The sermon text. The wise man and the fool end in the same place, and everything you build goes to someone who did not build it. Then verse 24 turns, so do not stop before you get there.

The Teacher is looking at his own estate and at the man who will inherit it. What has he built that he cannot control?

Moses warns a people about to get comfortable: you will say my own power gained this. The Teacher tested that claim from the inside and it did not hold.

Count how often the word toil or labor appears in 2:18–23. What emotion is attached to it each time?

The Teacher asks who knows whether the man inheriting his work will be wise or a fool. This is the answer. It is worse than he feared.

Rehoboam is the answer to 2:19. Does knowing that prove the Teacher right, or make his point worse?

Jesus addresses the same anxiety about what lasts, and does not solve it by telling you to work harder or care less.

What are you building that someone else will end up with — a project, a room, a team, a reputation? Does that change how you build it, or only how you feel about it?

We brought nothing into the world and can take nothing out. Paul lands on the same fact and turns it into contentment rather than despair.

Read 2:24–25 slowly. Thank God for one ordinary thing today as a gift from his hand rather than a reward for your effort.