The Search for Satisfaction

June 14, 2026|The Search for Satisfaction|Ecclesiastes 6/Psalm 23

JD Cutler

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This morning, in honor of our VBS starting, I want us to look at Psalm 23 which is our verse for this year.

But in keeping with our preaching schedule, I want to do it by way of Ecclesiastes 6.

In God’s providence, these two sections of scripture are perfect together, painting a strong contrasting picture of how people experience this life and the relationship that makes all the difference. Let’s begin by looking briefly at the observations of the preacher, then move to the observations of the poet, and finally at the observations of the good shepherd.

The preacher, as we have seen in our study of Ecclesiastes has been examining ‘life under the sun’, which we have defined as ‘life viewed merely from an earthly perspective—as though this world is all there is’. This wise teacher has been guiding us through that examination as someone who has pursued and experienced everything this life has to offer and found that it is astonishingly empty. He has shown us that trying to find purpose and satisfaction in this life strictly from a materialistic, experiential existence is like trying to grab hold of the wind. While there are some good, God-given gifts to be enjoyed in this life, they cannot support lasting satisfaction.

Chapter 6 continues a conversation that began in chapter 5 on wealth and honor. The preacher has shown us that he who loves money will never be satisfied with money nor he who loves wealth with his income. He has shown us that having wealth today doesn’t guarantee we will have it tomorrow, and that ultimately we cannot take anything with us when we leave this earth. His last declaration that we looked at was that the ability to enjoy our labor and life is a gift of God.

With that backdrop, let’s pick up in chapter 6 and read it together.

Ecclesiastes 6 ESV

1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place? 7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. 8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. 10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

I. Observations of the Preacher

The first observation from the preacher is…

a. Possession without enjoyment is empty

The preacher describes someone who lacks nothing and yet has neither the power to enjoy them or the satisfaction from having them.

Here the preacher puts his finger on something we both inherently know to be true but also continuously live as though it wasn’t. Think about your life this morning, has getting the raise, the promotion, has getting the bigger house or newer car really proved to be satisfying? Or once you got it, you realized the idea of it had over promised and under delivered.

If having what we desired produced happiness, then we in America should be some of the happiest, most satisfied people in history. We live in an unparalleled time of abundance. We have access to luxuries and comforts unimaginable in the preacher’s day. The more we possess, if there is true satisfaction in possessing, the more we should be experiencing satisfaction. And yet…

Despite unprecedented comfort and abundance, our society continues to wrestle with profound loneliness, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. The preacher, having sought satisfaction in possessions and having found it an empty, wasteful pursuit declares, hyperbolically, it would be better to have never been born than to live a life where one finds no enjoyment in all that he possesses. The preacher is using shocking language to emphasize just how tragic it is to possess everything and yet experience none of the joy God intended. He is not diminishing the value of life itself but exposing the emptiness of life detached from God.

Now, less we think that the preacher is advocating a life of poverty and no possessions, we only have to look back at his previous statement.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

The problem is not that possessions are bad, the problem is that apart from God, they cannot be truly enjoyed.

Our societies drive to consume and focus on the accumulation of things promises enjoyment, but ultimately fails to deliver.

Why?

Because possession without enjoyment is empty. Simple possessing something doesn’t mean we will enjoy it. This is the preacher’s first observation, his second is…

b. Production without satisfaction is empty

The preacher says, ‘All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.’

We work to produce, we produce to consume, and yet the preacher says our appetite is not satisfied. It is never enough. The word appetite is the Hebrew word for the inner man, the seat of appetite and desire.

What then? Are we hopelessly condemned to a life of desire, production, and more desire?

The preacher asks two questions to drive us forward.

What is the advantage of the wise man over the foolish one?

What is the advantage of the poor man who knows how to live wisely over the rich man who doesn’t?

What does it mean to live wisely? We just read it in verse 18 of chapter 5. To enjoy life as a gracious gift from God, to accept our lot, and rejoice in our toil. Why is this an advantage even if we are poor by the world’s standards?

Because ‘better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite.’

The preacher contrasts two ways of living with this proverbial statement.

The sight of the eyes is the wise man’s godly enjoyment of present seen blessings. Literally, enjoying what is before him as a gift from God. The wandering of the appetite is the foolish man’s wandering desire, that is, at best vague and insatiable for what he does not have.

We can either live satisfied with what is before us as a gift from God or unable to enjoy it because we are consumed with what we do not have or what we will have tomorrow, which brings us to our last observation from the preacher…

Not only have we seen that possession without enjoyment is empty, that production without satisfaction is empty, we see

c. Pilgrimage without hope is empty

Everyone of us is on a journey that started at conception. We are living out the days allotted to us.

The preacher has repeatedly told us that there is nothing new under the sun. He says it again in a different way.

10Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.

Everything that can happen in your life has happened to someone before and it has already been named…it is vanity and chasing after the wind.

We know what man is, he is a quickly passing creature, easily led astray and hopelessly striving for a sense of purpose and satisfaction.

What advantage is it to say more?

What can we really know about our lives?

Who can say what is really good for us is this brief life?

Who knows what comes after this life?

These are not new observations, this is the same resounding refrain that carries Ecclesiastes forward. Paul, in the New Testament, would say it like this. 1 Corinthians 15:19 “19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

We would never take a journey without a destination in mind, and yet so many of us live with no clear destination in mind. If this life is all there is, what hope do we have? What is the point and purpose of all of this? What purpose does toil and strife, pain and suffering serve?

This hopeless existence is life under the sun, apart from God. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Ecclesiastes leaves us longing for something or someone who can satisfy our souls. Psalm 23 reveals that Someone: 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.'

Turn with me to Psalm 23.

II. Observations of the Poet

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lordforever.

a. The Shepherd brings satisfaction

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."

In his very first line, David declares two foundational truths.

The Lord is my shepherd. Most of your translations will have the word Lord in all caps.

As we have seen on Wednesday evenings in our Psalm studies, this is what translators do to indicate that the word there is Jehovah, God’s covenant name. Why does that matter? Because David is not declaring that an impersonal force is his shepherd, he is not declaring that an unknown and unknowable god is his shepherd, he is declaring that Jehovah, the God of Israel, the God who revealed himself to mankind as a personal, knowable God is his shepherd.

That distinction matters.

The second declaration is that because God is David’s shepherd.

That is, he is David’s protector and provider, David does not experience want. I will never be without what I need is what he is declaring.

What we will see as the poet continues is that that satisfaction has far more to do with who leads him and cares for him than what he possesses.

It is his relationship with the shepherd that brings satisfaction, not necessarily what the shepherd provides.

Can you imagine a life without want?

Can you imagine days lived fully in the present without worrying about tomorrow?

Can you imagine satisfaction with what is in front of you without a desire for what is not?

This is a level of soul satisfaction that scripture teaches is only found in a right relationship to God.

To say it another way, fullness of life, what we are searching for and longing for, is not found in what possess but who possesses you.

David declares that because he belongs to God, he is satisfied.

As if that was not enough, he presses on, answering the second tension of Ecclesiastes, the unending production and labor without enjoyment.

The second observation of the poet is that…

b. The Shepherd provides rest

"He makes me lie down in green pastures..."

The verb tense David uses describes an ongoing and perpetual action, not a one time action. David is not saying that God gives rest occasionally, but that because God is his shepherd he has the kind of rest that can only be illustrated in the laying down of a sheep in green pastures.

Lie down is the image of stretching out on your belly, completely relaxed. From what I understand, sheep will not lie down if there is even a hint of danger. They are skittish and prone to wander. David, a shepherd himself, says, I’ve seen what contentment, safety, and satisfaction look like. It looks like my sheep laying down in a green pasture I’ve led them to. So it is in my life because I have God as my shepherd.

One of the things I think we can often misunderstand about the Biblical idea of rest, is that rest is ceasing from all activity. The biblical idea of rest is much deeper than that. David continues, not only does he have the kind of rest that is pictured in a sheep lying down in green pastures, he pictures rest as being led beside still waters. All of which he sums up in 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

I am refreshed in my inner being precisely because he leads me.

Rest is not an absence of labor, true, biblical rest is rest whether you are laboring or not. It involves a deep trust and confidence in God’s providential care through both the labor he gives us and the blessings of what it produces.

No longer am I merely laboring to consume in an endless cycle of dissatisfaction, but I am resting in the labor God has given me, trusting him, satisfied in Him, resting from striving and fighting for more.

Does this mean life will be easy? Of course not. This journey we walk in the midst of a fallen world is difficult, but that’s what makes David’s third observation all the more beautiful. The third observation of the poet is that…

c. The Shepherd gives hope

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Notice that David says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

If we follow David’s imagery of a sheep being led, the reality is there will be dangerous paths. The picture David paints is a treacherous and difficult path of death-shadow. Dangers on every side, possible predators. And yet… David says I will fear no evil, or bad. Why? Because you are with me. David, continuing his imagery of God being his shepherd references two of the tools used by shepherd. The rod and the staff.

The rod was a short club used in defense of the sheep and the staff was first and foremost an aid as the shepherd led the sheep, but could also be used to coral and guide the sheep. Together they represent the protective, guiding, care of God for his children. Even when they need correction, as sheep often do.

Don’t miss David’s declaration, both the fact that God cares enough to lead him, and that God cares enough to correct him when he needs it, these are the things that comfort David.

We often want the guidance of God without the correction of God.

But more than mere comfort in the shepherd’s presence, David finds hope in where the shepherd is leading him.

David abandoning the imagery of shepherd for a moment, crescendos into a declaration of a future with the Lord forever.

Scripture teaches that there is coming a day when we will all have to stand before the Lord. Whether that is a comfort or a terror depends on whether you know God as your shepherd and can confidently say, "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Ecclesiastes exposes our emptiness.Psalm 23 introduces us to the Shepherd. But Psalm 23 leaves one final question:

Who is this Shepherd? or How do I experience the Shepherding of the Lord?

Jesus answered that question Himself: “I am the good shepherd." Let us briefly look at the…

III. Observations of the Good Shepherd

In John 10 Jesus uses the imagery of sheep, sheepfold, doors, and shepherds to illustrate who he is, culminating in this statement.

John 10:10–11 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

A little later, in the colonnade of Solomon at the temple, Jews asked him if he was the Christ and he returned to this imagery when he said. John 10:27–28 “27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Three final observations from the Good Shepherd.

a. Jesus gives abundant life

We began in Ecclesiastes looking at possession without enjoyment is empty, we saw in Psalm 23 that a relationship with the shepherd leads to satisfaction, and now in John 10 Jesus tells us that he came so that we may have life and have it abundantly, filled up and spilling over. A life of purpose, satisfaction, enjoyment, not because life is easy, but because our life is in Christ, the good shepherd.

b. Jesus secures our salvation

In John 10:11 Jesus says that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The greatest need that mankind has is to be reconciled to a thrice holy, infinitely righteous God. Something we can’t work for, something we can’t earn, something that must be given to us. Scripture says that our salvation was accomplished and secured in Christ’s atoning death on the cross, where he bore the weight and wrath against sin so that we might be reconciled to God.

We began in Ecclesiastes looking at how production without satisfaction is empty, we saw in Psalm 23 that a relationship with God is the key to the restoration of our soul and entering into his rest, now we find in John 10 that we can do that because the good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep.

c. Jesus guarantees our future

Jesus declares in John 10:28 that to his sheep he gives them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of his hand. Not only are we given eternal life, a hope and a future, it is secure because we are held by Christ.

We began in Ecclesiastes looking at how our pilgrimage without hope is empty, we saw in Psalm 23 David’s declaration of a hope to dwell with God forever, and now in John 10 we see that hope realized in the person and work of Christ.

The reality is that everyone of us here this morning is living one of the two described lives.

Either we are living in frustrating mystery and emptiness of Ecclesiastes or we are living in fulfilling belonging and satisfaction of Psalm 23.

The difference is whether or not we know the Good Shepherd of John 10.

The difference between emptiness and abundance is not better circumstances, greater possessions, or even improved behavior.

The difference is knowing the Shepherd. Because the Lord is only my shepherd if by faith I belong to Him.

I pray that this look at Psalm 23 through the lens of Ecclesiastes has brought you to the place where you can either praise God that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, or that you recognize your desperate need for him.

Let us pray.