The Ache After the Win
“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”Ecclesiastes 2:11 (KJV)
You hit the goal. The deal closed, the degree came, the promotion arrived. And a few days later you feel strangely empty. You expected to be happier than this.
That ache isn’t a malfunction. It might be the most honest thing your soul has said in a while. Solomon had every success a man could want, and he wrote, “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”
The empty feeling after the win is telling the truth: what you achieved can’t give your soul rest. Only God can. “Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.”
Enjoy your wins. Thank God for them. But don’t ask them to do what only he can do.
Read it yourself
Read Ecclesiastes 2:1–11. List the things Solomon tried in his search for satisfaction.
Have you felt that ache after a success? What was it telling you?
Lord, my soul waits on you. Be my rest when the wins leave me empty. Amen.