Built to Break Down

Song: There Is A Habitation

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:14

Men ought to read Ecclesiastes every new year and perhaps every birthday. The book expresses the preaching of Paul on Mars Hill, that God has set boundaries for the times and habitations of all men “that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:26-27). God built man to break down. He put fences around him to limit his achievement and satisfaction with life. But there is a method to this mad, mad maelstrom.

We call this method “planned obsolescence” when applied to the cars and appliances that we make. Things are built to break down, so that we have to buy parts or pay specialists to fix them, or discard them altogether for the newest model. There is a planned obsolescence to creation, and a manufacturing method more noble to be learned.

God built man to break down so that man would grope for Him, so that man would return to Him for fixing. He has given a measure of pleasure to life to make man grateful, and a greater and final measure of sorrow to life to make man humble. Ultimately the reason for life’s vanity is that such a life is what man chose for himself when he sinned. God has given man what he asked for, in hope that he’ll return to God and receive what God planned for him. Some learn. Many don’t. How about you?

Jason Moore