Ecclesiastes 6:7-12

"All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 6:7-12, ESV)

Just as the Preacher begins to restore some significance to life, he begins to tear things down again. For life to have purpose it must have joy, but joy requires the satisfaction of the appetite. All man’s pursuits are aimed at this one goal of satisfaction. There is a major problem, though. Man’s appetites are never satisfied in all of his toil. He has already argued that wisdom is better than foolishness and the contentment of the poor over the lust of the rich, but what does any of it matter if satisfaction is not found either in wisdom or contentment. It is best just to be happy with what you see, but who can do that? It seems that there is the unyielding drive within each one of us for something more. To want and never get is vanity.

So the Preacher seems to conclude chp. 6 by throwing up his arms. We know nothing, we invent nothing, and we cannot debate our existence with God. The “one stronger” I take as God. Here the Preacher does not stress the rightful authority of God over man, but rather the utter stupidity of debating a being so far superior to man. This is a good piece of advice for us all to keep in mind. Human beings seem naturally inclined to pronounce themselves as the proper judge of God. We say things like, “If God exists, then he cannot be a fair and just God because of all the suffering, oppression, etc. Therefore, since I cannot believe in an unjust God, I don’t think he exists.” Suggesting God doesn’t exist, because you cannot find Him just is a bit like suggesting summer squash isn’t real because I don’t like it. If God is truly God, then it is absurdity to debate the reality of his existence based upon personal dislikes of his character. It is even more absurd, I think, to determine the rightfulness of His character from so pathetically, infinitesimal a perspective as ours is. Whether or not you like the world as it is, or whether or not you like the lot given to you, you have no grounds for debate with an infinitely great God. I am not suggesting that we don’t think about issues of theodicy, or God’s relation to evil, suffering, and oppression. But with intellectual honesty and humility, we must see that if God is real, then our judgments are not the ultimate standard. He is the Potter, we’re just pots.