Finding meaning in Hardship

Scripture Reading

Ecclesiastes 4:1–12 NKJV

Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun: And look! The tears of the oppressed, But they have no comforter— On the side of their oppressors there is power, But they have no comforter. Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead, More than the living who are still alive. Yet, better than both is he who has never existed, Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh. Better a handful with quietness Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind. Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun: There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, Nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, “For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?” This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

I. Where is meaning for the Oppressed?

Now understanding Solomon’s point requires we recognize he is only considering oppression “under the Sun”, that is, for the present life only. (mentions “under the Sun” at beginning and end).

Without bringing God’s judgment into the picture, the only logical conclusion is exactly where Solomon goes - There is no redeeming value to being oppressed, therefore, despair is the only logical choice.

The Oppressed have no recourse and no comforter to ease their pain, and no expectation that this will change, therefore they will die without the injustice of their situation ever being resolved.

Thus, anyone who has escaped this situation through death is better off, as they no longer experience oppression. Even better are those who die in the womb, as they never have to experience oppression.

Even within the Old Testament, people wrestled with the problem of evil Psalm 73:12-20. The Psalmist recognizes the same problem, and when he only considered the present reality, he had no answer, and was almost ready to give into despair. But when he considered the nature of God - that is, God is one who is just, he will punish evil and is on the side of the oppressed - he understood. God will somehow, someway judge the oppressed and reward the righteous. Asaph does not know how or when this will happen, but he knows who God is, and this kind of God will not let this situation continue. He takes it on faith that God will do what he has promised to do.

Solomon himself knows this as well (3:17), so this statement of despair is not his final conclusion. He also is fully confident in God’s justice, and therefore knows that somehow, someway God will resolve this situation. The need to trust God when we can’t see hasn’t ended simply because we have a more complete picture of how God will solve this problem, for we still experience hardship and must trust that God knows what he’s doing and has a good and perfect plan in it all.

However, we must note here that the introduction of eternity completely reverses Solomon’s conclusions. Matt 5:10-12. Persecution is obviously one kind of oppression, so how does Jesus tell us to rejoice greatly whereas Solomon almost collapses in suicidal despair? Eternity. Those who are persecuted for righteousness sake inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who are persecuted will receive great reward in heaven, which will be so much greater than anything they could suffer here on earth that there’ s simply no comparison. 2 Cor 4:17

Matthew 5:10–12 NKJV

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

2 Corinthians 4:17 NKJV

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

Notice therefore that the additional revelation does make a difference, but it doesn’t change what came before. The God-focused perspective was always that God is just and will punish the wicked and reward the righteous, it’s just in Solomon’s day people didn’t know how. Today we know that God will reward the righteous in Eternity, but even today we still can’t explain the reason for everything that happens to us, so the need to simply trust God when we can’t see his plan hasn’t ended.

II. How does motivation impact benefit from labor?

The idea of this section is that people can work for the wrong reason, and these sinful motivations can cause them to lose every benefit that God intends to bless those who work with.

The first sinful motivation is envy.

It’s sinful, but it’s also common for human beings to envy the successful, simply because they are successful. This removes the benefits of status that hard work normally brings. This empties of value the very sort of work that ought to have the most value. That’s what makes it “vanity.”

The second motivation is laziness.

God intends that hard work brings his blessing in the form of material success. But the fool chooses not to work, and this failure to work causes a worse problem. He suffers poverty purely through his own doing. No enduring value comes from laziness, either. Prov 6:10-11

Proverbs 6:10–11 NKJV

A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

The third motivation is pride.

Why would someone become a work-a-holic when no one else besides himself benefits? Such a person would very likely become quite rich, but be empty inside. He works hard, and suffers the exhaustion that comes from overwork, yet never asks himself why he is working that hard when he already has what he needs. So this guy is the exact opposite of the lazy fool.

Because he works so hard, he doesn’t enjoy his riches, so there’s no blessing from God in his labor, even though he does get rich. So he too fails to receive anything of enduring value, despite his wealth.

You might think his motivation is greed, after all, he works way hard simply to get rich. And this might be, but I think more often the motivation of people like this is rather the pride of accomplishment. They want to achieve this wealth, not so they can be comfortable, but so that they can show the world what they have accomplished. Thus, they are never satisfied with their wealth, as there’s always more accomplishment to be made.

The fourth observation is the one positive point in all this - better a handful with quietness than both hands full with toil.” But how to achieve this quietness? not by laziness, as it produces the suffering of poverty; not through an endless drive to achieve, as it only produces exhaustion; not through status, as you’ll only get critics who envy your success. Through balanced hard work. Work to meet your needs and the needs of your family, to be responsible. Then, when you receive the proper wages of hard work, and receive a reasonable amount of prosperity, enjoy what you’ve got. That’s the quietness of which Solomon speaks. He isn’t recommending a “handful” (bare minimum poverty), rather, he’s saying that a proper perspective on work is the only way you’ll actually enjoy whatever you produce.

III. What about Cooperation?

Here instead a positive observation about getting value out of work - whatever is worth doing is worth doing together. Several illustrations

One - A traveling companion can pick you up when you fall into a pit.

When I was hiking with Andrew and Allison, and we ran into that girl who hurt herself at the top of the mountain in Montana.

Two - travelers, again, would sleep next to each other to stay warm on cold nights.

Three - two people can withstand an attack by one person.

Four - a threefold cord is harder to break.

Thus cooperation isn’t the permanent solution, but it does help. It can’t tell you what’s worth doing in the first place. It does no good to make progress in doing nothing. But if you do find what is worth doing, it’s worth involving other people, since two people can accomplish more together than each could separately.

That’s partly why God established the church, and didn’t just have us trying to serve God solo. We need to meet together, not for what we can get out of church, but for what we can accomplish. A church shouldn’t be a place where you consume “religion,” by sitting and hearing a good sermon, but a place where we come together to serve. God’s model of the church is not of a bunch of people coming to hear a sermon and go home feeling better, but a bunch of laborers for the Kingdom of God, gathered together so they can each accomplish more than we ever could apart.