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The Scriptorium

An Upside-Down World

Things are not the way they're supposed to be. Ecclesiastes 8.14, 15

Ecclesiastes 8 (6)

Pray Psalm 116.18, 19.

I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the LORD’s house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!

Read Ecclesiastes 8.14, 15.

Prepare.
1. Two kinds of injustice are mentioned. What are they?

2. What is the most a person could hope to achieve “under the sun”?

Meditate.
Things are not the way we think they’re supposed to be; we live in an upside-down world. The world and people were created upright, just the way God planned (Eccl. 7.29). But because of sin, foolish people, through their many schemes, have stood things on their head, and everything is confusion.

Bad things happen to good people, and wicked people prosper (cf. Ps. 73). So, before Rehoboam gets too secure in his inheritance – and all the foolishness he’s planning to pursue – he should remember: things don’t always work out like you might expect. The best course for those living “under the sun” is that of merriment and diversion (v. 15). Take what each day gives, but don’t consider yourself immune to the uncertainties and whims of life.

Another way of thinking about v. 15 is to see it as Solomon’s decision concerning his own life, once he began to consider that all around him things weren’t the way they ought to be, and before he made his return to the Lord. Why not throw caution to the wind and just “live it up” while he could? As he has been explaining, however, that way is vanity and grasping after the wind.

God alone provides contentment, peace, joy, fulfillment, and complete happiness, regardless of how upside-down our world can become at times (Jn. 16.33). He will make all things work out for justice in the end. The Christian’s peace, hope, and joy are a witness, during these days of restoration, of the age of glory, bliss, and perfect contentment which is to come.

But unbelieving people can hardly attain the kind of contentment Solomon recommends. Always striving, grasping, covering their bases, and looking out for Number 1, their days are spent in discontent, anxiety, and even fear. Gratitude and contentment might be the best course for them, but these are impossible to sustain “under the sun”.

It’s an upside-down world, and only Christ can set it upright again.

Reflect.
1. Why is it vanity that just people are sometimes treated unjustly? How should you respond if this happens to you?

2. Why is it vanity that unjust people sometimes get away with it all? Do wicked people really escape the scales of justice? Explain.

3. Solomon uses the phrase “under the sun” twice in verse 15. What does this suggest about the advice he gives there?

In fact, Solomon gives over the entire book of Ecclesiastes to suggesting, with such fullness as he judged adequate, the emptiness of this life, with the ultimate objective, to be sure, of making us yearn for another kind of life which is no unsubstantial shadow under the sun but substantial reality under the sun’s Creator. Augustine (354-430), City of God 20.3

Give me contentment, Lord, whatever I must endure in this life, so that…

Pray Psalm 116.1-6.
Give thanks to God, not merely for His many temporal blessings, but for His great salvation, and for the privilege of calling on Him at all times. Recount the many ways He has turned your world rightside-up in Jesus.

Sing Psalm 116.1-6.
Psalm 116.1-6 (Mit Freuden Zart: All Praise to God Who Reigns Above)
I love the Lord because He hears my cries and pleas for mercy.
Because He bends to me His ears, my prayers shall ever thus be.
The snares of death encompassed me; hell’s grip could not unloosened be;
Distress and anguish pressed me.

I called to God, “O Lord, I pray, my soul redeem with favor!”
The Lord is gracious in His way, and righteous is our Savior.
His mercy to the simple flies; He lifted me up to the skies –
I rest in Him forever!

T. M. Moore

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You can download all the studies in this series on Ecclesiastes by clicking here. If you value Scriptorium as a free resource for your walk with the Lord, please consider supporting our work with your gifts and offerings. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button  at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 360 Zephyr Road, Williston, VT 05495.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from
The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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