Ecclesiates seems to be saying that just trying harder at what you're doing isn't going to get you anywhere if what you've been doing isn't working. Instead we must gain wisdom on how to do something in order to succeed and the way to do that is to educate ourselves. I liken it to learning to play the dulcimer. I can practice all day long, but if I don't know where to put my fingers to make the right chord for the song, it won't sound anything like the song is meant to sound.
When it comes to living a Godly life God's word is our first course of study because it contains His plan for us. I spent a year reading the entire Bible back in the 1980's. I knew I would not remember everything I read, but I figured if I could just get it all into my brain, it would be there for the Holy Spirit to draw forth when He spoke to me. In a world that runs on this very premise of data collection and retrieval (the computer) I don't understand why more Christians haven't read all of God's written word. It's a resource we dare not neglect if we're going to negotiate this world's lies and deceptions.
