Ironic

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day…
A traffic jam when you're already late…
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late…
And isn't it ironic?
Don't you think? ¹"Ironic" by Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard

Those are some lines from Alanis Morissette's 1995 smash hit, "Ironic," a song that recounts all of the ways that life doesn't make sense. How the world doesn't work the way we want it to. How powerless we are in the face of circumstance and how often Murphy's Law tends to work against us.

I wasn't allowed to listen to Alanis Morissette in 1995, and for good reason. Don't take what I'm saying here an an endorsement. But it is interesting to me that, 30 years later, her song captures an aspect of life on planet earth that was almost totally missing from the Christian music that I was allowed to listen to in 1995.

A lot of CCM music from that era can be summed up like this: Life is hard, but it's okay because I'll quote a Bible verse and/or a Christian catchphrase, and you'll feel fine by the second chorus.

But life doesn't work like that. Three minutes and a cliche don't make everything better. Life is hard. Planet earth is a tough place to live. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. Things so often don't make sense.

And that's why I'm so grateful for the book of Ecclesiastes. Qoheleth, the preacher of Ecclesiastes, is relentlessly realistic about life under the sun. In our time today, we'll be looking at a whole bunch of passages in Ecclesiastes that talk about the way that life so often makes no sense and things so often don't work out the way we expect and how there's very little we can do about any of that.

And then we'll see how Ecclesiastes helps us to have a truly authentic faith in the midst of this messy and broken world.

1. A World That Doesn't Make Sense

Let's start with Qoheleth's reflections on a world that doesn't make sense. And we'll start with his reflections on injustice and oppression, picking up with a single verse in chapter 3.

Injustice & Oppression

Verse 16: “Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness” (Ecclesiastes 3:16).

As Qoheleth looks around, he sees a world that isn't working the way it's supposed to. And a key example of that is the way that wickedness had taken root in the place of place.

"The place of justice" or "the place of righteousness" is perhaps a reference to the courts, where cases were tried. In many Israelite towns this happened at the city gates where the elders of the place would decide on cases together.

Their job was to make sure that righteousness and justice was upheld. They were to speak up for the innocent and make sure that the vulnerable was protected. But instead of justice, Qoheleth sees wickedness. The judges were condemning the innocent and protecting the wicked. Perhaps taking bribes, favouring their buddies, protecting their own.

You've no doubt had the experience, or know someone who had the experience, of going to seek a decision from a court or a government official or someone with some power over you, and you're looking for righteousness or justice, and instead a decision is made that is just wrong. It's wicked. And there's nothing you can do about it.

Surely, this is one of the greatest examples we can think of for a world that is not working the way it's supposed to.

We see more examples of a similar experience down in chapter 4, starting in verse 1. “Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them” (Ecclesiastes 4:1).

Powerful people using their power to oppress the vulnerable is almost as old as humanity itself. God told Adam and Eve to have dominion over the earth, but so often we use our power to climb over other people get ahead at other's expense.

Whether it's the bullied child on the school ground or the foreign worker trapped in a bad working environment, whether it's the wife trapped with an abusive husband or a church member being pushed around by a spiritual leader they've been taught to be loyal to at all costs, whether it's the ethnic minority fleeing from genocide or the young girl being sold into slavery to pay off her parent's debts, this world is as full of ugly and awful oppression as it was in Qoheleth's day. The tears of the oppressed pour down, and it doesn't look like anybody can help them.

And rather than trying to do something about any of this, Qoheleth rather bleakly reflects in verses 2-2 that “the dead who are already dead" are "more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 4:2-3).

This is one of those passages that makes us wonder whether Qoheleth, the "preacher" of Ecclesiastes, is the real, real, historical Solomon. In the first couple of chapters of this book, Qoheleth sounded like Solomon, but as we saw, that could have been some historical fiction.

A passage like this confirms that suggestion. As king, it was Solomon's job to make sure that justice and righteousness were upheld. It was his job to root out the bad judges and make sure that the elders of the cities were upholding justice.

But in these verses, and several others like it, Qoheleth sounds not like a king, but like one of us: looking around at a world that is not working the way it should, a world in which the wicked and the powerful make things very hard for the righteous and the weak, and there's very little he can do about it.

Uncontrollable Circumstances

But let's move on, because oppression and injustice are not the only ways that Qoheleth sees the world not working the way we expect. He also looks more broadly at circumstances, which is to say, the things that happen. And he sees that the circumstances of this life so often don't turn out the way we expect them to.

Look at 7:14: “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him” (Ecclesiastes 7:14).

Here's the idea here. When you're in a time of prosperity, don't expect it to last forever. When you're in a time of trouble, don't expect that to last forever. God has made both of them, and it's up to him when we experience either.

We can't predict what's coming. "Man may not find out anything that will be after him." There's no way for us to control or predict the events that shape our lives. All we can do is enjoy and consider.

Moving on, in verse 15 Qoheleth tells us that in his vain life he's seen everything. And as an example, he tells us, “There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing” (Ecclesiastes 7:15).

Life just doesn't make sense sometimes. No doubt you've seen what Qoheleth sees here. Wicked people getting along just fine, while the righteous struggle and suffer and die young.

He makes the same statement in chapter 8: “There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 8:14).

God had made promises to Israel that if they obeyed him, they would be blessed with long and happy lives. But we have enough examples—think of Jonathan, David's friend—of righteous people who die young through no fault of their own. The things promised to the nation were not always true of every singly individual.

Which means that life is unpredictable, and we don't know which way things are going to turn out. Our circumstances owe more to God's decisions than our behaviour.

We see a similar point made in chapter 9, starting in verse 11: “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them” (Ecclesiastes 9:11–12).

Bad things happen to everybody at unexpected times. So it's not necessarily the fastest person that wins the race, nor the the strongest person that wins the battle, nor the smartest person who gets rich. So often, success comes down to things far outside of our control.

This is something that many successful people have recognized. When asked the secret to their success, they'll admit that they're not the wisest or the smartest, but that they had some lucky breaks.

Qoheleth sees the same thing and recognizes how little our behaviour actually influences the outcome of events. Circumstances are outside of our control and we're a lot more like fish or birds, cluelessly waiting for the net to close in on us, than we might think.

Human Limitations

Our powerlessness to change our circumstances connects to a bigger theme in Ecclesiastes about our limitations in general. One of the reasons the world does not work the way we want, one of the reasons life surprises us, is that most of the time we are simply unable to do or get what we want, and there's nothing we can do about it. We are so limited.

This theme of human limitations takes up much of chapter 6, with all kinds of examples. Look at the fist few verses: “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil” (Ecclesiastes 6:1–2).

This passage picks us up where last week left us off. Here is a rich man, wealthy and packed with possessions, respected in his community, but God doesn't let him enjoy what he has, and so a stranger ends up enjoying them instead.

Qoheleth doesn't tell us what kind of scenario unfolded here—does this man die early? Does he simply have a dissatisfied heart? Is he just working all the time? We also don't know what this man did to deserve this, if anything.

But all Qoheleth sees is vanity and a grievous evil. He goes on to reflect on this inability to enjoy and be satisfied with life's gifts in verse 3: “If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he” (Ecclesiastes 6:3).

Lots of kids and a long life were God's covenant blessings. And Qoheleth knows it's possible to have those things, and yet not be satisfied with them. Worse yet, you can have a hundred children and a long life and still, at the end of your life, die in such a horrible way that you don't even get a proper burial.

Proper burials were a big deal to the people of Israel. It was a huge shame to not get one. It was such a shame that Qoheleth says that a child who never saw the light of day is better off than this man who didn't enjoy his life and didn't get a proper burial.

Because, verse 4 and 5, even though such a child never experiences the light of the sun or knows anything of life on earth, yet it experiences rest instead of this man.

And the final irony is that if this man lives two thousand years and does not enjoy life on earth, he still ends up going to the same place as the child who never lived to see the light of day.

There's a lot going on in these verses, and Qoheleth might seems like he's all over the place, but one of the basic ideas he's highlighting is our human weakness and inability. We are totally powerless in our default state. Not just powerless to do stuff, but powerless to even enjoy the things of earth.

And Qoheleth basically says that unless God gives us the power to enjoy food and work and life, we're worse off than if we'd never been born.

This inability to be satisfied comes out in verse 7: “All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied” (Ecclesiastes 6:7).

And verse 9: “Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 6:9).

Our wandering desires can't be fixed. Giving our desires what they want doesn't satisfy them. We're unable to be content.

Given our powerlessness, how does anybody get ahead at all? That seems to be the question in verse 8: “For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?” (Ecclesiastes 6:8).

The wise man might know some more things, but is he really able to gain any advantage over the fool? Isn't the wise man often like a poor man who knows how to conduct himself before the living?

The idea here is that a poor man in the ancient world might know how to act well, but he's never going to get a chance to practice it. He might know how to be on his best behaviour, but it does him no good because he's poor and so he'll never be in a spot where his best behaviour means anything.

Verse 10 reminds us that there's nothing new under the sun, and that "it is know what man is." In other words, we're not all that special. We're just people, and people have been figured out already. We are "not able to dispute with one stronger than" us. All of our struggles in this world end up coming down to pure strength, and the strongest one is going to win.

And there's nothing we can do to talk ourselves out of this, because, verse 11, “The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?" More talk just means more meaningless breath. We'll never get this figured out

And so, in the end, we're stuck with both our weakness and our ignorance. Verse 12: "For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 6:11–12).

We are powerless to know the best thing to do here and now, and we can't predict what's coming after us. Which means, we have no way of knowing whether our life's work will leave any kind of legacy or fruit for those coming after us.

This whole section—verses 1-12—all cause us to reflect on our profound human limitations. We like to think we're strong and powerful, but we're not. We like to think we can figure things out and make sense of the world, but we can't. We can't even satisfy our appetites. We can't even enjoy things if God doesn't give us the power to. We can't figure out the present and we can't figure out the future.

We're so powerless.

If we turn over to chapter 7, we see this affirmed in verse 13: “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13). When God decides to do something, there's nothing we can do to change it.

Further down in this chapter, we see some further aspects to our powerlessness. In addition to everything we've seen already, we are also powerless morally. Verse 20: “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

We're powerless to be good. We are powerless to avoid sin.

We're also powerless to be wise and know truth. Verses 23-24: “All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, ‘I will be wise,’ but it was far from me. That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?” (Ecclesiastes 7:23–24).

“I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness” (Ecclesiastes 7:25).

“Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found” (Ecclesiastes 7:27–28).

“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, 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” (Ecclesiastes 8:16–17).

We're powerless to know what's really going on, what God is up to, how things really work.

But surely we've got some abilities, right? We've got our bodies. We've got power in our muscles to do basic things, don't we?

Even there we may be more powerless than we thought, because we have no way of controlling the outcomes of our work.

Look at chapter 10, starting in verse 8. “He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them” (Ecclesiastes 10:8–9).

Our work often gets us into trouble because we can't control circumstances or outcomes. We might dig a hole only to fall into it ourselves. We might split a lot, only to be hurt by it. In other words, our work might get us further behind not further ahead because there's so much we can't control.

And a final proverb in verse 11 sums this up: “If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer” (Ecclesiastes 10:11).

You might have the skills to charm a snake. Good for you. But what good is that if the snake decides to bite you before you've charmed it? Similarly, all of our wisdom and skills so often prove to be wastes of time in the face of a world that doesn't work the way we want it to.

So we're powerless. It's a mad, mad world, and there's very little we can do to change any of it.

2. What Do We Do?

So what are we supposed to do about all of this? How are we supposed to get along in this mad, mad world we're powerless to change?

And there's three general pieces of advice that Qoheleth gives to us.

Be Obedient

The first is to be obedient. 8:5-7 tells us, “Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him. For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?” (Ecclesiastes 8:5–7).

Yes, trouble lies heavy on us, and yes, we don't know what's coming next, but if we are obedient—which in this context, has to do with obeying the kings command—we will know no evil thing and the proper time and the just way.

Our best shot at understanding what's going on in this world is to do what we're supposed to. That's very much in line with where this whole book will end: fear God and keep His commands (Ecc 12:13).

Be Generous

Second, be generous. That's the sense of these famous words in chapter 11: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth” (Ecclesiastes 11:1–2).

"Casting your bread on the waters" is best understood as an ancient phrase for being lavishly generous. It might have to do with sending out grain in ships to people in need. The idea is that those who are generous will be dealt with generously.

And you're going to need that, says verse 2, because you have no idea what's coming. Disaster may be looming. And so the idea here is the same one Jesus affirms in Luke 16 (vv. 1-12): your insurance policy is the friends you've made through your generosity.

This is not the only reason we should be generous. But its one of the reasons Qoheleth gives us.

Get to Work

So be obedient, be generous, and finally, get to work. Look at verses 3-4 of chapter 11: “If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap” (Ecclesiastes 11:3–4).

Big idea: the world isn't paying attention to you. It's going to rain when the clouds are good and ready. Trees are going to fall wherever trees are going to fall. We can't predict or foresee these things, even with the weather channel, and so if you try and wait for the perfect time to do things you'll be waiting forever.

So get to work. Sow and reap, focusing on your work more than the weather. You can't control the world, you can only do what you can do. So be obedient, be generous, and get to work.

3. Eternal Hope

Is that it, though? Is that the best we can do? Just manage our fleeting life with obedience and generosity and work, trying to make the most of this confusing world before we're gone like a shadow?

That is about as much as Qoheleth could see. But a couple of times we get a glimpse of something more— a glimpse that, despite the oppression and injustice, despite the circumstances outside of our control, despite our limitations, there is a God in heaven who is bringing everything to his appointed goal.

We get a glimpse of this in 3:17: “I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.”

And down in chapter 8, verses 12-13, we read that “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.”

Just because we can't see what is coming after us doesn't mean that God is asleep at the wheel. There is a purpose at work in the world that makes sense of the chaos.

Qoheleth couldn't see it very clearly. But with the arrival of our saviour, and the triumph of eternal life, we can see how eternity brings focus to this very confusing world.

See, what Qoheleth is describing in all of these verses we looked at today is a world broken down by our sin and God's curse on our sin. It's like someone dumped the puzzle on the table and he just can't figure out how all the pieces go back together again.

But in Christ, we've been promised us a day when the pieces will all fit together again, and we've been shown the front of the box which gives us a preview of what that will be like.

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20–21).

All of the chaos and confusion and broken pieces of life are going to be put back together when the Lord returns and makes all things new and futility is replaced with glory. And this is the hope held out to us by Romans 8:28—that, despite living in a world shot through with futility, God is working all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

But what we often miss is that the "good" in Romans 8:28 is not necessarily good circumstances here in this life. Paul and Qoheleth are agreed in that sense: we should not expect this life to make sense of our struggles.

The "good" that God is working all things together for is spelled out in verse 29, which is that God is shaping us to be like Jesus and share in His eternal glory.

So, brothers and sisters, we press on in faith. I know that for some of you, life is hard right now. Life is confusing. You feel stuck in the middle of circumstances that don't make sense, and you're powerless to change them.

Because Jesus died and rose again for you, you're not stuck. There is eternal glory coming to replace this temporary heartache. And it's not all future. In this life, while we wait for glory, we have the promise that nothing is going to separate us from the love of Christ. We have the promise that, no matter how hard or confusing this broken world is, we never walk alone.

The Lord is with us. He is with you in the struggles ahead of you this very week. We can be thankful on this thanksgiving day, not just for His present blessings, and not just for His future promises, but for His presence with us today that sweetens every step on our heavenly pilgrimage.

So as we proclaim His death until He comes this morning, we also proclaim His presence with us until then. We proclaim that, because of a bloody cross and an empty tomb, chaos will loose and glory will win.