Words to the Not-So-Wise

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17

One of the very first memory verses my parents led me through as a child was “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…”

Such a beautiful principle we can hold onto, but many take this last part as a fail-proof promise.

Proverbs are meant to show us the ideal. How things ought to go when you follow God’s ways.

Proverbs show you how things should be ideally, Ecclesiastes show how things go really.

Proverbs give us general principles, Ecclesiastes shows the frustrations that sometimes accompany the testing of such principles.

So we find a man in this passage, likely Solomon, who seems incredibly wise. He interprets life and sees God’s ways and finds it all to be an enigma. It’s a mysterious thing to look up towards God and His goodness, then look around and see the frustrating injustices in a world that is broken. There’s a glimmer of hope that Quohelet, the author, points us to.

Main Point: We can enjoy life amid all of its mysteries and injustices only when we rejoice in the mysterious and just ways of God.

Solomon in proverbs says God will make things clear for us in a fallen world! But in Ecclesiastes we find that we can acknowledge God in all our ways and trust Him with all our heart whether He makes our paths straight or not. You can trust Him, even when you were not as wise as you thought you were.

The Benefits of Wisdom- Vs 1

King Solomon here begins with a declaration that really connects to what he said at the end of chapter 7 (Read vs 1)—Right before this, he describes man’s fallen condition which gives context to this statement. Who can find a wise man or woman?

You could say the he’s beginning with a very general statement about the benefit and difficulty of wisdom.

This section of Ecclesiastes that we’ve been in, beginning in chapter 7, reads very much like the book of proverbs. And both proverbs and Ecclesiastes stress the importance of wisdom and the difficulty of it. If wisdom were easy to find or easy to obtain, why would there be so many statements of warning and pleas to find wisdom as the greatest pursuit of your life.

This verse essentially declares to us that wisdom, living well in God’s world especially now that it’s broken by sin, is incomparable. There’s nothing like it. God’s wisdom is that which causes us to not just observe life, but interpret life’s events.

This week you woke up and maybe you missed you alarm. Maybe you went to work and you were late and your boss gave you a word of warning. Maybe all the mundane, cyclical events transpired this week in a less than ideal way, and your emotional state has been affected. Maybe you’re sad, maybe you’re happy. You know why? Because you’re an interpreter.

You don’t just live life and let things happen to you. You interpret what happens to you. Your response to life is largely based, not on what happens to you, but how you interpret and judge what happens to you.

And Solomon here declares that when wisdom is obtained, someone’s face can shine or in other words, their countenance will change for the better. They’ll walk around with a big smile on their face.

But then, he seems put all to the test. Not just the observation test, but the interpreting test.

The Ways of an Unjust Ruler- Vs 2-9

This section is parallel to chapters one and two where Solomon ackowledges his own kingship in Israel but the vexation or mystery of injustice that comes straight from rulers and earthy authorities.

Of course we don’t live under a monarch anymore. Very few of us can even imagine what it would be like to not live in a constitutional republic, but under a King who calls all the shots.

Solomon further expounds on the Kings actions and shows that there are earthly kings who are oppressive and hurt many people.

What’s Solomon’s main point? Does he say oppose this leader in every which way? Does he say take up arms to overthrow him? Does he say begin to hate your country since you don’t like who’s in Charge?

Nope, he says submit to him (Read vs 2)

There are a few reasons here:

God made an oath to him. This kind of thing is seen throughout the Old Testament where there is a covenant made between kings and God. Or this can actually be translated, “Because of your (citizen) oath to God!” This has further explanation in the New testament in Romans 13, We’re suppose to be submitted to earthly leaders and not just the good ones. In our country, this applies even when your guy doesn’t win the election.

And it’s because we submit to our heavenly King—God who put this person in power. HOWEVER, Solomon does give room for the exceptions here based on Wisdom. In vs 5-6 we see that there is procedure for everything. This could indicate that there are times and season to not obey the rulers. Submission doesn’t mean unconditional obedience—there are times we must obey God rather than mere humans.

But you may recall in 2 Peter that something characteristic of false teachers is that they disrespect, slander, and have distain for earthly authority. This behavior toward earthly leaders, even the oppressive ones, can dishonor God. Am I saying we shouldn’t strive to have godly leaders? Am I saying that it doesn’t matter who’s in the white house? Of course not. We should pray for God to raise up people who will execute Justice in the land and thankfully we can affect that kind of change in our form of government. But we recognize that even leaders who are less than ideal have been placed there by God, and ultimately we submit to him above every earthly king or ruler.

Who is head of the church? It’s not Trump, it’s not Newsome—it’s the Lord Jesus Christ and He is the truly Just king we rest in when there seems to be difficulties with authority.

But the other reason Solomon gives for this conclusion is because death is enemy every king will go to war with. And guess what, no matter how great of a fighter

The Ideal Outcome of Fearing God- Vs 10-13

The Real Outcomes of a Fallen World- Vs 14-15

The Wondrous Works of God- Vs 16-17