{"id":619,"date":"2017-02-02T06:24:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T11:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=619"},"modified":"2017-02-01T22:38:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T03:38:41","slug":"what-can-be-gained-by-all-our-toil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/what-can-be-gained-by-all-our-toil\/","title":{"rendered":"What Can Be Gained by All Our Toil?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"All<\/a><\/p>\n

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,<\/em>
\nVanity of vanities! All is vanity.<\/em>
\nWhat does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?\u00a0(Ecclesiastes 1:2\u20133)<\/em><\/p>\n

The book of Ecclesiastes offers a simple answer. Apart from God, this wearisome and unpredictable world in which we live will never make sense. If we are to find meaning, purpose and hope in this life, we must acknowledge God and submit humbly to His Word.<\/p>\n

What Can Be Gained by All Our Toil?<\/strong><\/a>
\nA Meditation on the book of Ecclesiastes<\/p>\n

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:<\/em>
\nFear God and keep His commandments,<\/em>
\nFor this is man’s all.<\/em>
\nFor God will bring every work into judgment,<\/em>
\nIncluding every secret thing,<\/em>
\nWhether good or evil. <\/em>
\n(Ecclesiastes 12:13\u201314)<\/em><\/p>\n

1. What can be gained by all our toil,
\nWhere\u2019s hope amidst such pain?
\nThe sin that fills our fallen world
\nMakes all our efforts vain.<\/p>\n

2. Apart from God there is no hope,
\nNo purpose for this life.
\nThe fruit of all our plans and ploys
\nYields not but endless strife.<\/p>\n

3. Without God\u2019s grace our thoughts and toils
\nAre grasping for the wind.
\nWe need the wisdom of God\u2019s Word
\nThat we might know our end.<\/p>\n

4. What must we then conclude and know
\nWhen wisdom has been heard?
\nThat God has spoken and will judge:
\nFear Him and keep His Word!<\/p>\n

5. The fear of God will make us wise,
\nHis Word shows us the way.
\nIt beckons us to come to Christ,
\nIts call we must obey.<\/p>\n

6. For on that day when God will judge,
\nAll secret things made known.
\nThe only refuge from God\u2019s wrath
\nWill be in Christ alone.<\/p>\n

Words \u00a92016 Ken Puls<\/p>\n

This hymn is my reflection on the book of Ecclesiastes, especially the conclusion of the book in chapter twelve. It was written during a sermon series on Ecclesiastes entitled “Real Life in a Fallen World”<\/a> preached by Dr. Tom Ascol at Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida.<\/p>\n

Download the lyrics and free sheet music<\/a> for this hymn, including an arrangement of the tune ST. COLUMBA for classical guitar.<\/p>\n

More Hymns and Songs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?\u00a0(Ecclesiastes 1:2\u20133) The book of Ecclesiastes offers a simple answer. Apart from God, this wearisome and unpredictable world in which we live will never make sense. If we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,22],"tags":[98,140,26,135],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hymn","category-music-for-worship","tag-hymn","tag-judgment","tag-word-of-god","tag-worldview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-9Z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":621,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions\/621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}