Reflections with Andy - Ecclesiastes 8:10–17 — The Worst Thing Is Not the Last Thing

The Teacher sees so much evil that he grows cynical because of it. But we cannot. We are people of hope. For us, the worst thing is not the last thing.

Ecclesiastes 8:9–17 wrestles honestly with the unfairness and brokenness of life in a fallen world. While the Teacher becomes cynical as he sees evil rewarded and justice delayed, the message for Christians is different: we are called neither to deny injustice nor to surrender to it. Instead, we are called to resist evil, remain faithful, and hold on to hope because we belong to the God of resurrection. For believers, even the worst things—including death—are not the last things, because God is still at work and his final word is not despair, but hope.

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Well, good morning. Good to be with you on this Wednesday. I hope you are well and having a good Memorial Day, no matter where this reflection finds you. If you are watching this on video, either through YouTube or Facebook, you can see that my office is a complete disaster zone. Books are down off my bookshelves, and if you look over to my right—probably your left—you can see boxes of books. So yes, my office is quite the place right now as we begin the process of boxing up, moving, and all those kinds of things.

Looking at the schedule, we are going to be able to finish Ecclesiastes this week. We will do the rest of chapter 8 today, and then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we will do a chapter each day. So we will finish up Ecclesiastes on Friday. Then I will be taking off June. June will be a month to rest, pack, move, and begin the process of transitioning to Starkville. We will pick back up—I do not really know exactly when. It will be early July. I do not want to promise you a date because I am not sure, but it will be early to mid-July, based on how things progress once we get settled up there. But I will be coming back—I promise you that.

So today, let us read Ecclesiastes 8:10–17:

“Then I saw the wicked buried; they used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the human heart is fully set to do evil. Though sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him. But it will not be well for the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God. There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat and drink and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun. When I applied my mind 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 no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out. Even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.”

So we see the Teacher continuing to struggle with the brokenness and unjustness of the world. He says, in effect, “I have seen the wicked praised where they have done evil things. This is vanity. Sentence against evil is not executed speedily. The human heart is full of evil. Sinners prolong their lives, and the righteous die early.” But he also says that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him. It will not be well with the wicked, because they do not stand in fear before God.

So we see him struggling with the realities of living in a fallen world. He says that the human heart is fully set on evil, and he is wrestling with that. I think it is interesting that he is struggling with two realities at once. He is struggling with the reality that the world is fallen and imperfect, and he does not want it to be so. He wants it to be fair. He wants it to be righteous. He wants it to be as it should be—but it is not.

And I think that is an interesting dynamic for us to ponder ourselves. When we understand that we live in a fallen world—an imperfect world, a world where there is sin and injustice—our struggle is to understand that this is the reality we are going to face. The Teacher seems to have become overwhelmed by it and cynical because of it. Because of the unjustness of the world, he seems to have resigned himself to, “This is just the way it is.”

But I think where the Holy Spirit pushes us as Christians is this: to see the unjustness in the world and not be satisfied with it. Not to say, “Oh, that is good enough. That is fine. We live in a fallen world. We live in a sinful world. Things are terrible, and there is nothing we can do about it.” I do not think the Holy Spirit leaves us room to say, “Well, I am just fine with it.” We as Christians cannot get to the place where we see injustice, where we see evil, where we see things that are wrong, and simply resign ourselves to being okay with it. We are called to work against that which is evil and to work toward that which is right.

He says there is a vanity that takes place on earth: righteous people are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and wicked people are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. This too is vanity. So he says, in effect, “Just enjoy yourself then. Eat and drink and enjoy yourself, for this will go with you in your toil.” You can see him getting cynical at the unjustness of the world.

And remember, sometimes things in Scripture are there to warn us, because we will find ourselves in the same place. We will find ourselves cynical because of the world. We will find ourselves cynical because of injustice. We will find ourselves cynical because of all that is happening. And it would be very easy—very tempting—for us to just say, “Oh, whatever. Do what everyone does. Nothing matters. It is all vanity. Nothing matters.” We may feel like that, but we cannot, friends. We cannot give in to cynicism, and we cannot give in to hopelessness, because we serve a God who raised Christ from the dead.

We serve a God for whom death was not the final word. We serve a God who is not defeated by death, and so death does not have the final word. We cannot give up hope, because we understand that for us as Christians, the worst thing is not the last thing. The worst thing is not the last thing. Even death—the thing that we all fear, the thing that we all dread—is not the end, because we serve a God of resurrection.

So when you look at the world, when you look at things that are unjust, things that are not right, things that make you want to give up, it would be very easy for us to say, “I am done with it all.” It would be so easy. But the Holy Spirit will not let us. The Holy Spirit pushes us to keep going. The Holy Spirit pushes us to keep believing. The Holy Spirit pushes us to keep being faithful.

So do not give up. All we have to do is look around. All we have to do is watch the news. All we have to do is get on social media, and we can see all manner of wickedness, all manner of evil, and all manner of things that can take our joy and leave us cynical. But we cannot let that happen, because we are people of resurrection, and the Holy Spirit will not let us off that easily.

So the worst thing is not the last thing. God is always at work. Have hope in that. So today, no matter where you find yourself, no matter what is going on in your life, remember that God is not done. Do not give in to cynicism. God will be with us in all things.

I hope you have a great rest of your day, and we will see you bright and early tomorrow as we look at chapter 9. See you then.