The Despair of Vanity and the Glory of Thy Works

My Jewel, one of the most difficult things that I have learned in this life, which I hope you will learn more quickly than I, is that when our works are our own works, and not the Works of the Father acting through us, there is an end to that road that is distressing. Witness the writer in Ecclesiastes 2:15-18:

So I said in my heart,

“ As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,

“ This also is vanity.”
For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!

Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

The writer, clearly wise in worldly things, is coming to terms with his own mortality, which we all do as we age. And in it he realizes that wisdom in worldly things is but a thin slice away from foolishness, because even the greatest worldly wisdom applied to one's works runs the risk of being left to the fool, and evaporating like dew under the morning sun. The Lord, shining His light on men, is that sun that shines on our own works, burning away any vanity that we might cling to in our own "wise" accomplishments.

The problem the writer realizes is that, if that is all that can become of wisdom, then what is the point of life? He says, "Therefore, I hated life..." and how tragic that is, because he had not yet come to terms that his life was not his own.

Contrast this with the author of Psalm 145:

All Your works shall praise You, O LORD,
And Your saints shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom...

The writer here realizes that good works, real works, are works that are not of our own. It is only when we offer ourselves as a, "Living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual act of worship." (Rom. 12:1)

It is Christ's works within us that brings glory to God, and joy and peace to our souls, so desperately starved for purpose in our works.

Reginald Heber got it right:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!