Daily Devotional | God’s Original Intent

Have you ever got into trouble and thought, “Where exactly did I go wrong?” What seemed like a good idea at the beginning ended with disastrous results! Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, the author points to the very beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis. By reading this foundational first book, we understand God’s gifts to us, what it looked like to live in relationship with God, and how sin entered the world. Unfortunately, we also learn about that great equalizer, death.

In Ecclesiastes 7, we read again of the author’s quest for wisdom. He is “determined to be wise,” but laments that wisdom “was beyond me” (v. 23). He struggles to understand, but he does not give up the search—and neither should we. In this chapter, he continues to discuss the theology of sin. He says there is none who is righteous; sin has fully infiltrated every human heart (v. 20). Wickedness, he says, is stupid and folly is madness. He also points out the evil of illicit sexual relationships—a perennial human problem. His search for “righteous” men and women ends up empty (v. 28). How did humans get this way?

Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden, all of us want to blame someone else when we sin, and often we shift the blame to God Himself. The Teacher nips that thinking in the bud. It is not God who created us to do evil. Rather, “God created man upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes” (v. 29). The good news in Genesis 3 is that even though humans are responsible for sin, God promised a way out. The woman’s descendant (Jesus!) would crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15).

Go Deeper

As you reflect on the Teacher’s assessment of evil in the world, how does it compare to your view of the world today? Are people still “in search of many schemes” (v. 29)?

Pray with Us: Jesus, we all share the universal human experiences of guilt, shame, and fear. We all have known  loneliness and the desire to hide. But Your gospel gives freedom from sin and brings restoration. We praise Your holy name!

BY Dr. Russell L. Meek

Russell Meek teaches Old Testament and Hebrew at Moody Theological Seminary. He writes a regular column on understanding and applying the Old Testament at Fathom Magazine, and his books include Ecclesiastes and the Search for Meaning in an Upside-Down World and the co-authored Book-by-Book Guide to Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary. Russ, his wife, and their three sons live in northern Idaho.