10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.
11 I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. 12 Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.
13 Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and [f]it impressed me. 14 There was a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it and constructed large siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor wise man and he [g]delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded. 17 The words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
Two things really stand out to me in this passage. First is the idea in v. 10, “Whatever you do, do it with all your might…” Don’t think, “oh, I’ve got tomorrow to worry about that…” because we don’t know what tomorrow holds (vv. 11-12). Rather, whatever God asks you to do, put your whole heart into it, and accomplish what He has set out for you to do.
The second one is kind of buried in the latter portion (vv. 13-18). Though Solomon is promoting the value of wisdom, there’s a strange twist in the middle. This poor man saves the city by his wisdom, yet he is not remembered. And that’s okay! If he truly is wise, and he seemed to be, then he isn’t concerned with accolades, and is not easily puffed up by pride.
So should we be, not doing things to get recognition or praise. Not doing it for the nice fat paycheck at the end. But rather, doing it because it is what God made you to do, and that is enough. Jesus had this to say about doing things for the applause, “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites (or actors); for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners [d]so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Solomon emphasizes this very idea of “what is done in secret” in v. 17. If anything, folks should praise God for what you have done (Jesus said that too). What has God made you for? Do it with all your heart, strength, and mind, always giving glory to the One to whom it is due. He is our source, our strength, and our glory, and that is enough.