Ecclesiastes 8:14-17

" There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out." (Ecclesiastes 8:14-17, ESV)

Back in 7:13 the Preacher declared, “Consider the work of God; who can make straight what he has made crooked?” Since then the Preacher has been weaving together his musings to bolster that declaration, and here reaffirms it. His conclusion is the same that he has offered throughout the book. Righteousness will not get you longer life or more prosperity. Wisdom has its limitations. The world is full of selfish, destructive people. We are married to some, we are ruled by others. And often their narcissistic acs of relational demolition provide them with prosperity and comfort. Our days are full of anxiety and restlessness (“neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep,” an obvious overstatement, but you get the idea). Indeed, the works of God are past finding out. Who can begin to understand his ways in this world? Who can make make straight what he has made crooked? Thus, the Preacher’s oft repeated conclusion: “I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful.”

I’ve had a thought about where the Preacher is going yet. I cannot offer it up with firm certainty, but each day I’m growing more confident. The thought is this. What is life about? Is it about getting rich and prosperous? Is it about an avoidance of pain? Is it about being unaffected by evil? Is about attaining a mass of wisdom? Is about your love life? Is it about entertainment? And on and on the list goes, and the answer is always “NO.” It is always “no,” because evil abounds, suffering is inevitable, and death approaches. So what could this all be about? And I mean not just the good (health, prosperity, family, etc.) but also the bad (death, suffering, injustice, oppression, etc.). The Preacher always says, “joy” - it’s all about joy. Joy is the only explanation for why both the crooked and the straight could exist. Of course, you immediately wonder, “How? Life is vanity and full of pain. The Preacher is constantly showing us how happiness is impossible. How then can he commend it as the meaning of life? And how in the world can pain and evil point to joy?” This theory only makes sense if joy is found outside of circumstances, relationships, comfort, etc., if joy can exist or even increase in the midst of pain, if joy has an infinitely greater source that the “good life.” That, perhaps, is where the Preacher is going.