GOD’S UNSEARCHABLE PURPOSES

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 28, 2010 under PM Bible Study |

PM Home Bible Study Group; April 28, 2010

Ecclesiastes 8:14-9:1

Theme: This passage describes Solomon’s counsel in the light of God’s unsearchable purposes in the events of life.

In the third century B.C., an Athenian philosopher named Epicurus founded a school of thought based on—for his time, anyway—a radically ‘materialistic’ view of life. It viewed all things—even the soul, and even the gods themselves—as made up of atoms. It held that—since the gods didn’t really intervene in life much, and since people are made up of the same material as they—human beings are largely able to assert their own free will. Hence, it held the concepts of spiritual superstition and divine intervention in suspect. It taught that true happiness in life was to be found in choosing a balance between the absence of physical pain on the one hand, and the enjoyment of modest pleasures on the other. His school of thought eventually came to be called by his name: Epicureanism.

This school of thought taught that, since all things in this universe are simply the random swirling of atoms, we shouldn’t be too anxious about our place in it all. But in trying to make sense of life “under the sun”, advocates of this point of view ended up saying things very much like some of the things Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiastes.

And just as Solomon did, this school of thought also had to deal with the seeming inequities and injustices of life. After all, not even the most balanced of people are able to avoid severe tragedy and pain; and far more than ‘modest’ pleasure seems to be enjoyed at times by people who are truly unworthy. Just as Solomon did—in rhetorical form, anyway—the Epicureans came to a rather grim conclusion about it all. One version of the famous ‘Riddle of Epicurus’ is as follows:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?¹

And yet, Solomon didn’t stay in the grim conclusions that this ‘under the sun’ philosophy eventually came to. In this evening’s passage, he raises his head from material universe, looks to the heavens and to a transcendent God who is not a mere mass of atomic particles like us, and recognizes that His ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). It confesses that God has a plan and a purpose for all things in this material realm that cannot be detected by man through simply observing what occurs in it all—”under the sun”.

Note how Solomon develops this by, asserting . . .

I. THE FRUSTRATING SCENE ‘UNDER THE SUN’ (8:14-15).

A. “There is a vanity which occurs on earth”, he writes; “that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous” (v. 14). Good men suffer evil as a result of the good they seek to do. What’s more, evil men seem to get away with doing evil, and experience what seems like ‘good’ in return. Apparently, if just viewed from the ‘under the sun’ standpoint, men aren’t able to assert their free will as much as they’d like; otherwise there wouldn’t be such an inequity and confusion of justice. When Solomon looks at it all, he concludes that “this also is vanity”.

B. So; what does he do? He utters words that sound almost ‘epicurean’ in nature: “So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun”. This is a form of the Epicurean “go-with-the

-flow-and-ride-the-wave” approach was posited by Solomon several centuries before Epicurus came along. And Solomon’s expression is found elsewhere in Scripture; not always as one of grim resignation to the inequities of life. Sometimes it was more “hedonistic” in intention; as in Isaiah 22:13; where, when God called for weeping and sorrow from His people, instead He found “joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’”. Paul, however, quotes these same words and applies them to the view one must have if there is no life beyond what we see “under the sun”; “If the dead do not rise, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’” (1 Corinthians 15:32). In both cases, it restricts its view to only what can be seen ‘under the sun’. And when doing so, how frustrating it all appears to be!

Now; one of the ways that the Epicurean approach to life failed is in its strictly ‘materialist’ assumptions. Its view of life was restricted to only what can be seen with the eye, ‘under the sun’. And Solomon shows us, next, that the way forward begins with . . .

II. A HUMBLE RECOGNITION OF MAN’S LIMITED VIEWPOINT (8:16-17).

A. Thus far, Solomon had considered only “a vanity which occurs on earth” (v. 14); and found that there was “nothing better under the sun” (v. 15). But he then says, “When I applied my heart to know wisdom . . .” he came to a different conclusion. As he writes elsewhere, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7; see also Psalm 14:1); and once a man lifts his eyes to a view above the strictly earth-bound perspective, he sees things far differently. If one begins only with what one sees, then not even the great Epicurus could make sense of it all.

B. Solomon said, “When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, then I saw all the work of God . . .” (vv. 16-17a). That is, he observed the ceaseless activities, and labors, and business of men done on earth. A man’s head would spin dizzily with the thought of it all. Men labored all their time away in an effort to avoid pain and experience pleasure. And yet, above it all, Solomon saw the work of God that was beyond the conception of mere man; “that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it” (v. 17b). God is at work; and it’s beyond our ability to grasp what it is that He is doing in the midst of all that goes on “under the sun”. No matter how hard we may try, we won’t be able to grasp its meaning and purpose. It won’t be until we are glorified in God’s presence that we will be able to comprehend even a fraction of it all. Until then, we can do no better than to say, with Paul; “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:33-36; see also Job 36:22- 23; Isaiah 40:13-14; Jeremiah 23:18).

This leads Solomon, finally, to advocate . . .

III. A CONFIDENT TRUST IN GOD’S UNSEARCHABLE PURPOSES (9:1).

A. Solomon says, “For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God” (9:1a). He doesn’t comment on the unrighteous and foolish man here; but strictly on the righteous and wise. They can know, in the midst of a world that doesn’t seem to make sense, that there is a plan and purpose for it all in the hand of God; and that He will one day bring it all together and make it right. Some folks turn their noses up to this as ‘pie-in-the- sky’ talk; but it isn’t ‘pie-in-the-sky talk’ if God really is and really is sovereign. Rather, it’s the only right way to view the staggering ‘business’ of activities under the sun. It’s to affirm, as Paul does, that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30). Who could comprehend that? Who can do better than believe it and trust God in the midst of it?

B. And note how Solomon affirms that such hope is not something man could know simply by looking at the activities of man on earth, and trying to figure it all out empirically and philosophically. “People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them” (9:1b). This may mean that a man can’t evaluate “love” or “hatred” in all the things he observes under the sun; or it may mean that he cannot determine by what he sees under the sun whether “love” or “hatred” await him. It’s all beyond the grasp of the mind of man.

* * * * * * * * * *

Solomon presents a higher view than is attainable through the vain philosophies of men. Such men are right in seeking meaning and purpose; but wrong in thinking that meaning and purpose can be found strictly on the basis of what they see. It only comes close to making any kind of sense when we humbly admit that there’s a God is wiser that we, who is sovereign over it all, and who will one day prove Himself more righteous and just in the affairs of men than we can now comprehend.

“He turns rivers into a wilderness,
And the watersprings into dry ground;
A fruitful land into barrenness,
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
He turns a wilderness into pools of water,
And dry land into watersprings.
There He makes the hungry dwell,
That they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
And sow fields and plant vineyards,
That they may yield a fruitful harvest.
He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
And He does not let their cattle decrease.

When they are diminished and brought low
Through oppression, affliction, and sorrow,
He pours contempt on princes,
And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,
And makes their families like a flock.
The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all iniquity stops its mouth.

Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD (Psalm 107:33-43).

______________________________________________

¹A Freethinker’s Paradise, 4/21/2005, retrieved 4/28/2010, http://leados.blogs.com/blog/2005/04/riddle_of_epicu.html)