Phil Ryken lists 5 reasons:
1. Because it is honest about the troubles of life.
2. To learn what will happen to us if we choose what the world tries to offer instead of what God has to give.
3. Because it asks the biggest and hardest questions that people still have today.
4. It will help us worship the one true God.
5. It teaches us how to live for God and not just for ourselves.
Ecclesiastes is a fascinating book, and one that is not without controversy among commentators. On balance, I land with Ardel Canaday and Brian Borgman. Here’s how I’d put it:
The book of Ecclesiastes is not an expression of existentialism or a soulless, secular hedonism. On the contrary, in Ecclesiastes we see a nuanced, realistic view of life in a fallen world. Quoheleth (the narrative voice in the book of Ecclesiastes) is a wise sage, instructing believers on how to exercise godly enjoyment in one’s work, family, and the created order–as well as find ultimate meaning in the relation of one’s activities to his Creator, even activities which (in and of themselves) may often appear frustratingly meaningless (if not, in addition, marred with natural and/or moral evil).