Eccl. 2:1. I said to myself: Come now, I will make a test of pleasure.
It is as though he were saying: “Since anxieties and my own plans cannot achieve anything, I shall refrain from them. I shall turn to the right hand and make a more tranquil life for myself. I shall create ease and tranquility, take delight in good things, let everything happen as it happens and chooses, and live a life of pleasure.” But this, too, was useless and was no more successful than his earlier reliance on human wisdom and anxiety, for God resists this also. Tranquility is not attainable except from the Word and work of God. Experience itself teaches this. Often dinner parties are arranged to create a happy atmosphere, with foods and entertainment intended to make the guests happy. But usually it comes out just the opposite way, and only seldom does a good party result. Either there are gloomy and solemn faces present, or something else upsets all the arrangements, especially when there is such deliberation and planning about how much fun it will be. By contrast, it often happens that someone happens upon a most joyful dinner party by accident, that is, by the gift of God. (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.29)