When People Hurt You - Ecclesiastes 3:15-4:3 Series

Ecclesiastes 3:15 Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. God repeats what has passed. 16 I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness. 17 I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work.” 18 I said to myself, “Concerning people, God tests them that they may see for themselves that they are like animals.” 19 For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile. 20 All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who knows if the breath of people rises upward and the breath of animals goes downward to the earth? 22 I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?

Ecclesiastes 4:1 Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them. 2 So I admired the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive. 3 But better than either of them is the one who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

Introduction

Review

We are in the midst of a verse by verse study of the book of Ecclesiastes, and we had to leave off last time in the middle of a section. We stopped half-way through chapter 3. If you are just joining us in this study, I will tell you the biggest thing we have seen so far is that the message of Ecclesiastes is this: How do you deal with life in a fallen, cursed, futile world? Two things: Fear God, and enjoy life. Those are the two themes that run throughout the book – fear God, and enjoy life. And how do you enjoy life in a futile world? By trusting God with the things that are out of your control. You have to trust that what God is doing is beautiful. That is the point he makes in powerful fashion in the beginning of chapter 3. God makes all things beautiful in their time. He schedules every event that ever happens, life and death, peace and war, loving and hating – everything. And His timing in bringing those seasons of life is beautiful. Most of the time we can’t see that beauty – and we won’t see it until we go to heaven. But that is actually a good thing, because the less we see it, the more it requires faith. And the more we exercise faith, the more we honor God and benefit ourselves. It benefits us, because the more we trust Him, the more ability He grants us to enjoy life – even when life is hard.

Seeking that kind of enjoyment from God is a good thing to do. It will never lead you into sin, because getting that gift of enjoyment from God requires that we please God.

Ecclesiastes 2:26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness

It is an enjoyment of life that is based on the fear of God, so it is always the kind of enjoyment that brings glory and honor to Him and delight and joy to us.

More of God’s Control

It is not a hard concept to understand in theory, but it is a very hard concept to believe enough that you actually live that way. So Solomon is going to keep hitting it from one angle after another after another so we can see it from all sides. That way, no matter what situation we face in life, we will know how this principle fits. So in verse 14 he is back to talking about God’s control. Believing God is in control of everything is absolutely critical for this to work, so he keeps hitting that.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will fear Him. 15 Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. God repeats what has passed.

That last phrase in the verse is literally “God seeks what has been chased away.” We drive something away - we work to put an end to it, and sooner or later - here it comes back again. We have some power to make small changes in our little realm, but we are absolutely powerless to fundamentally change the overall big picture. Therefore, fear God. Whatever you observe happening - your response should be to take seriously the God who controls it all.