Solomon is still showing us that everything in this world, without God and the fear of God, is vanity, grasping at the wind. Take away God, and there is nothing valuable, nothing for which a wise man would think that it was worthwhile to live in this world. Solomon shows in these verses that power (which men desire) and life itself (of which men are fond, even jealous) are nothing without the fear of God. Many people today try to “make sense” out of life and form opinions of God based only on what the human eye can observe. In 1981 Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote When Bad Things Happen To Good People after the death of his 3 year old son. He formed his ideas about God based on what he observed in the world. He concluded that God never wills bad things upon good people, that He intends good, but He just doesn’t have the power to insure that His will is carried out. So, ultimately bad things happen to good people for reasons that are outside His control. (What did we see and hear from God’s Word last week? God is in control!) Here Solomon records his observations about life “under the sun” then considers what that might reveal to him about God and man. We all want life to be fair. From children we might often hear the words, “That’s not fair” (if someone is cheating at a game or when speaking to parents). (I told mine, “Life’s not fair. Learn to live with it.”) As adults we want things to be done fairly. (It upsets me to see people cut in line or not wait their turn.) We have a strange relationship with justice. We love it when someone wrongs us. But when we are wrong, we want mercy and to be forgiven. Example: We want to see lawbreakers punished, but when we are caught speeding we hope for mercy. Jesus said something about that in Matthew 7:1-2. The word "judge" means "to condemn; make decisions about another. " The degree to which we condemn others, or seek punishment against others, will be the degree of judgment that is used against us. Then He gives the example of the mote and the beam. Solomon has searched for the purpose and meaning of life “under the sun.” He has explored wisdom, mirth, and work and determined that all of these are “vanity.” Now the issue of injustice appears before him, and he wonders how to deal with it. We are going to look at things a little differently today, so we see:

I. FIRST, HE LOOKS AT THE PROBLEM OF INJUSTICE – 3:16.

II. A Time For True Justice And Uncontaminated Judgment -- VV. 17-21.

III. The Comparison Of Two Judgments -- VV. 18-21.