10 Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile. 11 When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.

12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence. 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

14 There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

15 So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night— 17 I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.

REFLECTIONS

Written by James Beck

I was watching a movie the other day with my fiancée that had a clear good guy and a clear bad guy. Normally, in movies like this, the good guy wins and saves the day while the bad guy gets what they deserve. There is always justice or a happy ending—and in the real world, that’s mostly what we want to happen in bad situations. But too often, it does not. The Teacher here in Ecclesiastes seems to have conducted an experiment on his surroundings and has discovered that, under the sun, it’s the other way around. The wicked get blessed while the righteous or blameless get nothing (verse 14). I think we still see this in our lives or around the world, and we wonder: Isn’t God just? Why hasn't he fixed this?

Sometimes, when we have those questions, God might not give us the answers straight away, or we might not fully understand what God has planned, because we are not God. But the Teacher offers some light through his investigation. He notes that the wicked and their pursuit of gain are meaningless. At the end of the day, they will face death like everyone else. But most importantly, they will have a far worse conclusion than people who put their trust in God. If they do not turn to the Lord Jesus and follow Him, they will suffer His condemnation on the Day of Judgment. While it may seem like the Lord is not at work, He still is.

There is injustice in the world, but we should be reminded that God will make things right and that His justice will prevail, when the Lord Jesus returns.

We have a God who is righteous and forgives us through His Son if we come to Him, but He is also a just God who will not let sin go unpunished. Pray and ask God to always keep you living in the wisdom of that bigger perspective.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James is one of our Student Ministers.