Author: Andrew Nugteren
Company: Private

"I've Seen It All"
A cynic's look at life and the only antidote

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:15-29
Readings: 
•	Genesis 19:12-26 
•	Ecclesiastes 7:15-29 

INTRODUCTION 
As one reads our text today, one is inclined to ask whether the Preacher might be the ultimate Englishman. Don't be too righteous - nor too wicked! Instead, be both righteous and wicked in moderation. That surely must be the ultimate Middle Way, mustn't it? And as for the second to last verse - the one that speaks about finding one righteous man in a 1000, but not one woman, what on earth are we supposed to do with that? - and still expect to go home and sleep in the same bed tonight! For that matter, if there is not one good woman why would a man want to? 
As we have listened to the Preacher in his search to consider life and what it is all about, we have seen him turn life over by the use of human wisdom. And we have seen him oscillating between the conclusions of human wisdom and where that takes him, and, on the other hand, godly wisdom and godly insights. And at times we have been struggling to decide which is which. 
That is our difficulty today. Is the Preacher being serious - using godly wisdom and therefore giving us some very good advice? - even the Word of God? Or is he being a bit subtle - giving us irony? - weaving in cynical conclusions from his observations of life and then, with a dead pan face, backing them up with biblical directives and biblical observations - to show up our perversity in its worst colours. 
Well the text can be read in the first way - seriously. And the easiest verse to take seriously is the one everybody immediately thinks is so terrible: the one that speaks about woman being more bitter than death and in a bevy of a 1000 you won't find one good one. The passage doesn't say anything of the sort if we would read it carefully and not jump to conclusions. Although, I grant, there are still some difficult things there. But to take the earlier verses seriously, as a whole, as I read one commentary (usually my best!) which did so, requires some very forced explanations. 
I think, for the most part, the Preacher is being ironical. It is a cynic's look at life - with an equally cynical use of Scriptural observations to back it up. Let us look at it. 

1. HOW CAN ONE MAKE SENSE OF LIFE WHEN IT DOESN'T TURN OUT ACCORDING TO THE RULES? 
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness (v.15). 
Just looking at life, as it is under the sun, we know very well where the Preacher is coming from. David experienced exactly the same thing - we sang his complaint in Psalm 73. 
Why have I kept my heart pure? What good has it done me God? The wicked are at ease and increase in wealth. They die old and happy after living to see their great-grandchildren. But I, who wash my hands in innocence, am stricken all day long and am chastened every morning by another new trouble. 
It is not too hard for us to feel the same way often, especially as we see skulduggery go on apparently unabated in high places, and aided by legal subterfuge. It's enough to make anybody cynical. 
Ah well, there is an answer to all this, says Mr Worldly-Wiseman. Always avoid extremes young man. Youthly passion for high ideals is a very good thing, but I'm afraid you'll soon find out it doesn't work in the real world. You'll have to learn to play the game as it's played, not necessarily as it should be played. After all, one's got to get on. Avoid extremes. Morality's a very good thing, of course, but don't be overly righteous; don't be overly wise. Others have come unstuck before you, taking the high road you're presently walking; why ruin yourself with foolish enthusiasm (v.16)? 
Now don't take me wrong; I'm not advocating out and out licence, you understand. As I said, morality is a very good thing. Religion too. I'm not knocking them. It's just that they don't always work, that's all. Everything in moderation, I say. Everything in its proper place and proportion. So, you know, don't go over the edge; there must be a limit to the sort of things one will do, of course. One might have to bend the rules here and there, but don't take it to excess. After all, why be a fool and die before your time (v.17)? 
That is my approach. And that is my advice. Use both. Grasp the one with the right hand; and with the left, don't let go of the other. Take the best of both worlds, for, as you can see from the fact that, at times, the wicked prolong their lives in wickedness while the righteous perish in their righteousness; the one who fears God comes forth from both (v.18)! There are times when God rewards the righteous for his righteousness; but just as often it appears He is gracious to the wicked in his wickedness. 
Well, does Paul not say something like that? Moderation in all things. All things are lawful; but they're not always expedient, that's all. And only to the wicked is everything wicked but to the pure, why, all things are pure! Hedonists and Gnostics can have a field day. One can even say with Luther: Fear God and do what you like. 
And with wisdom like that, you'll be stronger than ten rulers in a city (v.19). In fact, you'll out-manoeuvre those other ten and rule them. With the right hand, grasp righteousness and proclaim it very loudly. But then, as Jesus Himself said, don't let those who see your right hand know what your left hand is doing - that with it, behind the scenes, you have not let go of wickedness at all. 
True, the Bible does say that God rewards the righteous while violent and wicked men He hates every day. That is the rule. But as you can see, life doesn't always work out according to the rule. So, since you can't beat them, join them! After all is said and done, there is not a righteous man upon the earth who does good and who never sins (v.20). So why try what you will never achieve, and have already ruined your chances of achieving by your sins in the past and which cannot now be undone? 
Well, let us take a breather from all that. Of course, v.20, which Mr Worldly-Wiseman has just put to very good worldly use, is a true statement. Maybe it is as much a confession as an excuse. Or maybe, as he excuses himself with it, the Preacher also remembers that he ought not, therefore, expect others to be too righteous, since he, himself, is not. So, even cynicism has its uses; and it ought to make us a little humble. Therefore, 
... do not take seriously all words which are spoken, lest you hear your servant cursing you. For you also have realised that you likewise have many times cursed others (21-22). 
That is very good advice and perhaps a few of us ought to get off our high horses and forget our offended dignity or tender feelings and just remember there is not a righteous man on the earth who does good and never sins; no not me either. How many times have I treated others the way someone else is now treating me and about which I am getting so upset? 
Well, there is about the best that human wisdom can do: live and let live. Just so long as it's in moderation, let others sin and sin your little bit as well. And don't get upset until it goes too far. That's the way to survive in this world. Don't be an extremist; don't be an enthusiast; don't be an idealist. You'll only burn yourself out with disillusionment. 
I'm not quite sure how that tallies with Paul when he said, I count everything else in life as dung that I may know Christ. Sounds a bit extreme to me. I'm not quite sure how it tallies with Jesus when he said to the Church in Laodicea, You are neither cold nor hot; I wish you were either cold or hot (sounds like He wants us to be extreme), and because you are lukewarm I will spew you out of my mouth. 
We'll come back to that, but since that is the conclusion human wisdom has brought us to, let us ask another question; 

2. HOW CAN ONE MAKE SENSE OF LIFE WHEN HUMAN WISDOM CANNOT FATHOM IT? 
I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it? I directed my mind to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness (vv.23-25). 
Our writer has found that God does not, so it often appears at least, reward the righteous and punish the wicked which He has said He will do and which we would expect a holy God to do. The findings of human wisdom can be pretty shrewd and Mr Sensible, Mr Worldy-Wiseman can espouse a lot of common sense at times. But as for an explanation, to understand the world and know the evil of folly and the folly of evil, he is not up to it. 
So much for the famous physicist, Stephen Hawking's search, and all those with him, for a 'total theory', an explanation of how the whole show works. Ecclesiastes tells us they haven't got much of a chance. Indeed, continues the Preacher, in all my searching I found many bitter things 
... and I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her. Behold, I have discovered this, says the Preacher, adding one thing to another to find an explanation, which I am still seeking but have not found. 
What is he saying here? He is saying this. In terms of an answer to the questions and inequalities of life and the fact that God does not even seem to run the world according to His own rules, I don't have an answer. Yet my search has not been entirely fruitless. In terms of knowing the problem, I can say this with certainty. 
I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices. 
Now what on earth does he mean by that?! Doesn't he know you cannot say things like that these days? He is asking to get cut out of the Bible! We will come back to these verses when we get to chapter nine and grapple with them as if they do express serious biblical truths. But note first of all. He does not say women are more bitter than death - and I suppose a few of us would deny it if he had. He says, the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains, is more bitter than death. And v.28, read carefully, also does not necessarily mean what you might immediately think either. But for today, let us note two things; 
i) Give the worst meaning you can to these statements, they are still only a report of the Preacher's experience. They are not, therefore, necessarily dogmatic statements and the Preacher does not universalise them as he does, for example, with human sin in v.20. They are simply what this man says he found with his investigations, having tested things with human wisdom. It was part of what he had seen in the lifetime of his futility (15). And he was, after all, only searching out the evil of folly and the folly of madness, which is about how he saw the world. 
ii) The Preacher may well not be Solomon himself, but he is speaking for Solomon. His fruitless search may tell us at least as much about Solomon and the Preacher as it does about women. 1000 is the number of completeness in the Bible. It is interesting that Solomon had precisely 1000 women; 700 wives and 300 concubines. 
Do you remember back in chapter two where Solomon sets about to find satisfaction and joy in life in all kinds of pleasure - the whole lot; wine, women and song. And he was the king; he had power and money to acquire them and he did so. 
All that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. And all the while my mind was guiding me wisely. 
So, according to human wisdom, he had gathered the complete harem, the perfect harem (if such a thing is not a contradiction in terms). But he still ends up disillusioned. As Kidner says, He might have done better to have cast his net less widely. 
We will return to this when we get to chapter nine, but there is one other thing we should observe. In terms of its study of life, do you notice the most that human wisdom can do? How many books have you read, how many articles have you read that speak about the problems of man? That is not always so hard - to know what is wrong. But to find an answer? That is another matter altogether and human wisdom cannot do it. So we have to ask, having seen it all, having seen all the inequality of life and the corruption that even God permits and seems not to punish as He says it will be; having seen the cynicism - and felt it in our own hearts - that all this produces; if we cannot make sense out of life, is there any sense in life and the world at all? So to my last point. 

3. WE CAN ONLY MAKE SENSE OF LIFE WHEN WE TURN FROM HUMAN WISDOM TO THE WORD OF GOD 
That is where, finally, the Preacher comes back to. 
Behold, I have found only this, that God made men (meaning, here, mankind, the race) upright, but they have sought out many devices (29). 
Where did he find that God made man upright? From all we have read, he did not learn that from observation. What he found by observation is that man has sought out many inventions. But even when we say that ourselves, we still always blame God for it. Babylonian theology says; With lies and not truth, the (gods) have endowed (man) forever. Adam, when God first confronted him with his sin, also blamed God, The womanyou gave me tempted me and I ate. 
We must see here that the Preacher has given up on human wisdom and has cast his mind back to the Word of God, Genesis 1-3 to be precise. For it is only Judeo-Christianity that says God made man upright, but he has sought out many devices, many inventions. 
Many devices. Man has a great ability to cloud moral issues. He refuses to think upright - the word means straight, clear. He constantly asks what if? He works from the exception rather than the rule. Instead of just beginning with the plain Word of God and standing on it and refusing to budge, we want to complicate life to get our own way. 
Flee to the plain Lot; do not even look behind; leave the world and flee to the mountains lest you be swept away. 
Oh my lords, but that's hard. Look, your lovingkindness has been great enough already. I can't escape to the mountains; some disaster may overtake me. Let's do a deal, my lords. Look, this town is near to flee to and it is small. Let me escape there - is it not small? Zoar? It surely cannot be as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah. My life will still be saved there - and with a great deal less rigor and hardship than in the mountains. 
I won't actually sin, but let me just dally round the edges. Is that what Lot is saying? After all, there is not a righteous man upon the earth who never sins, so why should I try to be such? 
The cause of our problems is that we have turned from being upright, straight, clear. We complicate life with our devices, our exceptions, our escape clauses. By which, like Lot, we avoid whole-hearted obedience, we keep one foot in the world, our repentance is half-hearted and so we're soon into trouble again, as Lot was. 
There is only one answer to the riddle of life and it is not found by human wisdom. It is found simply by returning to God's righteousness. Sure the world is bent and doesn't always work according to the rules and what God has bent we cannot straighten (7:13). But we are not to live by what we see in how God apparently rules the world. We are to live why what we hear from God's mouth and what we hear from God's mouth is that God commands all men everywhere to repent. 
Life is complicated and difficult because of our many inventions. And because that is done by all mankind, maybe we cannot change a lot of it. But we can repent ourselves. We can find for ourselves a straight path through it. Listen to the Proverb (3:5-8); 
Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight (upright, clear; same word). Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. 
What the Preacher discovered about life was nothing unusual. Job found exactly the same. Only he suffered it as a righteous man. He did not just see it from a distance like our Preacher. But Job found, not an easy path, but a straight path through it, the path of simple, dogged faith and obedience. And look how he had to fight for it. Look what a hard time he had from his friends. Yet he would rather die than cynically adapt: be a little bit righteous and a little bit wicked. 
And God honoured him for it. God may not necessarily honour us in time. That is all David and the Preacher discovered. But He will in eternity. Job knew that and that is what enabled him to live with all his unanswered questions and simply cling to the promise and the Word of God. Listen to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego looking that fiery furnace in the face - a lot more than you or I will probably ever have to face. O Nebuchadnezzar, our God is able to deliver us, but even if He does not, we will not bow down to your image! 
Congregation our God is able to give us many good things and many blessings and riches and ease. But generally, we cannot handle them; they go to our heads. So He often does not give us so much. And therefore life can sometimes be hard, difficult and lonely. But have you forgotten something? We are, after all, called to be disciples, who cannot be above their Master. He did call us to leave all to follow Him - even father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife if necessary ( or go without one). We were told to count the cost of being a bondservant of Jesus Christ and to offer our bodies living sacrifices. 
Yes, sometimes life can be hard and difficult. We might have to miss out on some very nice things. But generally it is not complicated - not by God at any rate. Only by us because we will not leave our many devices. 
Perhaps you too have seen all that - that life often does not turn out according to the rules? And for the life of you, you cannot figure out why. The place of the creature, and the place of the Christian, is to know that you cannot; nor do you have to. The place of the creature, and the place of the Christian, is to turn from that arrogance - that was the first sin! Are you going to carry on in it? The place of the true creature, the true child of God, is simply to live by the Word of God. In that way God will make your paths straight and it will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones, not to mention that in the hereafter you will receive eternal life. 
Amen.