Week #4: Nothing Is Ever Fully Explained
Blog Series Intention Recap
The Teacher in Ecclesiastes offers ancient wisdom that helps us see our lives with sober clarity. His words challenge our illusions of control and permanence as we begin a new year, pointing us to God’s eternal provision and purpose.
This post is the main page of the series “Nothing New.” Click here to see the rest of the posts.
Let’s jump into Week #4:
When wisdom isn’t enough we must trusting God in a mysterious world. God’s plan for creation may not be clear to us, but the plan exists. We may not fully understand what God is doing, but God invites us to enjoy His work and our part in it.
Why it Matters:
Wisdom has limits. Even the Teacher’s search for understanding left him burdened, not enlightened (Ecclesiastes 1:12–18).
God’s plan remains partially hidden. Human effort cannot unlock the fullness of divine purpose.
True rest comes from trust. Jesus teaches us to depend on God daily, even when the reasons are unclear (Matthew 6:9–13).
Faith embraces mystery. We may not understand God’s work, but we are invited to enjoy our part in it.
Go Deeper:
We live in an age addicted to explanations. With a search engine in every pocket and a podcast for every problem, modern life offers the illusion that all mysteries can be solved—if not today, then soon. But the wisdom of Ecclesiastes brings us back to a sobering truth: not everything is meant to be known.
The final section of Ecclesiastes 1 invites us into the mind of a man who had access to more knowledge than most could dream of. The Teacher—likely Solomon—devoted himself to learning, studying, and investigating all that happens under heaven. Yet his conclusion is not triumphant; it is weary. “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:18, ESV).
Wisdom, while valuable, has limits. And when we try to live only by what we can understand, we will eventually run out of answers and run into despair. The call of Scripture is not to reject wisdom, but to hold it with humility, allowing the mystery of God to lead us into trust.
The Limits of Human Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:12–18)
The Teacher’s pursuit was not casual. “I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 1:12–13a, ESV). This was not idle curiosity; it was rigorous investigation. But what did he find?
“It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with” (v. 13b). The phrase “unhappy business” speaks to the burden of trying to understand a world that doesn’t fully make sense. The more he saw, the more crookedness he encountered: “What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted” (v. 15).
The Teacher’s confession exposes the false comfort of control. He sought wisdom to bring order to life’s complexities but discovered that much of what happens remains frustratingly beyond human comprehension. Our best learning cannot untangle every knot. There is always more than we can see, always another layer we cannot grasp.
This conclusion is not an anti-intellectual lament. Scripture elsewhere praises wisdom (Proverbs 3:13–18; James 1:5). But Ecclesiastes reminds us that human wisdom is not omniscient. It has a ceiling. We must not confuse access to information with access to divine understanding.
The Mystery of God’s Plan
At the heart of the Teacher’s frustration is a theological truth: God’s ways are not man’s ways. This truth appears throughout the wisdom literature:
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV).
“Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:5, ESV).
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8, ESV).
These verses don’t negate the value of knowledge. Instead, they clarify the source of knowledge and scope of revelation. What God reveals, we are called to receive and obey. But what He withholds, we are called to trust.
The trouble arises when we demand more than God has given. We long for explanations that satisfy our curiosity or settle our discomfort. We want answers that resolve pain, prove our righteousness, or justify our plans. But God is not obligated to explain Himself to us. He is God; we are not.
This theological mystery is humbling. It challenges our pride and invites faith. Our confidence must rest not in our ability to comprehend, but in God's character and faithfulness.
Learning to Trust in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13)
Jesus teaches His disciples to pray in a way that models both reverence and reliance. The Lord’s Prayer does not begin with explanation but with adoration: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9, ESV). It quickly moves to surrender: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (v. 10).
This prayer is not a demand for clarity but a confession of dependence. We do not pray because we understand all things, but because we know the One who does.
“Give us this day our daily bread” (v. 11) reinforces the theme of limitation. We are not given tomorrow’s plan, only today’s provision. This echoes Israel’s experience in the wilderness, where manna came one day at a time (Exodus 16:4). God provides enough—but not more than we need.
When we trust God for today, we honor His wisdom more than our understanding. When we ask Him to forgive us, lead us, and deliver us (vv. 12–13), we acknowledge that our strength is not enough. These prayers confess our limits and exalt God’s sovereignty.
Joy in the Midst of Mystery
If Ecclesiastes left us only with mystery, it would be incomplete. But as the book progresses, a refrain begins to emerge: though we cannot understand all that God does, we are invited to enjoy the life He has given.
“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God” (Ecclesiastes 2:24, ESV).
“I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live” (Ecclesiastes 3:12, ESV).
“So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot” (Ecclesiastes 3:22, ESV).
We are not called to understand everything—we are called to enjoy what God gives. Even when crooked things cannot be straightened, and sorrow comes with knowledge, God still offers joy. This joy does not come from grasping all the answers, but from trusting the One who holds them.
This is the wisdom of faith: not a mind full of facts but a heart full of trust. And in Christ, we see that trust vindicated. Jesus is the “wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), who makes known “the mystery hidden for ages” (Colossians 1:26). Though we may not see all, we see Him—and in Him, we rest.
How does this help me understand, “Nothing New?”
Humble Wisdom, Confident Faith
Ecclesiastes 1 closes with a sobering line: “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (v. 18). The Teacher’s point is not that ignorance is bliss, but that wisdom must be held in humility. When we try to carry what only God can explain, we collapse under the weight.
Yet Scripture does not leave us burdened. Jesus calls the weary to Himself: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, ESV). He is the answer to the mystery, the rest for the anxious, the bread for the hungry, and the light for those walking in darkness.
Let the mystery remain. Let God be God. And let us enjoy the life He gives, trusting that His plan, though hidden in part, is always good.
