Satisfied in Success

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| Finding Satisfaction series |

• How to Be Happy
• Satisfied in Success
• Satisfying Our Desire for Pleasure
• Can Soulmates Satisfy
• How to Find Satisfaction

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The Ingredients of Success

What can we do to be successful? How do we know when we’ve achieved success, or, more specifically, at what point does success bring satisfaction? King Solomon was a genuine authority on success. He was incredibly rich and powerful, being Israel’s most prosperous king: “I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem.” (Ecclesiastes 2:9) He was also incredibly wise and famous, “he was wiser than all men … and his fame was in all the surrounding nations” (1 Kings 4:31). With this incredible wealth, experience, and intelligence, Solomon made it his mission to understand success and satisfaction.

Solomon frequently taught that diligence and hard work are key to being successful. As examples, consider Proverbs 10:4, “a slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” or Proverbs 14:23, “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty”. He also taught that when skill, or wisdom, is added to that diligence then it helps to bring success: “If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed.” (Ecclesiastes 10:10). Simply put, wisdom added to work produces wealth; skill and sweat lead to success.

Success and Sorrow

So, if Solomon was so successful, what did he have to say about whether success could bring satisfaction? While he extols wisdom as a virtue, he also reveals that wisdom leads to sorrow: “For in much wisdom is vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” (Ecclesiastes 1:18) He expresses that diligence can bring sorrow as well: “What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23). If wisdom and work can both lead to sorrow, is it any wonder that what they produce, wealth and success, do not satisfy? “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

If wisdom and diligence are virtuous, how can these virtues and the success they produce be a source of sorrow? Whenever we look to wisdom, work, or even success as a source of purpose or satisfaction in our lives, they have become an idol. You see, even a virtue can become an idol, robbing us of its intended benefit and giving us sorrow in exchange. Just as we depend on God for our existence, every virtue depends on God to produce good in us.

Additionally, wisdom, diligence, and the success that they produce can so subtly be motivated out of covetousness. In fact, this is so often the motivation of our efforts that Solomon said, “I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:4) When we seek any level of success in order to be happy or to be satisfied, we are coveting. What’s more, that covetousness will rob us of the very satisfaction that we seek.

Meaningful Success

God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). As a result, anything that’s temporary cannot satisfy us. Satisfaction flows not from a momentary experience, but an enduring state. In our context here, the only success that satisfies is meaningful success that leaves a lasting impact, a legacy. Consider what Solomon said about why success is vanity (i.e. it leaves us empty/unsatisfied): “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool?” (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19) The success we ultimately crave is success that endures.

So how can we have this success, a success that leaves a lasting impact? Ecclesiastes repeatedly tells us that anything we do will not last: “There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.” (Ecclesiastes 1:11) Solomon even recounts a siege where a poor man saved an entire city, yet after enough time passed, this man and his success were forgotten (Ecclesiastes 9:13-16).

We lack the power to produce meaningful change in the world, but God does not: “whatever God does endures forever” (Ecclesiastes 3:14). In our post titled The Work and the Worry, we discussed how God is the one who causes our success. It is His power that converts our very limited wisdom and diligence into lasting, eternal success. What’s more, when we rely on God’s power, He takes the worry out of our work so that we can find satisfaction in it, knowing that He will make our efforts produce meaningful change.

You see, success doesn’t have to be sorrowful: “The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” (Proverbs 10:22) Whenever we pursue success God’s way – not out of covetousness but being content with what we have, not out of anxiety but relying on His power to make our success meaningful – then we can find enjoyment in our toil. “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil – this is God’s gift to man.” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13)

It’s in this way that we can find satisfaction in success. What’s more, we get to enjoy life’s good things along the way! There is a balance to this, however, because it’s easy to look for satisfaction in enjoying these things. Next time we’ll talk more about this as we explore satisfaction in pleasure.