Frustration with Injustice (Pt 2)

Ecclesiastes 8:10-17
2007.12.09
one28 Sunday worship

Often we think that if we could just get all the information about something we could finally feel better about it. There is a desire for control that each one of us has, not that we would be so audacious as to say we wanted to take God’s place, yet it still seems like our typical approach to trials, difficulties, and uncertainties is to try to fill ourselves with information so that we can figure out what to do. Even as we look back on past events, sometimes we think that if we just knew why the person acted the way they did or even why God allowed [that] to happen, then we could have peace about it.

But there is a benefit in (a certain kind of) ignorance, with benefit for our hearts now and for eternity. As I said, most of us feel that ignorance is almost always a hindrance that must be overcome. Yet more information and wisdom is not a guarantee of great joy.

Last time we considered some frustrations with injustice and you can read or listen to Part 1 of this message. In Ecclesiates 8:10-15 we saw the frustration that wicked people go unpunished and that wicked people often prosper. Here is the third frustration.

3. Wisdom is Severely Limited (vv.16-17)

No amount of information will overcome a failure to fear God. Joy does not come from our ability to explain everything. Accumulating information and attempting to understand why things happen is not the wellspring of satisfaction or security. In fact, trusting in information is a sure way to be miserable.

Hoarded knowledge does produce peace. Stockpiled wisdom will not assure joy. This is true because no matter how much you have, you will never have all the information or be completely wise. And God made it that way! He has set limits on what our brains are able to hold. He assigns us to the darkness when it comes to many things. And the (potential) benefit in that ignorance comes when we trust Him.

Verses 16 and 17 provide a summary to all the injustice we’ve seen in chapter 8. Under the sun man can’t figure out what God is doing. Joy is great. Joy is possible. But joy does not come from understanding everything that God is doing and especially why He’s doing it. Joy comes not from knowing God’s plan but from trusting God’s character and sovereignty.

16 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, 17 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.

We want cause and effect. Do this, this happens. Do that, that happens. If we could just figure out the formula to success. But God’s sovereignty doesn’t always work like that, His ways are not our ways, and His timetable doesn’t fit neatly on our calendar.

Solomon says, When I applied my heart to know wisdom. He gave serious attention to figure this out (and he was starting with more God-given wisdom than anyone else already). And he saw the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep. Life is hard. There is a lot of work to do. It never ends. You’re going to get up early and stay up late and be tired. You’ve got to submit to unjust authority. Wicked people go unpunished and often prosper. And then you die.

And how God’s justice works cannot be figured out by wisdom. I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. God is in control. His control is absolute and unqualified. Nothing exists or occurs outside His purposeful and particular control, yet Solomon couldn’t figure it out. He knew it was true, but was unable to fully explain it. And God made it to work the way it does for at least two reasons: 1) so that life is unpredictable, 2) so that we will fear Him.

We hate that we can’t predict what’s going to happen. But that is exactly what causes us to fear Him. If we could predict everything we wouldn’t need God. But we cannot fully comprehend or control the formula. We do need Him.

So much of what we read here in chapter 8 was introduced in Ecclesiastes 3:10-14.

10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. 14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. No one can understand completely what is going on in the world. Admittedly this sounds skeptical, but this doesn’t have to be frustrating. Recognizing that wisdom is limited doesn’t have to be disheartening. In fact, if you don’t recognize that wisdom is limited you’re guaranteed to be discouraged and tired trying to figure it out.

But joy is not about complete comprehension of God’s strategy, it is about total trust in His gracious sovereignty. No one can rob you of that kind of joy, even when the wicked prosper, when injustice goes temporarily unpunished, and even when you don’t have all the information. No matter how many facts and figures you accumulate they will always leak out the bottom of the funnel. God has made it that way so that we’ll fear and trust Him.

Conclusion

What do we learn from these paragraphs?

1. Judgment may not be immediate, but it is inevitable.

This is a crucial truth for those who fear God. You do realize that the fact that God doesn’t immediately judge wickedness is a very gracious thing, otherwise we would already be beyond forgiveness. But just because wickedness goes unpunished now and the wicked prosper now, nothing escapes God’s notice. Judgment against injustice is inevitable.

2. Life isn’t always fair, but you can still enjoy the process.

You are guaranteed to be treated unfairly under the sun. Someone will hurt you, not just treating you in a way that goes against your personal preference, but in a way that is wrong. Yet joy cannot be stolen from those who fear God. If instead of depending on the situation to be right for our joy, if we depend on God we can still enjoy the process.

3. Work is hard, wisdom is limited, God is God.

By itself, that principle is either ridiculously frustrating or unbelievably peace-giving. Those who fear God and submit to Him and trust His character, even though they don’t have all the information and can’t predict or manipulate their situation, will have untouchable joy. Those attempting to control and organize their own lives will be miserable like those striving after wind. Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Some possible discussion starters for small groups:

• Why is injustice so infuriating?
• If God can stop injustice, why doesn’t He and what does that tell us about His character?
• Should you try, and what can you do, to stop injustice?
• Can you hate injustice and ETP and the same time? How?
• What are the limitations of wisdom? Are those limits helpful or hurtful?