Ecclesiastes 7:14-19 – a verse by verse, Law & Gospel devotional commentary

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 7:14-19

v. 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.”

In the last section of verses, The Preacher advised us to avoid having selective memories about the past—don’t romanticize what it used to be like…or else you will foolishly ask: “how come things aren’t as good as they used to be?” And, now, The Preacher says, instead of looking to the past, you should live in the moment. Recognize what’s really going on around you and respond appropriately. You can tell a lot about someone by how they act in times of happiness and times of struggle, after all.

When circumstances are good, be happy. When something fortunate happens to you, celebrate! When tough things happen, let them sink in. Consider that everything in life falls under God’s supervision. He’s made the good things in life because He’s good! He’s gracious and created you to enjoy His gifts.

But He allows and introduces frustrating roadblocks in this life so that none of us are content with life under the sun and we seek eternity and satisfaction with God. So, Solomon wants you to live like this: If God has given you sweet circumstances, don’t try to find a way to be bitter about it. Don’t look for reasons to complain, and don’t begin to doubt that the gifts in life are truly from God. But, also, when God brings bitter circumstances into your life, don’t try and pretend like they’re sweet. You’re not going to get brownie points with Jesus for pretending… You’re not able to talk yourself into being happy…so just be honest and live in the moment.

v. 15 — “In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.”

Here, Solomon makes one of the most universally relatable realizations. Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people! This curious fact about the world has kept many people from believing in God altogether. If God is so good and loving, how come bad things happen to the innocent and bad guys get away with everything?

And we’re typically operating under some assumptions that we don’t recognize when we look at the world this way…we think: If someone tries their best, they’ll be rewarded. That’s why, when we read something quid pro quo (this for that) and conditional from the Old Covenant, it makes sense to us. "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God" (Deuteronomy 28:1-2).

But the reality is, things don’t normally work like that…those kinds of conditional, if-then statements

only existed under God’s agreement with Moses and the Israelites in the Promised Land. In the real world, and for Christians, it's actually the opposite…When you do good, you get persecuted and face opposition! "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12). So, if you’re out there really trying to be righteous because you’re hoping that it’ll make good things

come your way—if you think you can gain from being good—you’ll be sorely disappointed…

Seriously, try it out. Spend all your days feeding the hungry, fasting from food, attending church,

and doing every righteous thing you can think of—and, then, see if that saves your life. See if that solves all your problems…The reality is, to be righteous is to suffer. How many thousands of innocent women & children die every day in wars, fires, & “natural” disasters?

And how could you forget the story of Job? He was such a faithful man that God noticed him from heaven and called him “my servant!” What follows is a 42-chapter long story about a righteous man suffering while everyone around him is convinced that God has abandoned him. So, as the old saying goes, it's hard not to feel like no good deed goes unpunished.

It’s also really obvious that the wicked are doing whatever they want with ease! They’re enjoying life and stayin’ alive by doing all the wrong things! They flourish, have positions of leadership, and are rich!

I don’t think there’s a single person who hasn’t been tormented by this…Even the Bible itself makes this complaint several times! Here’s one: "Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning" (Psalm 73:12-14). All the evil people have it easy, so I’ve been stressing about crossing my t's and dotting my i's for nothing!

And this is the train of thought Solomon will explore next…

v. 16-18 — “Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them”

With the world being the way it is, there seems to be no use in trying hard. There are no earthly incentives to being good or obsessing about obedience. Really, the only reason under the Sun as to why you shouldn’t start being as bad as possible is because you’ll end up a fool and could kill yourself.

On one hand, you’ve got people who are “overly righteous”. That means, they are either self-righteous and are only good in hopes that they might gain something. These people have a selfish motive for being righteous and it’s really just pride shrouded in goodness…I can think of several people in the Bible who were really impressed with their own righteousness, or at least they were good at projecting it.

• The Rich Young Ruler – "And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ And he said to Him, 'Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth '" (Mark 10:18-20).

• The Older Brother – "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command , yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends..." (Luke 15:25-30).

• The Pharisee – "The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get " (Luke 18:11-12).

• Saul/Paul – "I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh...If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless " (Philippians 3:4-6).

Other people who are “overly righteous” are those who worry themselves sick over really specific questions like: “is ___ a sin?” Every day, these people are Googling: “Is skipping church once a sin?” “Is saying no to plans a sin?” “Is it a sin to work out so I look better?” “Is getting a tattoo a sin?” People are in panic about the particulars…but may I suggest that that’s being overly righteous? Here’s the approach I’d suggest instead:

❶ Assume that everything you do has an element of sin in it. You likely never have motives that are 100% pure. You’re never 100% obedient.

❷ If the Bible and your own conscience doesn’t forbid it, you should be fine. According to Solomon, in life—as someone who recognizes God’s authority—don’t be a religious fanatic but also don’t be a fool.

Don’t let sin rule over you. Don’t present yourself to sin as if you were its servant (Rom. 6:1-14). But don’t be such a legalist that you drive out all joy and love (Gal. 5:1, 13-14).

Solomon finishes the thought by saying that a true fear, reverence, & recognition of God will cause you to never be dumb enough to think you’re overly righteous or to try being overly foolish. Then, He also says this:

v. 19 — “Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.”

Simply put, when you fear God, you never have to fear anyone else. No matter how powerful a person is, you don’t have to worry when you know a God who is all-powerful. And one of my favorite examples of this is found in Acts 5:27-32: "And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, 'We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.' But Peter and the apostles answered, ' We must obey God rather than men . The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him."

So, what was it that Peter & John were so committed to keep talking about even when the leader commanded them to quit? They were preaching about Jesus, who was raised from the dead,

after being killed by the powers that be on a tree!

See, if there was ever a righteous man who suffered and died because of His goodness, it was Jesus! He was the righteous man who died in order to prolong the lives of the wicked people, namely us. Peter wrote more about this in one of his letters. "For Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous , that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18).

And now because our problems are taken care of—and we fear God and love our Savior— we no longer have to get frustrated when the wicked people prosper (Ps. 37:7)… because we know Jesus has promised to either redeem or destroy everything that is evil.