Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

1. The Preacher’s quest for pleasure leads him to seek satisfaction through various activities and sources. Read Ecclesiastes 2:1–11. Identify and discuss each of the activities he pursues.
2. Has there ever been a season of your life where you lived like Ecclesiastes 2:10? If so, describe that experience. What led you there? What was it like? What, if anything, led you out?
3. In this season of your life, what do you feel most tempted to use as a treatment for your frustration? Do some diagnostic work and try to discern what you think is going on in your heart, mind, and circumstances that is leading you to try and extract pleasure from that specific activity.
4. From the depths of debauchery, Qoheleth convinces himself that his grasp on wisdom remains firm. But sin makes us stupid. His approach is so contrary to the wisdom in Proverbs, where the abuse of wine and folly are clearly warned against, that the reader is forced to reflect hard on what he means when he says that his heart was still guided by wisdom (Ecclesiastes 2:3, 9). It is at this point in Ecclesiastes that we begin to understand that what Qoheleth calls “wisdom” is something quite different from the wisdom defined by God in the rest of Scripture. Where there is no fear of God, there is no true wisdom. Have you ever known someone so obviously immersed in sin that they became convinced that what they were doing was good and wise? Maybe you’ve been there, too? Explain.
5. This is the paradox of pleasure: the more you search for it under the sun, the less of it you find. If you are studying Ecclesiastes today as one who has already experienced the saving grace of God, then let Qoheleth’s conclusion free you from the tyranny of empty pleasure. When God created you, He forged deep desires within you. And He answers your endless cravings with His infinite offer of eternal joy in Himself. Read Psalm 16. What would it look like for you today to experience a greater satisfaction in God than any pleasure the world under the sun offers you? After discussing, go to God in prayer, asking that He would satisfy you.