Short prayers based on the book of Ecclesiastes
<aside> 🙏🏻 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)
Lord, we need you. To live life without you is absolute futility. Without you, our thoughts and attitudes are futile. Without you, our work is futile. Without you, our religious activities are futile. Without you, our lives are futile. There is no point or purpose to them. Everything is meaningless without you. We praise you that you don’t want us to live this way and have sent Jesus to redeem us from this empty way of life by shedding His precious blood. Thank you that we can live life in relationship with you, enjoying the gifts you give, and finding purpose in life by following your commands. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.” (Ecclesiastes 1:15)
We come to you our gracious God acknowledging that by nature we are crooked. Our hearts are crooked. Our minds are crooked. Our speech is crooked. Our ways are crooked. Born in Adam we belong to a twisted and crooked generation, and we are utterly unable to straighten ourselves out, and fill in what is lacking in us. Only you can and will for all who trust in your Son. Jesus, thank you for giving us what we need, the righteousness that makes us acceptable before God. By your Spirit now, help us daily to put to death the remaining crookedness in our lives, and bring honour to your holy Name by walking on the straight path of righteousness. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had laboured to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.“ (Ecclesiastes 2:11)
Our God, there are lots of ways we might seek to find satisfaction in this world. Seeking different pursuits. Obtaining different possessions. Experiencing different pleasures. Yet all these will leave us ultimately disappointed and empty. We remember Jesus’ words, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose their soul?” and pray that we would seek joy and satisfaction, not in what the world offers, but in our relationship with you. But we don’t just want this for ourselves, we long that others would find their satisfaction in you. So, help us by your Spirit, to invite people to come to church and hear of how they can have a relationship with you through the gospel. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)
You are good, God, and you do good. Your goodness is displayed in creation and in all the good gifts you give to us to enjoy. We acknowledge that they come from your kind hand, and we pray that we will use them in a way that pleases and honours you. Help us to eat, drink, and enjoy the pleasurable experiences you give to us. Help us seek after wisdom. Help us to find satisfaction in the work you give to us to do. We ask that you would help us to do so in the way you intended. By receiving these things as good gifts that can give us joy while we live as your people in this fallen with thanksgiving, for that is how we can truly enjoy life. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied” (Ecclesiastes 3:10)
Sovereign Lord, you rule over time, and over what happens in time, and what happens to us in time. Nothing that happens is outside of your will, your plan, and your purposes. The different seasons of life are not random things that come upon us. They have been given by you. It is what you have laid upon us. So, whatever season we are going through, help us to trust that you know what is best, and if it is a particular hard one, to not doubt your goodness and remain faithful to you. Thank you that we can trust you with all our days and with our eternity. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?” (Ecclesiastes 3:22)
We praise you our God that we can see what will happen after we die, because you have made this known to us in your Word. We praise you that because we have taken refuge in your Son, death is not the end for us. Thank you for the hope we have that Christ is going to make all things new, and when He does, all the seasons of pain and sadness and loss and suffering we experience in this life will be no more. God of hope, fills us with this hope as we trust in Him, and would this lead to us enjoying life, not as our reward, as all there is, but instead as a good gift from you. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.” (Ecclesiastes 4:1)
Our God, oppression is all around us. Individuals are attacked and persecuted by corrupt regimes or terrorists. Children are trafficked. People are harmed by those who live in their homes. The weak of society are discriminated against. This Lord, is the brutal reality of life in this world, and for so many of those who are oppressed, they have no comforter. No one to help them. To sympathise with them. To wipe away their tears. Thank you that you care, and we pray that your church would be the place where your care is seen. We pray that in the church the oppressed would be comforted, the hand of genuine friendship and companionship would be extended, and where the weak and vulnerable would be cared for. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5:2)
Father, what a privilege it is that we can draw near to you in prayer. Thank you for making it possible for us to come to your throne of grace and find help in our time of need. As we bring our prayers and petitions to you, help us to do so in a way that recognises that you are in heaven and we are on earth by showing you the reverence you deserve. Help us to not be thoughtless when we pray, rattling off words without considering what we are saying to you. Help us to not to go through the motions, treating prayer as simply an item to tick off our to-do list. And help us to not be manipulative when we pray by using too many words, thinking that if we offer our words, you should be favourable in return. We pray that we would come to you as dependent children, believing that you are gracious God who delights to hear and answer our prayers according to your will. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.” (Ecclesiastes 5:12)
Gracious God, all that we are and all that we have, including our wealth, comes from your hand as a generous gift, and is to be used for your glory. Whether we have much or have little, we don’t want to be kept awake by it because we are worrying about the possibility of losing what we have, because our minds are consumed with how we might make more, or because we are taken up with dreaming about how we might use it. So help us to trust in you and not in riches, and would you give us a contentment in what we have which stops us from striving for more in order to be satisfied. Amen.
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