When Justice Is Unjust

Though the mills of God grind slowly yet they grind exceedingly small, though with patience He stands waiting with exactness He grinds all.

William Wadsworth Longfellow

Read

Ecclesiastes 3:16-22. Are these verses comforting or troubling to you? Write down some of your initial thoughts about this section of Scripture.

Think

Everyone experiences injustice. Have you ever been the victim of a hit and run, or in an accident with an uninsured motorist, or a drunk driver? Have you ever been wrongly accused, or know someone who has? Do you ever look around the world at war, disease, death, and poverty and wonder, "Where's the justice?" Does it seem like the rich and powerful always get their way, while the poor struggle through life from paycheck to paycheck, if they even have that?

You are not alone.

Solomon looked around, and in the place of justice was wickedness. Criminals were in the streets while people who were innocent were in prison. It's kind of the same today. And this is a problem, unless God is a part of your worldview. Without an ultimate judge, injustice reigns. But as Solomon points out, no one, not even the rich, escapes death. And it is then that justice is executed, not only on public crimes, but also in the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

So all that's left is to enjoy life, to live it well and pursue true happiness, which we've already established is in thankfulness for and celebration of God's good gifts. We can relax, because we know that all evil will be punished, and all good will be rewarded. And we who are secure in the love of Christ can rest easy, unafraid of death, looking forward to an eternity of life with God.

Pray

Thank God for bringing justice, even if we can't see it right now. Pray for patience to endure injustice without losing your cool. Pray for someone you know or have heard of that is currently experiencing injustice, that they would be secure in God's timing.

Do

Do some research into some of the injustices currently going on in the world. Find out about persecution of Believers, disease and poverty in war-stricken areas, and then support Christian organizations who attempt to bring the hope that Christ gives to people who have no hope.

How to Live Your Life Without Losing Your Mind

Some saints can't enjoy a meal because the world is starving. They can't joyfully thank God for their clothing and shelter because the world is naked and homeless. They're afraid to enjoy an evening at home with their families because they feel like they ought to be out saving souls...They know nothing of balance and they're miserable because of it...They think the gospel is good news until you obey it. And then it becomes an endless guilt trip.

Jim McGuiggan

Read

Take a look at Ecclesiastes 3:12-15. Think of each verse in light of the first 11 verses of the chapter.

Think

In light of the futility of the earth's cycles and the apparent meaninglessness of life, there has to be a way that we can live our lives and not lose our minds. After all, if we are just a bundle of DNA, then the only thing that gives us meaning and purpose in this life is the Darwinist domination over other species and the exertion of our right to survive as the fittest of our own species. But we have it written deep down on our hearts that there is something more, and as C.S. Lewis put it, "Creatures are not born with desires unless a fulfillment of those desires exists." And in these 4 verses, Solomon gives us a framework of acting in light of those desires, so that we can break the endless cycle of living under the sun.

Enjoy Life, vs. 12- God has given us so much that we can enjoy, let's stop working so hard and live a little. Let's stop filling up our schedules with an endless series of meaningless busy-ness, and take the time to enjoy what God has given to us.

Be Thankful, vs. 13- Don't forget that all the things that we enjoy about life are gifts from God. And the enjoyment of these things is not complete without the verbal expression of how much we enjoy them. God gives us so much, and we return the gift to Him in thankfulness. And thankfulness keeps us from insanity.

Fear God, vss.14-15- A healthy reverence for the One too magnificent for words, the One who is outside the world, yet chooses to work within it, is the third key to breaking the cycle of monotony that so defines our world under the sun. When we recognize Him as Almighty Creator, and then approach Him as such, we are more able to see beyond the cycle of life to its meaning and purpose.

We fear the thunderous power of a love so relentless it could send One's own Son to die. We fear the utter blackness of God turning away, as endured by Christ on Calvary. We stand before the cross and realize we can add nothing. We can take nothing away. The act is perfect and forever, and our fear turns to abounding love and devotion.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

Pray

Ask God to reveal to you just how you can more fully enjoy your life and view it in light of His mercy to you. Commit to Him to find the time to really experience some of the great things He's given to us to enjoy.

Do

Evaluate your calendar. Is it jam-packed with busy-ness, or do you find time to enjoy life? Do you make it a point to be thankful for the good gifts God gives? Does your life reflect reverence for the Almighty, or is it spent in search of the next award, pleasure, or promotion?

Finding God in the Dishes

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time...Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Read

Ecclesiastes 3:9-11 says quite a bit in just 3 verses. Get away by yourself and really think about what Solomon is telling us in this passage.

Think

Following Solomon's thought up to this point, there doesn't seem to be much purpose or meaning in the day to day monotony of life. We work, we eat, we die, then someone else receives our inheritance and does the same. Factor in some of the hard things of life, and it really doesn't make sense at all. But God makes everything beautiful in its time. Even the most mundane of tasks has purpose and meaning when we consider that God has appointed us to that job for a reason. Even as boring, repetitive, and meaningless a task as doing the dishes is beautiful when we realize that God's presence is always with us, and He is always working for our good, if we will only recognize it. Brother Lawrence called it "finding God in the dishes."

We sense that something is there, ready to fulfill our deepest desire, though we can't quite put our finger on what it is. We continue to work, we continue the cycle of futility, in the attempt to find the fulfillment that will only come when we see eternity. God has written eternity in our hearts, and as mysterious as it is, we know that we were made for more than what we see in this life. We know that all is not as it should be. And we set our hope by faith on the idea that this desire will be fulfilled, and that all will be made right in the end.

Life is not empty and random and godless, but full and precisely aligned and God-ordained. It's not that your most important work is meaningless; it's that your most trivial moments are also significant.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

Pray

Be quiet for a moment and think about the idea that God is right there with you, right now, surrounding you with love and wanting to draw you to Himself. Express your feelings to Him in this moment.

Do

As you go about your normal tasks this week, try to imagine that they are appointed for some great purpose, and don't forget that God is always at work in you, even when you're doing the dishes.

Providence

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon and stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Thomas Chisolm

Read

If you're following along, we've come to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Read the first 8 verses. Do you see a pattern here? Each verse is arranged in what is called a couplet. Read it over a few times, then jot down a label for each couplet.

Think

Though your experience may argue the opposite, life is not a series of random events. There are things that we can expect out of life, and we have some of them listed right here. But Solomon goes a step further by suggesting that these things are appointed for us. Birth and death, war and peace, pain and healing, all have their time and purpose in our lives.

Thinking back to some of the hard things you've experienced, can you find the purpose in them? Whatever position you take on the wars you've seen in your lifetime, have you stopped and considered that there may be a Divine Providence at work there, and what in the world God might be doing? Do you take the time to embrace those you love when you have the chance? Do you celebrate freely, rejoicing with those who are blessed, and do you take the time to feel the loss of loved ones, mourning with those who mourn?

All of these things are appointed for us under heaven, and there is a time and purpose for everything.

What Solomon is teaching us in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is that all of life unfolds under the appointment of providence. Birth and death, sowing and harvest, joys and sorrows, acquiring and losing, speech and silence, war and peace--everything has its appointed time from God. He is sovereign, but He is always faithful.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

Do

Take some time to think about events in your life that you can be thankful for. Most are easy, but you probably have a few that are on the surface only and completely negative. Focus on them for a moment. Ask yourself this question: "If God is always at work in my life (and He is), what in the world was He doing there?"

Pray

Thank God for His providence and care in your life, and ask Him to help you understand those things that seem only bad.

Cycles of Nature

A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow , There they flow again.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-7

As if we're not depressed enough, Solomon moves from how empty life is to how nothing ever changes, and nothing is really permanent. Using a masterful (and ahead of his time) understanding of nature's cycles, we are made to realize that, whether we are here or not, the world keeps moving along in its daily, monthly, and yearly routines. What real, lasting impact do we really have on this stuff?

The answer: None.

It's important to recognize the perspective of the writer. He uses the phrase in verse three that he will repeat 29 times in the book of Ecclesiastes--under the sun. If all we have to consider is the natural world, with its unbroken cycles and our infinitesimal existence in the grand scheme of things, our very existence is empty and meaningless.

To be sure, not an encouraging outlook. But remember, Solomon's pessimism comes from his disconnect with God. When we see only what is under the sun and never what is behind it, we are left with that empty, churning cosmic machine, a great production line running to eternity and producing exactly nothing.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

You and I both know that if there is nothing to look forward to, nothing out there, outside of the natural order, that will somehow validate and give hope to our otherwise hopeless existence, then the only thing left to do is die and be forgotten. But there is good news!

We all feel it. We all have an enduring sense that the universe got it wrong, that things are exactly the reverse of what they should be. Shouldn't the ignorant machine of nature be temporary, and we be permanent? W just know this somehow; as Solomon will soon tell us, we have eternity set in our hearts. We refuse to see ourselves as temporal creatures. We're made for everlasting life, and the clock we live on should run down while we go on forever.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

There is light above the fog of our naturalist, under the sun understanding that gives us hope. It gives our lives meaning. And nothing frees us to live our lives well than to lift our heads out of the fog to see the eternity that has been written in our hearts.

Meaningless

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher;
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he toils under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 1:1-3

Delightful. Encouraging. Meaningful. Light hearted. These are not exactly the words you'd use to describe the mood of the writer of these verses. They're a little bit depressing, actually. Vanity, meaningless, empty, everything is meaningless, like smoke, a vapor that is here, fleeting, then gone as quickly as if it never existed. What profit, what benefit does a man really receive for all his work?

Implied answer: none.

An attitude like this doesn't seem in keeping with a king who reigned over a forty year golden age of Israel, who built one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, who had all the success a king could ask for, who had his choice of a thousand women, who was the wisest man who ever lived. Solomon had reached the pinnacle of success, and found it empty. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we all feel that somewhere up the ladder of success lies our fulfillment, our happiness, the meaning that we long for so deeply. But as we accomplish our goals, achieve success, or even as we fail, we find that Solomon was right.

It's all meaningless.

Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet...I'd been fantasizing about this moment, and the release of emotion that would accompany it, for many months. But now that I was finally here, actually standing on the summit of Everest, I just couldn't summon the energy to care...I snapped four quick photos...then turned and headed down. My watch read 1:17 p.m. All told, I'd spent less than five minutes on the top of the world.

Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air

I've been reading Searching for Heaven on Earth by David Jeremiah. I'd suggest picking it up if you can. 31 days of a search for meaning based on the book of Ecclesiastes.

Plot spoiler: The conclusion Solomon comes to in the very last verse in the book, when it's all said and done, the meaning of life is--fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. God is the one who infuses this life with meaning, and we will only truly find this meaning as we pursue Him with all our hearts.

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29