this work is that which the Master has appointed for him — that gives an irresistible power to the life of every consecrated man. It behoves us, therefore, not only to realize the truth which is enforced in the verse taken from Ecclesiastes, but also the supplementary truth given us by Jesus Christ in the second text — that we must not only work, but also do the works of Him who has sent us. Now what follows? If the work that we have to do is the work of Him who has sent us into this world; if the service, therefore, that we have to render is a Divine service, or is a human response to a Divine claim, then how dignified does life become, and how noble does all labour appear! Now if you and I could only master this one truth, all our grumblings at the hardness of work would vanish; and we should for ever cease to talk about our self-denials. (D. Davies.) Parallel Verses KJV: Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. |
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