In the Day of Adversity
[Read Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:14]
The author of Ecclesiastes asks a thought provoking question in this passage: “Who knows what is good for a person in life…?” (Ecclesiastes 6:12, NIV). Some of you may not think this is a thought provoking question. You may think, obviously God knows what’s best for us. Yet, what if you take God out of the picture? Remember, the author of Ecclesiastes is diving into the worldview of his culture—a world that has rejected God—and is taking a look around. So, he asks the question, “If you get rid of God, who knows what is good?”
Yet, to take that question deeper, we need to ask another question, “If there is not God, CAN there be anything good?” If there is no God, can we even use the words good and evil? The answer is: NO. This is why we see our current culture having a difficult time saying that anything is wrong or evil—almost. Of course, there are always things a society wants to call evil. Yet, how do they know what is good or evil, wrong or right? How do they know where to put the line if there is no “line-drawer”? When you push people on this question, and don’t accept pat answers, they almost always end up landing in the same place: Good and evil are decided by majority vote or by the highest authority in the land. So, if the majority decides something is “good,” then we must all follow suit and call it “good.”
Yet, deep down inside, that answer doesn’t satisfy anyone. Deep down inside we know that the majority may have approved killing the Jews, but it was still a wicked and evil act. Deep down inside we know that a majority in our country could approve of murdering babies in the womb, and it is still a wicked and evil act. God is the one who draws the line between good and evil. If you try to remove God, you lose the line. So, we find the author asking the question: “Who knows what is good for a person in life…?” (Ecclesiastes 6:12, NIV).
It’s also important to remember that this entire passage is written in the context of adversity—tough times. Things aren’t going smoothly. And so he asks:“Who knows what is good for a person in life…?” (Ecclesiastes 6:12, NIV). In the midst of adversity, who knows what is good for us?
I hope we can all be honest with ourselves as we answer this question. We are currently in the midst of adversity. We are in tough times. And, in the midst of these tough times things get foggy. The author says, “The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?” (Ecclesiastes 6:11, NIV). Think about what this verse is saying and connect it with social media. The more words, the less meaning. The more we talk, the foggier things get. There’s a whirlwind of information around us—much of it contradicting. Everyone has data and information and statistics to back their own opinions. Can any one of us honestly and humbly sit here this morning and say, “I know what is good for us right now!”? Can any of us truly say we have the answers to these questions?
We all want certainty. We hate hanging in the balance of uncertainty. Yet, here we are—uncertainty all around us. Information all around us pointing in different directions. So, because we hate uncertainty, we decide to be certain. Rather than hanging in the balance, we pick a side and embrace it, refusing to budge. This is why we’re so divided as a country right now. And, we need to be honest with ourselves, this struggle isn’t just happening “out there” but is happening right now in each one of our hearts—it doesn’t matter what “side” we’re on. So, the author asks you: “Do you really know what is good for humanity right now?”
Then he asks another searching question: “Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?” (Ecclesiastes 6:12, NIV). Who knows what the future holds? If you no longer believe in an all-knowing God, no one knows the future. It’s all random chance and there is no way to know what will happen in the future.
Even those of us who believe and trust in our God who knows all things, we don’t know the future. Yes, we know the end of history—the end of this story. Yet, we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, a week, a month, or a year from now. We have no idea whether this virus is going to keep spreading or stop. We have no idea if our country is going to divide or unite. We have no idea whether we will get the virus or not. We have no idea if the precautions we are taking are working or not. We DO NOT KNOW the future.
This needs to humble us. We don’t really know what is good for people right now. We have no idea what the future holds. So, let us stop trying to pretend like we do and humble ourselves before God. Because He DOES know what’s best for us and He DOES know the future.
That’s why the author says, “Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger.” (Ecclesiastes 6:10, NIV). The author is reminding us that whatever is happening right now, was “named”—decided—long ago by God. The past, present, AND future are in his hands. He also knows who we are and what we need—what is good for us. He knows that we are not as big of a deal as we think we are. He knows we don’t really know what’s good for us. He knows that we don’t know the future. He knows we need to be put in our place. We need to humble ourselves.
In humbling ourselves, we need to stop beating our head against the wall. The author says, “No one can contend with someone who is stronger.” (Ecclesiastes 6:10, NIV). As the children’s song says, “We are weak but He is strong.” We cannot contend with God and we need to stop trying. He is the potter, we are the clay. We have no right to fight with him about what he’s doing.
Anyway, what good does it do you to fight with God? What good does it do you to be angry at God for your current situation? What good does it do you to be anxious and worried and fearful about this current situation? IT WILL NOT CHANGE ANYTHING! Jesus asks, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27, NIV). We can add to that and say, “Can you change your current situation by yelling at God? Can you make your situation better by frustration or anxiety?” The answer is: NO. You can’t. We don’t really know what’s good for us AND we don’t know what the future holds—so let us humble ourselves and trust God—the One who DOES know what’s best for us and holds the future in his hands.
Yet, in the midst of this, God gives us some guidance. We have a long list of proverbs to help us live rightly in the midst of adversity and in the midst of uncertainty. Since God is the only one who knows what is good for us, we need to continually look to Him and His word for guidance. We need to trust what He has to say to us.
Interestingly, these proverbs are a little different than normal. Normally, proverbs are “black and white”—this is bad, this is good. Yet, the repeated phrase in these proverbs is “better than.” This is better than that. It speaks to the uncertainty of adversity. It points to the fogginess of making decisions in difficult times. One of the commentators writes, “Frequently ‘one must choose the lesser of two evils, or at least settle for a situation that falls far short of ideal.’” (Greidanus, p. 160). We all know that saying, “Hindsight is 20/20,” but that saying only is meaningful when we realize that our current sight—the way we see our current situation—isn’t 20/20, it’s more like 20/200: “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror…Now I know in part…” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV).
I don’t have time to go through each of these proverbs individually. We’ll have to look at themes. I wanna give you the overall theme of these proverbs, then show it to you. Here’s the theme: The wise person accepts reality. The fool refuses to accept reality and ignores it. The wise person accepts reality and the fool refuses and ignores reality. Let me show you where this is in our passage.
The author says, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2, NIV). Do any of you believe this? Do any of you think it’s better to go to a funeral than a wedding reception? We don’t really believe this do we? Yet, the author says we need to see things differently. We need to be reminded that we will all die one day. We need to accept the reality of our own death and take it to heart. That’s why it’s better to be at a funeral than a wedding. It forces us to accept reality and take it to heart. We are going to die.
Yet, we don't like to think about this. We work hard at ignoring death. That’s why the author says, “Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 7:6, NIV). The laughter of fools is like thorns under the pot. In our context, we could say the laughter of fools is like dried pine needles on the fire. It catches fire quickly, grows into a massive, hot fire, but disappears as quickly as it came. It’s a weak attempt to ignore reality. The author repeatedly paints the picture of people trying to celebrate away the pain, or laugh themselves away from reality. They party. They laugh. They sing. All trying to ignore their current situation—trying to ignore reality. This is why we’ve changed funerals into “celebrations of life.” Sure, we need to celebrate the life God has given someone, but we also need to face the cold, hard truth that we will also die and there’s nothing you can do about it. It does you no good to ignore it or try to pretend it’s not going to happen. You need to look it in the face and accept it. You will die.
He also points to another way people try to ignore their current reality: “Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10, NIV). I don’t want to step on toes here. So, just listen to the author of Ecclesiastes. He says it is foolish to keep reminiscing about “the good ‘ole days.” It’s foolish. Those days are gone. Accept it and move on. It does you no good to ignore the current realities by living in the past. Yesterday is gone, and you are alive today. So live today.
This is a particular temptation in the midst of adversity, isn’t it? Especially right now. I guarantee every one of us is remembering the “good ‘ole days” before the virus, right? Don’t you remember when we could easily find toilet paper in the stores? Don’t you remember when you didn’t have to make all these difficult decisions that make people angry? Don’t you remember when we could come to church, hang out, drink coffee, and eat cookies without worrying about giving someone COVID? The author says this is foolish. Those days are gone. You are living right now, in this place, in this situation. Accept it and seek to live TODAY the way God has called you to live. The past is gone and you don’t know what’s coming in the future. So, do the best you can in this current situation, seeking to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.
The author tells us we can do this because we know God is in control. Because God is in control, we can accept our current reality and live today. He says, “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14, NIV). God is in control and he sets the seasons—seasons of prosperity and seasons of adversity. God makes BOTH of them. We have no idea what’s coming—because we don’t know the future. All we know is that God has given us TODAY. So, when things are going well, be happy and thank God and don’t worry about what’s coming in the future. When times are tough, don’t forget God has also given you this struggle. Trust Him, find Rest in this fact, and seek joy. God has given you TODAY. So, accept it. Thank Him, trust Him, and find joy TODAY.
Yet, as I alluded earlier in the message, we may not know everything that will happen in the future, but we know one important thing. Jesus Christ is going to return and he is going to make all things new and wipe away every tear from our eyes. That’s why Romans says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:18–25, NIV). Right now, creation is groaning under the weight of sin and death. Right now, we are groaning under the weight of sin and death. Yet, Christ hasn’t left us here for good. He has overcome sin and death through the cross and resurrection. He has promised to renew us and give us strength in this life He has promised that he will return one day and remove all of the groaning from creation and from our lives. And when he does, the glory we will experience will make this pandemic seem like NOTHING. His Glory and Redemption will be so bright that it will remove every dark spot of history and make all the pain seem like nothing.
This is the hope that saved us. We get to taste it a little bit in this life, but we long for the day when we can taste it in full. So, we live in this hope and we wait for it patiently. And while we wait, we groan and we seek to live each day accepting the reality of our situation, seeking to glorify God TODAY, trusting Him to carry us through to the end when all things will be made new.