Has Biblical wisdom ever failed you? Despite our best efforts to follow the rules, sometimes doing the right thing still doesn’t end well. The writer who penned the book of Ecclesiastes understands the struggle. After Proverbs presents conventional wisdom in short, digestible verses, Ecclesiastes reads like the journal entry of a man who’s tried to do all the right things but still got the short end of the stick. So what are we supposed to do when evil people end up living happy, successful lives while the righteous still can’t get ahead?
This is the question the writer of Ecclesiastes is asking. In frustration, he writes, “everything is futile.” The Hebrew word used (Hebel) translates to “smoke” or “vapor.” It’s the same word used in Jeremiah 8:19 to describe worthless idols. Essentially our writer is saying that it all feels meaningless. The wisdom in Proverbs seems to imply blessing for the righteous, but this is not our writer’s experience. He realizes life doesn’t always boil down to a tidy system. There is no formula or set of instructions that promises a good result. Sometimes you can do everything right, but life still doesn’t go well.
Ecclesiastes 8:14 confirms this by saying, “There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.”
The author is saying that life seems to deliver gut punches consistently. For example, you worked hard, and as soon as you saved enough money to enjoy, you lost your health and couldn’t enjoy any of it (Ecclesiastes 6). Perhaps you even saved an entire city and you’re worthy of honor, but everyone forgets you and treats you like trash (Ecclesiastes 9).
Life delivers gut punches. Have you ever gotten the wind knocked out of you?
- You fought to maintain sexual purity until marriage, but then your marriage was a struggle.
- You worked hard to raise your children in the instruction of the Lord, but they walked away from the faith.
- You didn’t fudge the numbers at work like your coworker did, but at the end of the week, he kept his job, and you lost yours.
- Life didn’t end up the way you thought it would.
So how do you respond?
Biblical Wisdom Tip #1: Reject Cynicism.
Our writer wants to give up. He repeatedly says that it’s all meaningless, so he asks why the righteous should keep trying. However, this depressing sentiment harkens back to a lightbulb moment in Ecclesiastes 2:13-14 when he wrote, “And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness. The wise person has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.” Even if they face challenges, the righteous have something that the wicked don’t. They see the world as it truly is.
There is futility, but there is also hope, as Romans 8:20-21 mentions, “For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.”
Hope is not on Satan’s agenda. Hope is on God’s agenda. Through the brokenness of creation, God pushes us to long for something greater, not under the sun, but beyond the sun. As a result, we may not find the hope, pleasure, peace, or happiness we’re searching for on this side of eternity. But what we can do even in this brokenness is seek and find Jesus.
Biblical Wisdom Tip #2: Believe that Jesus is with You.
I love the authenticity of Scripture. This is why I continually keep coming back to it. Christianity never invites the believer to put their head in the sand. We are never commanded to act like everything is fine while the house is burning down. We aren’t asked to minimize the trials and temptations of life, but the Bible does push us to something beyond it.
After being tempted to throw in the towel, the writer of Ecclesiastes comes to an important conclusion: “When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) In this, he acknowledges that God cares about the evil that’s happening. It may seem like people are getting away with it now, but God is just, and He will hold them accountable. This also means he cares when we’ve been hurt or wronged by someone.
Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.”
You do not serve a God that sits there while you suffer and just watches with detached observation. According to John chapter one, God himself became flesh so He could step down into the middle of it to walk the road of suffering with you. He lived in this broken world East of Eden and watched evil people flourish. So God has not abandoned you. In fact, Jesus infuses even the hardship you walk through with purpose, hope, and wisdom. This is why James says we can consider it joy when we face every kind of trial.
Biblical Wisdom Tip #3: Look Toward the Future.
There is a lie that the world preaches. They will tell you to abandon the way of wisdom because it does not work. They will say it will never get you what you want this side of eternity. Church: we must be willing to let the world call us fools for how we live. When you live God’s way inside of God’s world, the world is going to think you’re crazy. But just like Jesus was vindicated three days later at the Resurrection, there is a day when the wisdom you walked in and the obedience you cultivated inside your life will be vindicated. There will be rewards for the righteous and the wise.
There is a day coming when Eden is going to be restored. Life under the sun is not all there is. There is life beyond the sun that has been secured by the Son. For those that God calls sons and daughters, restoration is coming.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Next Steps:
As believers, we must adjust our expectations in a fallen world East of Eden. When we look around, everything might feel futile, but we hope anyway. Our hope does not fade or falter. We do not lose our faith and are not crushed when bad things happen on this side of eternity.
Jesus infuses the hardships of life with hope and purpose. He walks with us in the difficulties and points us to the way of wisdom. He calls us not just to the hope that we find now, but to a day of restoration that is coming.
So believer: Hope anyway.
