The End of the Matter - Ecclesiastes 12:1–14

We've come to the end of Solomon's search for meaning under the sun and he's discovered that he was searching in all the wrong places; his search has led him back to his Creator, the God of heaven and earth, the one who sits over the sun. It's been a long journey for Solomon, you do have to wonder why since he was given wisdom by God, but when you keep God out of the picture, you will need to look in a lot of different places only to discover that each place you look to for meaning will all fail you. This is why I enjoyed our Profession of Faith classes, deliberately reflecting on who we are as Jesus followers in our community.

Finally, Solomon turns to God and calls to the people, "Remember your Creator." When we hear the word remember, we look back and bring memories back into our consciousness again. There's no need to do anything with the memory except appreciate the moment that it evokes. For the Jews, the word “remember” means something more, "to act decisively on behalf of someone, to commit yourself to someone." We often hear in the Scriptures about God remembering his people. It doesn't mean that God forgot his people or dug up a memory and thought, "Yah, there’s the people I chose, I should reconnect with them and see how they’re doing." When the Bible talks about God remembering his people, it’s about how God begins again to act in significant ways that Israel could recognize. These were the times when Israel was once again reminded of how committed God is to them. It doesn't mean that God wasn't acting on behalf of his people before this, but that he was acting in ways that the people didn't always recognise. It’s much the same with us; we confess that God works all things for our good, but often can't see how God’s working. This is where faith comes in. 

When Solomon calls you to "Remember your Creator," he's calling you to commit yourself to God. This is about taking God seriously, not simply playing around with faith when it suits you, waiting for when it fits better in your life, after you've experienced all the things you want to do. That's why I'm not surprised that Solomon immediately follows his call to remember the Creator with a call to follow him from the time you’re young and not wait until times get hard or you're old.

The problem is that many of us act like Augustine, "Hey, wait a minute, let's first have some fun in life, sow a few wild oats before getting so serious about God." We've believed the world that tells us that God takes away our fun and replaces it with nothing but rules to follow. We're told to focus on gaining knowledge, seeking pleasure, investing in our careers, and building wealth first, and afterwards we'll fit God into our lives. When I was a youth pastor in Allendale, a young woman asked what I thought of her desire to go into missions. I encouraged her, knowing her commitment to Jesus. Her parents were furious, saying I had no business giving their daughter career advice. They wanted her to go to university and do something useful, meaning something that makes a lot of money. They believed she could do the faith stuff for God after she graduates and gets a good job; a way so many Christians think today. Without even realizing it, they walked the same journey Solomon did, believing meaning comes from what they do, accomplish, or gather for themselves. Is this what you unconsciously believe as well? Meaninglessness.

Solomon describes getting old like skies filled with clouds and rain; our thinking getting cloudy. The loss of our physical strength as the keepers of the house, our legs, tremble and the bend in our back grows. Our grinders fall out and we’re no longer able to eat foods like steak, taking away the enjoyment of eating. Our hearing goes, we wake up early in the morning, but can’t hear the birds singing as clearly outdoors. Our heads become covered in white like the blossoms of an almond tree; then death comes. Solomon doesn't want you to take the same meaningless journey he took, he’s encouraging us to choose God in our youth and strong times.

Solomon concludes, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind." This sounds so basic, and yet this is where Solomon guides us to find meaning in life. Fear God. This is repeated often in Scripture; especially the Psalms and Proverbs, but also in the New Testament; in Matthew 10, Jesus warns us, "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Later on, Paul calls us to "work toward complete holiness because we fear God." Tim Keller writes that ‘Fear’ in the Bible means to be overwhelmed, to be controlled by something. To fear the Lord is to be overwhelmed with wonder before the greatness of God and his love. It means that, because of his bright holiness and magnificent love, you find him ‘fearfully beautiful.’ That is why the more we experience God’s grace and forgiveness, the more we experience a trembling awe and wonder before the greatness of all that he is and has done for us. Fearing him means bowing before him out of amazement at his glory and beauty."

God's love and holiness is fully revealed in Jesus. Jesus leaves heaven, a place where there’s no evil, and comes to earth to live with us. It's more than a prince leaving his palace to live in the slums, because Jesus came not just to live with us, but he also came to take our punishment on himself so that we can be in the presence of God our Father. This punishment is no slap on the wrist; Jesus comes and takes all the sin of the world onto himself to the cross where he submits to death in our place. He does this for you and me because he loves us that much even though we’re not always so loveable and continually walk away from him.

We see God's love in Jesus as he relates to the people. The gospels are filled with stories of how Jesus reached out to people with grace, forgiveness, mercy, and love. These were people who had experienced little of these things from the religious leaders or from the Roman overlords, and didn't expect to experience them in their relationship with God either. While we too often take grace, forgiveness, mercy and love for granted, the people in Jesus' time had grown used to not expecting anything. They were hoping for the Messiah and freedom from the Romans, but I wonder if they hoped for much more than that. Today, where do the people at our workplaces, school, neighbourhoods and other places see real hope offered in their own lives; are they hoping to just get by, maybe having a few nice things, to be comfortable, have a few friends to share life with, and hopefully not get sick or lose what they have.

Imagine how their lives might be different if they knew God’s love for them; how they could be free from worry and fear, how important they are to God, and how God can use them to completely change another person's life by inviting them to follow and know Jesus with you. Can you imagine how free some of your friends might feel if they only knew that they can experience forgiveness and release from anger, fear, hopelessness and more because God loves them and sent Jesus to show us the way to himself. As they begin to follow Jesus with you, as they get overwhelmed with Jesus, as they give over control of their lives to Jesus, they’re 'fearing the Lord' as Solomon calls us to. Fearing God is the source of our strength to resist the attraction of sin and Satan. Paul says in Romans 3:18 that our main sin is that we "have no fear of God at all," no sense of awe and wonder at who God is and how much he loves us.

Solomon doesn't stop with fearing God; fearing God means keeping God's commandments, having a deep wonder and awe at who God is, being filled with God's love. We show our love to God by being the people God calls us to be. Jesus himself said that "if you love me, you will keep my commands." God gave us his commandments to shape us, mold us into people who reflect who he is. Because God is a God of love, Jesus summarises the commandments by calling us to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself." This means that loving God with everything you are and have, is how you’ll find meaning in your life. Yet Jesus knows we can’t keep the commandments the way we should, but that doesn’t mean we give up. Do the best you can today, and then tomorrow try to do a little better; this is the journey of sanctification. Meaning doesn't come from finding yourself or by focusing on yourself, it comes from focusing on God and others.

Jesus is our example in this. He came to call us back to God, he died for us, was raised from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God interceding for us still. This is all rooted in his love for you. Jesus is the source for our meaning in life. Jesus says of himself, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Trust and follow Jesus, and you’ll find meaning and purpose by loving and obeying God and loving others as your life is shaped by service towards him and them. This love for others should be the driving force to inviting others to join you in your walk with God in following Jesus and working out who he’s calling you to become. Jesus' last command to go and make disciples is rooted in his love for all people and his desire that all people will come to know him and hear his invitation to follow him. Jesus is calling you to be his presence and voice. While you may search for happiness and meaning elsewhere, you’ll only find lasting happiness and meaning in Jesus.

 

The Work of God - Ecclesiastes 11:1–10

As Solomon draws to the end of his taking stock of the world through the lens of “under the sun,” he comes to the topic of work. God created Adam and Eve to care for the garden and creation, and he walked with them in the evening after a day of work. The first gift God gave Adam and Eve after creating them was the gift of sabbath, the gift of resting and enjoying the creation we live in, and the beautiful garden they were to manage. But when they disobeyed God, they hid from him in fear; work became filled with thorns and sweat. Yet our work is part of God’s work as stewards of his creation, and part of his plan of redemption.

Solomon speaks to the wisdom of hard work and to developing different talents and opportunities within your work. He advises us to “ship your grain across the sea,” to seek out markets for your products, even if they’re not where you first considered. In verse 2 he writes, “Invest in seven ventures, yes in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” In an agricultural society, it’s wise to make sure you’re not completely dependent on only one crop or type of farming. Some crops handle drought better than others, some crops do better in poor soil, different livestock need different types of pasture and feed, and there’s no control over the weather and a multitude of other variables that can impact you. Businesses were regularly impacted by conflicts, trade barriers, bandits, or other problems.

Diversification allows the family to get by, no matter the circumstances. This is more difficult in today’s society, this wisdom may look a little different; it may look like learning a number of skills, or continual learning as most people today will hold a number of jobs, and even very different types of jobs over their life. Flexibility is important and wise today, and diversifying your income and investment as a protection against bad yields in one area of the economy or another may also be wise; Solomon’s emphasis is on our not knowing what the future holds

We know a lot of how creation works: when clouds are full it rains, and trees that fall will lie on the ground, and yet our knowledge isn’t perfect, creation is still in God’s hands and he directs it so that the rain doesn’t always fall when expected. We still need to go out and do our work, even if the conditions aren’t perfect because otherwise, you won’t have enough food on your table. Today this wisdom may look like taking a job you don’t really want, but will feed you and your family. This is practical wisdom, but it challenges our world’s teaching that you can be whoever you want and that work has to be enjoyable. Eating is also enjoyable.

There’s so much we don’t know: the path of the wind, which often changes direction, to the mystery of life and how a child’s formed in a mother’s womb. We know the biology of making babies, but the forming of the soul and the image of God in each child is still a mystery to us. It’s God-work that’s more than biology. Yet even though there’s so much we don’t understand, we work with what we do know; we do the work set before us because there will never be perfect conditions, and idle hands have a tendency to get into trouble.   

There are many unable to work, as our society defines work. We look at work with a pay-cheque as real work, yet work is about contributing to the flourishing of our families and community. A stay-at-home mom or dad’s work provides a solid foundation for the family, building strong families, creating a flexibility to ensure that the family is able to adapt to all kinds of unexpected situations. Families where there’s a stay-at-home parent are ensured that their family’s faith and moral foundations are solidly part of their children’s life foundations. This is valuable work. It builds deeper relationships within the family and strong feelings of connectedness, safety, and opportunities to communicate, quantity of time provides for moments of quality time as a family. This builds strong families which builds strong communities, blessing our society as a whole. It’s a weakness in our society today that too many families need to have both parents work outside the home simply to pay the bills.

Many are unable to do paid work for health or other reasons, yet many volunteer as they’re able. Unfortunately, their work’s often under-valued and under-appreciated. Many of our non-profits benefit greatly from their work. Age is often a factor in being able to work. I’ve experienced the value of older people’s quiet work like prayer, notes of encouragement, visiting shut-ins and the lonely, calling others, and sharing their wisdom. All these community building acts of service bring huge value to our community. For those who struggle with their health, engaging in this kind of work helps you to look past your own situation by focusing on blessing others and bringing joy and community into their lives.

God not only created us to work; he’s also a God who’s at work. Our work is part of the work he’s doing in his work of redemption and restoration of creation, leading history and the present forward to the return of Jesus and the full establishment of the kingdom of heaven here on earth. There’s Jesus’ finished work: he became human, calling us to repentance and belief, going to the cross, and taking our sin and punishment on himself, returning to heaven after his resurrection, where he now mediates on our behalf with his Father. Jesus sees work in the context of the kingdom of God, “I will make you fishers of men,” urging his followers to do the work of God. Our work flows out of God and the Holy Spirit’s work in us, shaping us, guiding us as followers of Jesus.

God gives us our work, knowing our abilities and gifts. Our work is part of his plans for us, our families, and communities. Paul refers to this in Romans 12:6a, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us,” and goes on to encourage us to use them. In whatever work God calls us to, we work with and for God to discover how he wants us to use our gifts in everyday situations at home, work, church, and community. We often underestimate the gifts God has given us, and sometimes it simply needs someone to recognize them in us and encourage us to develop them. This can lead to some exciting opportunities that we would never have imagined without that encouragement. God loves surprising us gently, or not so gently, pushing us to become or do more than we ever saw in ourselves.

Our work is part of our worship of God. We work as if we’re doing everything for Jesus, doing our best; even if it’s hard or when we encounter obstacles or opposition. When we do our work as if for Jesus, we’re better able to see, value, and encourage the work others do. We begin to see how the work we do deeply connects us to others in our community and the world. Think of a chicken farm. You buy your chicks from someone who hatched them and nurtured them, you buy feed from someone else who used the harvest from yet another farmer, you use equipment made by someone else, perhaps in another country, then you sell your chickens and they’re taken to a factory where they’re processed and then brought to a store where someone buys them to feed their family. How many people are connected together in this simple chain of work, how many people are blessed and able to support their families in this interconnected chain that your farm’s a part of? Our work is part of a cycle of blessing that helps our communities to flourish.

When we seek God’s righteousness through our work, we track justice and virtue in our work. The decisions you make as a business should think about things like fairness and value to employees and customers, keeping our word, and adding value to the local economy. Our work should bless, and not, as the Old Testament prophets remind us, trample the poor or ignore the needy. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” As Professor Jonathan Haidt from New York University’s Stern School of Business writes, “When your heart is open, then your mind is open.” And good works are one of the primary means God uses to open hearts.” We are the body of Christ given as a gift for the life of the world; our work is part of being God’s gift.

Solomon goes on to remind us that light is sweet and to enjoy the years God gives us because there will be dark years too. Solomon encourages the young to enjoy their youth, while also reminding them that their choices will have consequences, so make sure your choices are good ones. Youth is a good time to experiment with many types of work and experiences; they’ll help you gain wisdom, develop skills and talents, and learn the values of family, community, and work.

Solomon calls us to not worry, even if you’re not young anymore, even if your body isn’t the same as when you were younger and stronger; with age comes wisdom. Don’t place so much value on your youth that you miss out on the joy of maturing and growing old, of being able to see life through the eyes of experience, having learned what’s important, of learning the value of both work and relationship, of the importance of seeing the joy in the simple things of life, experiencing the satisfaction of a good day’s work followed by a meal and family, as Solomon has repeated over and over again. May you find joy in your work, paid or unpaid, whether on a jobsite, at home, or in the community as we seek to do it all for the Lord.

The End is the Same for All - Ecclesiastes 9:1–12

Last week we reflected on how Solomon sees injustice and how it impacts us when justice is slow to come. Living under the sun is often difficult and unpredictable, Solomon confesses that we really have no idea of what lies ahead of us, whether love or hate; echoing back to what he’s just written about how the righteous often experience what the wicked deserve and vice versa. Solomon acknowledges that both the righteous and the wicked and everything that happens under the sun is in God’s hands; he’s in control and directs history. Solomon knows that we all share the same end; we’ll all die one day; even Jesus died. This should lead us to hold the things of our lives lightly, easy to let go of to bless others.

It’s good to acknowledge that we’ll all die one day. It doesn’t matter who you are, righteous or wicked, good or bad, clean or unclean, those who sacrifice or those who don’t, we’ll all be held accountable for what we choose to believe, who or what we choose to place our faith in, and for the way we’ve lived our lives and treated God and others. Solomon calls the fact that we all face the same destiny an “evil in everything that happens under the sun.” He goes on to say that “the hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live.” These are hard, depressing, hopeless thoughts, and yet there’s truth in his words.

Since the fall in the garden of Eden, sin’s grown and become normal, impacting all of creation. God warned Adam in Genesis 2, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Adam and Eve disobeyed and death followed, Genesis 3, “To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” This quickly culminates in the flood and a restart with Noah and his family, but history has shown us how wickedness and humanity live together in close relationship. Often, our wickedness is only a matter of degree. 

Solomon now injects a little hope into his reflections on our destinies and death, “Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.” The living have hope because after we die, according to Solomon’s knowledge, there’s no further reward, no knowledge, passions, and even their names will be forgotten, a huge fear in the middle eastern culture. “A living dog is better off than a dead lion,” is similar to saying, “The living still hope;” the living can still experience the joy and hope he moves into talking about next.

We see how early in God’s story of redemption that Solomon’s in; and how little knowledge and hope those who only live under the sun really have. If there’s little or nothing after death, as Solomon describes, then this life is all there is, and the reality is that, while many people have good lives, just as many, or even more people live lives of struggle and even quiet desperation. Yet while we’re still living, we still have hope; we have the opportunity to choose Jesus, to accepting him as our Lord and Saviour, repenting and believing in God, choosing wisdom over folly, offering and seeking forgiveness, participating through faith in Jesus in his death and resurrection, taking away the fear and meaninglessness of death, the sting of evil. Jesus dies to take our punishment on himself so that death now is a doorway into God’s presence and mansion forever. Jesus tells his disciples in John 14, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Solomon knows Hades as a place of shadow, loneliness, wandering, disconnection, and separation from God. Jonah 2, “He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.”

This is why Solomon returns to his favourite response to living under the sun, “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.  Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” This isn’t bad wisdom, but it is limited wisdom. He knows it doesn’t matter how gifted, strong, wise, or learned you are, life will throw you curveballs and death lies at the end of it all; so, enjoy life when you can, is all the under the sun living can offer you. Many never succeed, as the world understands success, even though they work hard, are gifted and talented, or strong, or even wise and educated. Life and circumstances can humble us. Solomon doesn’t yet understand resurrection and renewal, the restoration of even our physical bodies.

Solomon’s solution is just a small glimpse of what actually lies before us. Jesus spoke often of what the kingdom of heaven is like; like a banquet held by the king, like a wedding feast full of family and friends, good food and company, like a farmer’s field or vineyard full and lush, ready for harvest in order to be enjoyed. Life’s short and often difficult, but the joys we experience now in food, wine, and relationships are but a small taste of what lies before us. This is why we’re called to live into that joy, to share that joy with each other. The work we put our hands to helps our communities to flourish and blesses others. The church is the body of Christ given as a gift for the life of the world.

Jesus shows that how we live now leads to the blessings of belonging in the kingdom of heaven: Matthew 25, “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’  “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’  “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” …  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

Life’s a gift and death’s no longer to be feared. Bobby Jamieson writes in his book on Ecclesiastes: “If you believe that life is good because life is a gift, and life is a gift because God gives it, and life is full of good things because the creator is constantly flinging gifts at you faster than you can catch them, then any meaning you discover is catching up with the meaning that God has already built in. Any goodness you enjoy is scratching the surface of the goodness that life is. Any happiness you experience is a glimpse of the one who is happiness himself.”

Paul states it well in Colossians 3 on how to live in response to the blessings that flow out of the kingdom of heaven, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” This is kingdom living, this is hope-filled, meaningful living. We’re called to build each other up, encourage each other, to be a blessing, undoing the ways of evil and brokenness in our world; so go and live in the joy and hope of Jesus.

The King and Obedience - Ecclesiastes 8:2–17

Solomon knows that the world and people can be dangerous and that we need wisdom to guide us. Yet he also realizes that God’s so much greater than we are and his plans are often hard for us to understand, especially during difficult times and he seems to be quiet. Wisdom’s often in short supply today, just look at our culture. There’s a lot of finger-pointing and talking down people who disagree with each other. There’s little patience for engaging in meaningful conversations with those we disagree with, there’s little careful reflection, or the willingness to learn and change. It’s “us” or “them.” This leaves us unable to learn from people we disagree with. Wisdom looks like building relationships with people who see the world differently and be humble enough to admit that they may know things we don’t.

Our culture values youth and beauty over wisdom. We honour people who become wealthy and successful while still young. We’re obsessed with beauty. But the young haven’t always learned wisdom yet, and beauty fades quickly. Meanwhile, those who’ve lived many years and bear scars often have deep wisdom to offer, if we’re willing to listen. Wisdom looks like building friendships and relationships with older members of our congregation. They may not be able to tell you how to navigate social media, but they can share how to be kind and grace-filled and live in a healthy way that builds your souls. How we communicate may change, but people don’t, whether we relate through a screen or face-to-face.

In verses 2-5, Solomon urges his readers to use wisdom when in dangerous situations, especially when serving in the king’s court. In middle eastern courts, kings were seen as God-like, but were very unpredictable because of their immense power. Solomon calls his readers to obey the king because of the oaths they made before God. He tells his readers to not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Another translation of the Hebrew is “do not be terrified to walk from the king’s presence.” Fear can cause us to react in foolish ways, when things get unpleasant, because the king’s going to do what he wants anyway, don’t argue with the king, quietly leave. The wise person will know the proper time to speak up and when to be silent, and how to speak into unfairness and injustice. Solomon calls us to use wisdom to survive in a dangerous world. This echoes the wisdom of Daniel and his three friends later in Babylon, as well as Queen Esther.

Jesus used such wisdom to get himself out of tricky, and even dangerous situations. The Pharisees often tried to trap Jesus into saying things that would turn the people against him. The Jews hated paying taxes to Rome, so one time the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” No matter what Jesus answered, he’d get in trouble, if he said “Pay your taxes,” then the Jews would hate him, and if he said “No,” the Romans would charge him with rebellion. Matthew 22, ^“Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”  “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

 When things would get tense, Jesus would avoid confrontation by going back to Galilee or into the mountains with his disciples for a time. Jesus often warned his disciples that things would get dangerous for them because they chose to follow him, telling them in Matthew 10, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” In Acts, Luke shares stories of the apostles being arrested, being persecuted and beaten, and even dying like Stephen for their faith in Jesus. Persecution and injustice still happen today; the call of Jesus is still for us to “be wise.”

Solomon writes that “the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure,” and yet our wisdom and knowledge is limited because we don’t always understand God’s ways. Verses 6-8 remind us that we don’t know the future; there’s a proper time and way for everything, but no one has power over the time of their death, or every event in their lives, it’s all in God’s hands and timing. Isaiah 55:8–9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Ultimately, God’s in control, not us, or even the most powerful ruler. Solomon knew that God’s the king of Israel, Solomon and all the other kings were only representatives of God, called to be obedient to the High King. The kings of Israel were called to protect and to provide for the people, representing God’s relationship and commitments to his people.

In verses 9-14, Solomon talks about injustice, wickedness, and how some wicked prosper while righteous people suffer; it seems unfair and meaningless, and hard to understand. If there’s no God, no one to hold the wicked accountable, then life’s meaningless and there’s no reason not to be wicked and selfish and take whatever you want. From our perspective under the sun, justice often doesn’t come quickly or easily, or even when we look at it from God’s perspective. As Solomon writes, “All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.” Solomon’s successor was his son Rehoboam who didn’t take his older advisor’s advice on how to treat the people, 1 Kings 12:10–11, “The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’” This advice tore Israel apart.

What Solomon knows goes against what he sees. Solomon sees how wicked people can be part of the temple, and in their death be honoured by the people. A person’s wickedness will come to an end one day when they die, but there are always other wicked people who will rise up in their place. Injustice undealt with, creates more trouble; at some point, even good people become self-centered and scheme to get what they believe is their fair share. Injustice leads to a desire for vengeance, for taking justice into their own hands. This allows wicked people to become even more wicked. Jesus comes to satisfy God’s justice by taking our sin on himself to the cross, this is part of what the Lord’s Supper reminds us of, but under the sun, we still experience much injustice.

Wickedness can gain wealth and power for the sinner, but can’t deliver him from death. Even if wicked people live long lives, they still have to stand before God’s judgment. This gives those who have suffered injustice hope knowing that the wicked will be held to account. God’s a God of justice, but we don’t understand why it takes so long for some to face justice. Solomon sees all that God has done, but acknowledges that our understanding is limited. As God tells Job, Job 11, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?” It takes faith and trust that God is true to his people, that he hears our cries.

Those who experience injustice with no accountability find it impacts their relationship with the Lord, tempting them to reject the Lord, or to allow bitterness to settle into their heart and soul. I’ve walked alongside those who’ve been abused and seen the justice system fail them, whether in the courts, or even within the church, creating doubt about God’s justice and compassion. The pain of their abuse settles in deep when justice isn’t carried out. Wisdom calls us to not stand up for a bad cause, to call our leaders and each other to honesty, justice, and good ruling. Embrace God’s values and morals, strive after justice and righteousness, speak out against wickedness, and stand with those impacted by injustice. But we do so with respect, with persistence, with reason, and with wisdom rather than shouting in fear and anger.

God patiently waits until death when the wicked move from being under the power and protection of Satan into God’s hands and accountability. The wicked may live a long time here, yet we have eternity in our hearts, the days here under the sun are limited. We need to look past the days under the sun to the days that are coming when Jesus returns, and death is defeated, and eternity with God stretches out before us. We will face justice before Jesus who is the King of kings. Belief in God’s judgement is the ultimate grounds for hope. Every false charge will be dropped and every wrongful conviction will be overturned. Meaninglessness will come to an end. This is never spelled out in Ecclesiastes; it’s in the rest of Scripture where we see how God’s plan of redemption and restoration play out in the coming of Jesus.

The best Solomon can offer under the sun is to keep going back to his advice to enjoy life, to eat, drink, and be glad. Paul understands where Solomon’s coming from, without Jesus, we have nothing left, in 1 Corinthians 15:32 he writes, “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Our hope lies in knowing that in a dangerous and often unjust world, that Jesus is coming to bring new life, hope, and the kingdom of heaven marked by justice and righteousness, a place of safety where we can live into our potential with a joy that rests in a God of eternity who truly loves you.