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Answers To
Life’s Toughest Questions
Insights From Ecclesiastes
Why Isn’t Life Fair?
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
Introduction: A Question We All Ask
As we continue our series
in Ecclesiastes seeking Answers To Life’s Toughest Questions we encounter a
question we have all asked or thought—Why Isn’t Life Fair? Have any of you ever
asked this question? Maybe you just skipped the question stage and shouted it
for all to hear—Life is so unfair!
Last week we saw that God
has a wonderful plan for our lives as He makes all things beautiful in their
time. If God has such a wonderful plan for our lives, why do so many things
that seem so unfair happen? The question can be asked in many different ways,
but it is still the same question.
1. Why
do bad things happen to good people?
2. Why
do bad people seem to prosper?
3. Where
is God when I hurt?
4. When
things aren't fair and just in life, where is God?
5. If
God is really God, where is He and what is He doing?
6. Why
doesn't He do something about the injustice in the world?
7. Why
doesn't He help us?
Solomon vents his feelings
on the subject, which it makes easy for the honest reader to identify with him.
I looked again
and saw people being mistreated everywhere on earth. They were crying, but no
one was there to offer comfort, and those who mistreated them were powerful. I
said to myself, "The dead are better off than the living. But those who
have never been born are better off than anyone else, because they have never
seen the terrible things that happen on this earth."
Ecclesiastes
4:1-3 CEV
Let’s dig in and see what
help we can find with this very tough question.
The Reality: Life Is Unfair!
One of the most important
lessons a child has to learn while growing up is that life isn’t always fair.
There are times, in fact, when life is grossly unfair. This is a reality which
must be grasped and sooner is better than later. Ecclesiastes provides five
examples of how life isn’t fair.
1st
Example: Criminals Go Unpunished
When a crime is
not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.
Ecclesiastes
8:11 NLT
Solomon had the same
complaint 3,000 years ago that we still have today. It doesn’t pay to obey the
law. Criminals break the law and get away with it. What good does it do me to
be a law abiding citizen?
We can repeat the
sayings like, “Crime doesn’t pay,” or “Do the crime; spend the time.” The
problem is our experience says they are empty, meaningless slogans. Crime
certainly does seem to pay. Paris Hilton may cry while she’s being taken off
to jail but when her brief stay—courtesy of the taxpayers—was finished she
was laughing all way the to the bank. Trying our best to do right we wind
end asking, “What am I doing wrong?”
I had a similar experience recently. Growing
up I was taught to work hard and that an honest’s days work is worth an honest’s
days wage. We tried to instill the same values in our kids and amazingly they
are both working in the field for which they went to college. I recently met
two guys. The first was at The Plant Place set up in the Coborn’s parking
lot in Sauk Rapids. While talking to the employee I found out he works here
in the summer, returns to San Diego for a month and then spends September
through January surfing on Maui. The next day I was talking with the contractor
arranging repairs to my roof and he told me he would be here in Minnesota
until November and then he would be going back to Costa Rica December through
March. In telling about these two experiences the common response has been,
“What am I doing wrong?”
What these two guys do is
not a crime but it sure feels like they’re getting away with something we’d
like to try—at least once!
If there is any place
where people should expect just treatment, it is in court. Yet, even here, we
know it’s wise to be skeptical. Wise skepticism says, “Make sure you get the
best lawyer you can.” Far too often it’s all about which party has the best
legal team—at least that’s what O.J. told me! Far too often we have seen the
criminal get off with little or no consequence to expect justice from the
justice system.
2nd
Example: The Oppressed Are Not Helped
Look again at this verse.
Again I looked
and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears
of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their
oppressors…
Ecclesiastes
4:1 NIV
Those who are oppressed
receive no help. In fact, they are powerless because the oppressors enjoy all
the advantages. History is a record that
proves humans persecute each other. It is in our nature to oppress each other. Through
history, the rich oppress the poor, the powerful oppress the powerless, one race
oppresses other races, men oppress women... all around you see racism, sexism,
and other forms of oppression taking place. It hasn't changed today. People oppress each other and nobody speaks
up for them. It doesn't seem fair. It isn’t fair.
3rd
Example: Politicians Are Unethical
Solomon the king has this
to say about politicians.
Don’t be
surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if
justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under
orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and
bureaucracy.
Ecclesiastes
5:8 NLT
When we vote it is an
expression of our trust that the person elected will represent the needs of the
people and act in our best interest. It doesn’t take long to find out that
elected officials often are concerned more about their needs than the needs of
the voters. Solomon wrote,
There is another
evil I have seen under the sun. Kings and rulers make a grave mistake when they
give great authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven
worth.
Ecclesiastes
10:5-6 NLT
Enough said!
4th
Example: Good People Are Unrewarded
And this is not
all that is meaningless in our world. In this life, good people are often
treated as though they were wicked, and wicked people are often treated as
though they were good. This is so meaningless!
Ecclesiastes
8:14 NLT
Many times the wrong
people prosper. Those who do wrong benefit while those who play by the rules
are penalized. You may think injustice is a recent problem. 3,000 years ago those
who were unethical were the ones who got ahead. If you have ever lost a deal
because a competitor lied, you can be sure Solomon understands how unfair that
is.
5th
Example: Capable People Are Unsuccessful
I have observed something else under the
sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior
doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful
are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead
successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at
the right time.
Ecclesiastes
9:11 NLT
Another way of saying this
is: It isn’t what you know; it’s who you know!.
An athlete can train for
years to become the best and then be tripped during the race for the gold medal
and never stand on the medal stand. The best trained soldiers can be killed.
I have been reading
the book Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.
It is the story of Seal Team 10 and how they died in the mountains of Afghanistan.
One of those who died grew up in our church in California. Those four highly-trained
and well-conditioned heroes were forced to make choices based on their rules
of engagement that doomed them. They were far better trained than their adversaries
but they chose almost sure death over the court martial and shame they would
have faced back home. Page after page, I was saying, “This just isn’t right!
It’s not fair! It’s so useless!”
Solomon says that is the
painful reality we have to accept. Life isn’t always fair. Sometimes, it’s
completely unfair. This leads us to wonder why God doesn’t do something about
it. Are there reasons? What are they?
The Reason: Why Does God Let It Happen?
There is injustice in our
world. There are four reasons to consider as to why God lets it happen.
1st
Reason: Because God Gives Us The Freedom To Choose
God clearly explained the
choice given by outlining it for Israel.
Look, today I am
giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if
you obey the commands of the Lord
your God that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the
commands of the Lord your God and
turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.
Deuteronomy
11:26-28 NLT
Among all the creatures
God created we are unique because we are able to make conscious choices about
how we live. God gives you a choice to accept Him or reject Him. He gives you
the choice to obey Him or disobey Him. God gives you choice because He wants
you to love Him because you choose to and not because you have to.
Consequences accompany
choices. You can't say you have a choice
to do right unless you also have a choice to do wrong. The good news is you
have freedom to choose. The bad news is that there are negative consequences because
we often make bad decisions. Evil consequences in the world are simply the
result of evil choices. God could take away all the injustices in a snap. How?
Taking away your freedom to choose would eliminate injustices. He's not going
to do that. God lets injustice happen because He gives us the freedom to
choose. The second reason He allows injustice to happen is…
2nd
Reason: Because Judgment Is Coming
God won’t allow injustice
to go on unchecked forever. As Solomon observed the lack of fairness,
I said to
myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all
their deeds.
Ecclesiastes
3:17 NLT
Today isn’t the end of the
story. Like a divine Paul Harvey, God says we need to wait for the rest of the
story. Before the final chapter of history is written God will even the score
and balance the books. There is a day of accounting coming. When things aren’t
going right you have to remember the nature of God—just as Isaiah did.
The LORD God is waiting to show how kind he
is and to have pity on you. The LORD always does right; he blesses those
who trust him.
Isaiah
30:18 CEV
God always does right. He is just; He is fair. If I didn't believe that I'd be in absolute despair. People
get away with all kinds of stuff, but judgment hasn’t occurred. God has given
free choice. You can choose to do good or bad but one day you will account for
your life.
We still wonder: Why
doesn't God judge now? Why doesn't He
bring justice now? Why doesn't He balance the books today? The third reason is
helpful in understanding why.
3rd
Reason: Because God Wants To Show Us We Need A Savior
As you consider this
reason begin with this premise.
And then I
realized that God is letting the world go on its sinful way so that men
themselves will see that they are no better than the beasts.
Ecclesiastes
3:18 LB
We may view ourselves as
better than the animals but God wants us to see that the same results wait for
us.
For men and animals
both breathe the same air, and both die. So mankind has no real advantage over
the beasts; what an absurdity!
Ecclesiastes
3:19 LB
We are no better than the
beasts.
It must be granted that
people can behave like animals. Visit almost any fraternity house and you will
see that. If you still aren’t convinced, go and check out Auschwitz or one of
the other concentration camps where millions of people died because someone
decided they were inferior and needed to be eliminated.
These awful things affirm
our need for a Savior. Solomon observed,
Not a single
person on earth is always good and never sins.
Ecclesiastes
7:20 NLT
The Apostle Paul made the
need transparently clear.
For everyone has
sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved
kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when
he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
Romans
3:23-24 NLT
Are you sure you want
justice? If God gave you what you deserve right now, where would you be? Jesus
Christ didn’t deserve to die on the cross. He was perfect; He was sinless; He
was and is God. But the Bible says that He came and died to take the penalty of
sin for you and me—the just for the unjust—that He might bring us to God. The
truth is: We don’t need justice; we need a Savior.
One of the biggest
obstacles that prevents people from becoming a follower of Christ is coming to
the place we admit the need for a Savior. We tend to think of ourselves as
basically good. Most people I know and spend time with are pretty good. Pretty
good doesn’t get you into heaven. You have to accept that even one slip eliminates
you from consideration as being perfect. We are all in the same boat. None of
us is perfect. We've all blown it and need a Savior. Because God wants to show us we need a Savior,
He allows injustice in our world. A final reason for allowing injustice is
4th
Reason: Because Pain Develops Character
One of the painful lessons
of life is that pain and suffering builds character. Paul points us to one of
those painful life lessons.
We can rejoice,
too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us
develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character
strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
Romans
5:3-4 NLT
You always learn more from
pain than you do from pleasure. You always learn more from failure than you do
from success. It's in the tough times that you develop character. God is
interested in molding and making you to be like Jesus. It’s not by accident
that God's chosen people—the term given to Israel, the Jews—has suffered so much
oppression. Throughout history nations have oppressed them—one right after the other. Why would God allow His chosen people
to experience so much persecution? One of the reasons is that He was developing
them, building them, maturing them.
Life is like photography—when
we used to use film. Do you still remember that? When you took a picture,
there was a negative. That was taken it into a dark room where the negative
was turned into a positive by shining light through it in an enlarger onto
a photographic paper. When the light
shines through the negative onto the photographic paper it becomes a positive.
Solomon is taking snapshots of life for us in Ecclesiastes. He says life looks
pretty negative. It's not fair. There are a lot of things that just aren't
right in this world. But God can turn the negatives in your life into positives
if you let the light of His love shine through it.
My Response: How Should I Act?
Some of you may feel you've
been dealt a bad hand. What you're facing right now just isn't fair. You didn't
deserve it. What do you do when life is unfair? The Bible presents us with
three actions to take.
1st
Action: When Dealt A Hand You Didn't Deserve, Accept That Life Is Unfair
Jesus was realistic about
life. He promised us heaven when we get to heaven. In the meantime He said,
Here on earth you
will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the
world.
John
16:33 NLT
It’ good Jesus was
realistic. Think about it: if you spent every single waking moment of your life
crusading against injustice and correcting wrongs in our society, you're still
not going to save society. The issue is deeper than the system. The problem is
human nature. At our core we're basically selfish. We think of ourselves before
we think of other people. We have the freedom to choose right and wrong and often
choose wrong. Why? We choose wrong because it's the easy thing to do; it’s
what’s best for me!
Basic human nature is the
real problem. Even if everybody became a believer and started living the way
God wants, the people of the next generation will make their own decisions.
You're just not going to change society permanently. If you don't comprehend God's
perspective on this you're going to go through life cynical, bitter, resentful
and disillusioned, asking (complaining), "Why is this happening to me? Why
is this happening to my family? Why?" Don’t miss this!
Although you cannot
control the circumstances in your life, you can control your reaction to them. That's
what God is watching: how you respond to the injustices of life, how you
respond when life is unfair. Are you focusing on the many trials or the One who
has overcome the world?
2nd
Action: When Dealt A Hand You Didn't Deserve, Do The Right Thing Anyway
There have been times
in playing games I have looked at the hand I was dealt and offered to trade
it sight unseen. A few times people have taken me up on the offer. Sometimes
my new hand was better; sometimes worse.
There are those times in life when we’d like to ask for
a redeal. When I start feeling that way I begin to question if I really want
to take the chance on being dealt someone’s far worse looking hand. Rather
than sitting around hoping for a better hand we need to play with the hand
we have been dealt and do the right thing with it.
God offered great advice
on how to deal with the inequities of life.
Learn to do
good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of
orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.
Isaiah
1:17 NLT
When the world is stacked
against you or others who are powerless, we are to represent God’s position.
Instead of questioning or complaining, do what is right.
The climate of politics
suggests those who are conservatives should be for lower taxes, individual
responsibility and strong defense. Those who are liberal (I can’t use the new
word progressive) should be about caring for those who can’t care for
themselves by providing for education, health and welfare. Here’s how God presents
it: Political party should not be the determining factor. Our position as
followers of Christ trumps political affiliation. Here’s a good position
statement:
The godly care
about the rights of the poor; the wicked don’t care at all.
Proverbs
29:7 NLT
We need to start by doing
the right thing. The way in which the right thing is done may reflect a broader
political viewpoint, but helping must never be reduced to politics.
Doing the right thing then
extends to doing what is right even when someone else does wrong.
Never pay back
evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are
honorable.
Romans
12:17 NLT
In whatever we do our
desire should be to honor God by doing the right thing.
3rd
Action: When Dealt A Hand You Didn't Deserve, Wait For God’s Reward
We ought to be people who
live in the assurance of the rest of the story waiting to be told. Try this on
for some perspective:
For our present
troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory
that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
2
Corinthians 4:17 NLT
Is this a trade you’d be
willing to make? If you are willing you will accept the hand you have been
dealt with troubles that are small and won’t last very long. You will do the
right thing with what you have, knowing they offer a permanent, glorious and
solid reward out of all proportion to your pain. How about it? Is that a trade
you’ll consider?
Conclusion: God Cares!
I want you to hear this.
Make sure you don’t miss it. Here it is: God cares about what is going on in
your life. He will one day wipe away every tear by wiping out evil.
You may be at point in
your life this morning that has you thinking life isn’t fair. You’re right; it
isn’t. You probably don’t deserve whatever is taking place. You need to know:
·
God has your best interest close to His
heart
·
God has given you the freedom to choose
good or evil
·
God will make things right one day
·
God will reward you for doing what is right
That’s not just the rest
of the story; that’s the whole story and all that you need to know.
Prayer:
Thank You, Father, that You don't give us what we deserve or none of us would
be here. Thank You that You're not only
a God of justice but also a God of mercy or none of us would stand a chance.
Thank You for sending Jesus Christ to be our Savior. Today, I pray, that
someone people here will say Yes to You and trust You as Savior. Father for
those who are feeling that life is unfair help them to do the right thing
anyway and wait for Your reward. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.
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