Ecclesiastes 8:10-13

" Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God." (Ecclesiastes 8:10-13, ESV)

The Preacher laments that the wicked do not meet justice for their evil quickly. It is a complaint many have. The wicked go in the holy place to worship God, and then come out and oppress, steal, threaten, deceive, etc. And what happens to them. Nothing. They get to live it up while bringing ruin to their many victims. However, the Preacher’s complaint may not be what you think. The reason he grieves the lack of swift justice is that “the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.” He does not doubt that the wicked will meet justice, for “it will not be well with the wicked.” Their day is coming. What is distressing is that men are left to pursue evil with little restraint. They can fully immerse themselves into greed, lust, oppression, and be healthy, fat, and rich. If you hurt people, you do not immediately suffer. You are free to hurt people, and so you use your freedom.

The Preacher’s mentality is a far cry from our own. We wonder how it is that a loving God can punish any of his dear creatures, while the Preacher wonders how God can let them go free. This disparity between us and the Preacher has many causes, but one of them is that we tend to have a rather naive view of the world. Surely people aren’t that bad, are they? I mean, yeah, rich billionaires think only how to fill their pockets often at the cost of the poor, violent gangs charge into villages and slaughter every man and boy and rape every women and girl, civil wars break out causing the bloodshed of millions, men buy and sell other men and women as sexual property, terrorists blow up thousands of non-militants for the glory of their god, parents drag their children through heart wrenching divorces, but the world isn’t that bad. It seems to me that our hunger for justice should at least equal our hunger for love. If there is no justice, then all is vanity.