In The Middle of a Mystery

Well, there are many mysteries in life, big foot. Or maybe the mystery really is who really was wearing that costume. Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti, or as we know him in the Western world, the abominable snowman, for Muta Triangle, Area 51. Lots of mysteries in life, at least many people feel there are. There are other deep mysteries and riddles in life that will never really fully explain or understand. One of those deep riddles of life that plagues me from time to time, and I just can't figure it out, is how you could put 12 matching pair of socks in a dryer. Six pairs, they all match. 45 minutes later, you get eight socks, none of them match any other sock. I've never understood that. And there are some very personal mysteries too that I cannot explain. I do not understand why no matter what lane of traffic I get in, it always slows down. No matter what checkout line I get in, it stops. Something happens to the cash register or there's a price check needed. I just never can figure that out. And my wife and I will often look at each other and say, you know what's wrong with this line? We're in it. That's what's wrong with this line. Seriously, there are more profound mysteries in life that we all face from time to time. Medical mysteries, times when the doctor cannot tell you what is happening or why. Unsolved crimes that may have damaged the family seriously. Or just the way life works sometimes. The way things happen, how they happen and why they happen and when they happen. There are mysteries in life that really go beyond explanation. And those are the kinds of mysteries that Solomon is dealing with in Ecclesiastes Chapter 8. So I invite your attention to that portion of your Bible. Ecclesiastes Chapter 8. For the benefit of those who have been visiting with us, maybe you have not been here for a while. Or for those of you who have been snowed in or iced in or weathered in for a little while. We're in the middle of a series of messages on the book of Ecclesiastes. That Old Testament wisdom book written, I believe, although there's some contesting this, I believe written by Solomon, who was at the height of his kingdom, the Hebrew kingdom, in the Old Testament. And probably wrote this book as a missionary tract of sorts to other nations, including his own, but other nations also under his influence or direct control. In this book he demonstrates much of the wisdom that God had given him. The Bible says in First Kings that God gave him wisdom and answered a prayer. God gave him wisdom greater than any man who had lived before or since. Solomon. And that wisdom is certainly demonstrated not only in Proverbs, but also in the book of Ecclesiastes. He shows keen insight into life. In a book that is amazingly relevant to us today, as Solomon describes a realistic look at life. This is what actually happens. These are the struggles we have. These are the difficulties we face. But in the midst of that, Solomon says, you need to understand how to find the real purpose and meaning and fulfillment in life. Yes, how to find true joy in life as God intends us to live it. And we've already seen that he's discussed a number of ways that people try to find meaning and purpose in life. And it fails. The only way to find true meaning and purpose in life is through a relationship with God. That's where life begins. That's where life puzzle begins to be understood. That's where the pieces begin to fit together. And so in finding purpose and meaning and fulfillment in life, it must begin with a relationship with God. And we know because of the New Testament, that relationship with God has been made possible through the death of his son on the cross, through what Jesus did for us and paying for our sin. There are lots of other ways that people try to find meaning and fulfillment, but that is the only place to start. And we found that Solomon then addresses God's plan in life. That he does have a perfect plan for everything that's happening. There are lots of things that seem to go against that. That would seem to call that into question. But overall, God has a purpose and plan in life and he makes all things beautiful in his time. We're closing out the third section of the book today, chapter 6 through 8, where we find that once we understand where meaning and purpose are to be found, once we understand that even in the midst of the difficulties of life and the hard realities of life, God does have a perfect plan and purpose. Then we've come to see in this section of the book that God's perspective on life, he wants us to grasp and live by. And so we've been looking at God's perspective on things like prosperity and adversity and character and authority. But throughout the section of the book, there has been a sub-theme that you may have picked up on. It's a sub-theme that has run through a lot of those other arguments about God's perspective on life and it's this. Why do the righteous suffer and why do the wicked prosper? It is that dilemma, that mystery of life that Solomon really zeroes in on and keys in on in these last few verses of chapter 8. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Solomon will help us struggle through the issue of why the righteous suffer and why the wicked prosper. It's very easy to conclude. Life isn't fair or even that God isn't fair. Solomon will help us think through this on a different level. He will be very realistic about the problem. But he will guide us to understand God's perspective which should then become our perspective on how to live in the middle of that great mystery. Why do the righteous suffer and why do the wicked prosper? Solomon is going to put us face to face with that dilemma, with that great mystery and then bring us to see how God wants us to view that and live in the middle of that mystery. First of all, he will bring us very realistically face to face with the perplexing problem. For verses 10 and 14 Solomon will address the problem from two different perspectives. Actually, he will frame it in two different ways of speaking of it. But you will notice that he is very realistic. He does not smooth this over. He does not water down the issue. This is one of the toughest issues anybody faces in life. The problem is the issue which probably causes more disillusionment with God than any other single issue. And so Solomon paints it very clearly for us. It is a perplexing problem. And he frames it first of all in verse 10 in this way. Wrong often goes unpunished. Wrong often goes unpunished. In verse 10 of chapter 8, I saw the wicked buried. Those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless. Now here is what we have in view here. Think through what he has told us in this verse. And here is what you come up with. He is clearly wicked, but it appears that he is able to keep that sort of hidden. Even if other people know about it because of his status in society or because of his wealth, he is able to pay off people, he is able to pull enough strings to where he can pretty well get his way in life. And things seem to work out okay for him. On the exterior, on the surface of things, he seems to be doing great. Even though underneath he is living a very wicked life or she is living a very wicked life. So that is what we have in view here. But it is more than that that bothers Solomon and should bother us. The most sickening thing about this is that this same person is covering his or her wicked lifestyle with a religious veneer. A religious facade. Notice he describes this person as one who used to come and go from the holy place. The holy place is a part of the temple. It was the place of worship. And so here is a person who would go to the temple to worship and would come out. Coming and going, indicating a very showy or even ostentatious presentation of himself or herself in the worship. He wants people to know. She wants people to notice that they are there. All the time living a wicked life, but presenting the public persona an image of a religious person. In our day, it would be the kind of person who is wicked at work or at home or in relationships or business dealings, who has no scruples, who has no morals, who lives inwardly a life that is full of sin. The heart is dark and wicked, but comes to church regularly. Maybe even a member of the church. Let me pause just enough to say this. That does not impress God. You may be able to fool people. You will never fool God. And you will never impress Him with a veneer of religion pasted over a wicked heart. What God is looking for and what He will judge in eternity is hearts who know Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, and who have a personal relationship with Him. Not just a church persona that they put on on Sundays. But it goes even further than that. What Solomon has in mind is not only a wicked person. Not only a wicked person who covers it with a facade of religion, but a wicked person who is honored when he dies. When this person dies, verse 10, you see it, then too I saw the wicked buried. Those who used to come and go from the holy place. And I saw them, he says, probably speaking of the time of the burial, I saw them receive praise. Now some of you may have a translation that says I saw them forgotten. The Hebrew expression can go either way, but the context of the argument really favors the fact that they receive praise. It's not that they are forgotten. That would be the appropriate thing. The galling thing is that this wicked person with a religious veneer is praised at her funeral. Preached into heaven. Wickedness conveniently forgotten. Lots of nice things said the wickedness glossed over. The funeral is very impressive. This person was a high person in the community. This person had a lot of wealth. Regardless of how they lived, they are praised highly in their burial and their death. Solomon's conclusion when he sees that, that wrong often goes unpunished. His conclusion at the end of verse 10 is this. This too is meaningless. Familiar word we've seen many times already. We'll see it again in the book of Ecclesiastes. The Hebrew word Hevel, it's the word empty, meaningless. Feudal, vanity. Here in this argument, it probably takes on the shade of meaning of an enigma or a mystery. Something that just defies explanation. How can someone live this way and apparently get by with it? How can that happen? If there is a just God in heaven, how can that happen? That's the mystery. That's one of the way Solomon frames it. Wrong often goes unpunished. And this person is glorified in life and in death, even though they lived a very wicked life. Solomon frames it a second way in verse 14 when you skip down to verse 14. He says there is something else, meaningless that occurs on earth. The righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. It's an enigma, it's a mystery. I can't figure that out. Solomon says, how does that ever happen? And here's what he's saying. Here's the second way of frames it. Consequences often seem reversed. The wicked person gets what the righteous deserves, and the righteous person gets what the wicked deserves. That's the way it often works, but it doesn't seem like it should work that way. That's not the way life is supposed to be, is it? I mean, the way we would think would be if a person is righteous, good things happen to them. If a person is wicked, they suffer the consequences of that. That's fair, that's just. That's the way things are supposed to go. But our experience tells us, if we're honest, if we have any observation at all about life, our experience tells us that doesn't always happen. Sometimes, the wicked appear to come out, the wicked appear to get what the just, and the righteous should get, and the righteous seem to get what the wicked should get. Bad things do happen to good and godly people, and sometimes the most wicked person in the community seems to get by just fine. No health issues, no problems, raking in money, doing great, doesn't seem fair sometimes. How is it that a Christian family a mother and four children, as I recall in Indiana, good friends of ours, fellow pastor, his wife and four children, killed in a car wreck on the way to school one morning, by a teenage boy who was drag racing another young man, high speed, hit them head on, teenage boy walked away from it. Godly family of five killed instantly. How can that happen? Why does that happen? How is it that someone who lives seemingly above the law, living a wicked lifestyle, no morals or screwpals in his or her business dealings, is making money hand over fist, and you're trying to live for the Lord, and you can barely make ends meet, that doesn't seem fair, doesn't seem right. Where's God when that happens? How is it so often that what we see and experience in life is a family who ends up abusing or neglecting a child, seems easy for them to have a child, and here you are, godly parents who would love to give a loving, affirming Christian home to a child, and you can't have children. Why? Life doesn't seem to be fair sometimes. God doesn't seem to be playing by the right rules sometimes. The consequences in life often seem to be reversed. If you're honest, you have felt that way at some point in your life. You've asked that question at some point in your life. You've wondered why do things happen this way? The poet James Russell Lowell immortalized this dilemma in these well-known words, truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne. And when you look at life, that's the way it seems sometimes. Truth is hung on the scaffold, and wrong rules on the throne. That's the way it looks. That's the way it appears. That's the way life happens sometimes. It is an age old dilemma faced by many throughout the Bible and faced by many of you still today. Why is it? I can't make sense of this. Why is it that the wicked seem to prosper and the righteous so often seem to suffer? It seems to be fair according to any sense of justice I know about and the way the universe should be run is God really in control of things? You find yourself asking those questions. When you are in the middle of that mystery, you are in a very, very dangerous position. Because the question is not really why do the righteous suffer and why do the godly prosper? The question really is, how am I going to respond to that? What am I going to do with that? When I see that or experience that in my own life? How am I going to respond to that? And that's where Solomon takes his next. We will all admit that the dilemma is there. The mystery, the problem, is perplexing at times. The real question though is how am I going to respond? And in the next few verses, verses 12 through 17, Solomon gives us several potential responses. We are going to begin with the wrong responses first. Look at verse 11. When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people's hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. Are you see what he is saying? It's a principle of life. It's a wise observation about life. When it doesn't seem like life is working out like it should. When it doesn't seem fair. When there don't seem to be consequences for wrong actions. When God doesn't seem to be aware, doesn't seem to be working. Doing things like I think He should. When people seem to get by with stuff, and the sentence is not quickly carried out. In other words, there seems to be no consequences for my actions. When that happens, then Solomon says it is human nature for people's hearts to begin to be filled with schemes to do wrong. The wrong response is, well, there are no consequences to this. I can get by with it. You begin to scheme as to how you can do more wickedness or continue to live that wicked life because it doesn't seem to matter. This argument, this response, which is a wrong response, can take two forms. This is the way you usually hear it. This is the way we usually respond. One of them is this. It doesn't really matter how I live. It doesn't matter how I live. If there's not going to be any consequences for my wrong actions, if I'm not going to get judged by God and zapped by God, if I do something wrong, if I'm going to be able to get by with it, then I try to live a righteous life. Why not do it? Why not just live it up and send to the max? Why not? Doesn't really matter, does it? There's no judgment. Why restrain myself? Why walk the straight and narrow when I could be having more fun? It doesn't really matter how I live, how that often sounds. There's a second form. This wrong response takes and it's this. God let me down. God let me down. Where was He when I needed Him? Where was He when I was suffering so much? Why didn't He do something? Why didn't He intervene? Why didn't He act? And slowly but surely, bitterness creeps in. A cynical attitude toward God. Eventually leading to disillusionment with God altogether. I would propose to you this morning there is nothing that leads to disillusionment with God anymore than this very thing. This very perplexing problem. I'm trying to live for the Lord. And all I get is bad stuff happening to me. What's going on? Is there any justice in this universe? God, where are you? I prayed you didn't answer. Now so and so over there, I can see them not even trying to live for you. No thought about God or His Word or His ways. They seem to be doing great. What's going on, God? You let me down. There is nothing that disillusions anymore than seeing wrong go unpunished, than seeing hypocrisy on top of that, or the apparent failure of God to intervene when I really needed Him. You see why this is so dangerous? There are many people who have shipped their faith and given up into spare at this very critical juncture in life. That's the wrong response. Now Solomon is going to take us to the right responses. Okay, he's painted the picture very clearly. He's very realistic. He hasn't watered down the problem. It is a perplexing problem. And it is awful easy to think there really is no justice or really is there a God of love up there. He sure didn't seem to notice me when I needed Him. Here's how God wants us to respond. Here's how Solomon tells us we must look at this. Remember, this whole section is about God's perspective and there is no place where a divine perspective on an issue is needed. Any more than here. And so Solomon is going to tell us the key is this. The key is that you've got to lift your eyes off of this horizontal plane. All that happens down here on earth, his favorite expression under the sun. You've got to lift your eyes just from what's going on in front of you and in your own life. And lift them up to gain a divine perspective, an eternal perspective to see what God says about this perplexing problem, this mystery. And what does he say? How should we respond? Three things. First of all, look beyond this life. Look beyond this life. Look at verse 12. Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time. Stop right there. That's part of the dilemma, right? The wicked person, getting by with stuff over and over and over again seemingly no consequences, no punishment, no God intervention to stop him in his track, sort of judge her. Nothing going. He can do it a hundred times and live a long life. That happens. But he says, even though it may look like you're getting by with it. Now look at the middle of verse 12. He says, I know that it will go better for those who fear God, who are reverent before him. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them. And their days will not lengthen like a shadow. An interesting choice of a word picture there. When does the shadow lengthen? The end of the day, right? When the sun is about to set, the shadows get longer. Shadow lengthens. Solomon is saying, at the end of the day, at the end of your life, when the sun is setting on your human experience in this world, I know that it will not go well for you if you do not fear God. Even though you may have gotten by with it here on this earth, lived a hundred years and a hundred times over, perpetuated your wickedness, and got by with it. At the end of your days, when the shadows are getting long, and you're ready to go out into eternity to meet God, it will not go well with you. And it will go well with those who fear God. I think this is one of the greatest statements of faith in all the book of Ecclesiastes. It is right up there in the top three or four in the whole book of statements of faith. Solomon is saying, I know appearances are deceiving. I know that it looks like what happens in this life doesn't matter. That you can live as wicked as you want and do fine and live a long life, be comfortable at peace, have everything you need, where you can live a righteous life and suffer all the way through it. I know that it happens that way sometimes, and I know that those appearances are deceiving. But what he's saying is there's coming a sunset, there's coming an end of the day when the shadows get long, and you will go out to meet God. He will talk about this further in chapter 12. So what he's saying is this is not the end of the story, the end of the day, and what happens down here on this earth is not the end of the story. You've got to take a big picture perspective, look beyond this life, where God will make everything right, and it will not go well with those who do not fear God, and it will go well for those who do fear God. Remember what it means to fear God in this book especially. Our little simple definition of a reverential trust is not really complete enough. The fear of God basically means to understand who God is, his greatness, his majesty, his holiness, his faithfulness, his mercy, his grace, his, the fact he knows all things, he's all wise, knowing who he is, we respond in line with that, and that means we respond in submission and trust, faith, obedience, that's the fear of God. And so the person who fears God says, yes, I see the same thing you do, and I see that it doesn't always look like justice is happening in life, it doesn't really look like it matters how you live. But I know there's coming a time when I will stand before Holy God, and it will be seen then that it did matter how I lived. It did matter whether or not I feared God, and it will not go well for those who did not fear God, it will go well for those who do. You see this requires faith, this requires trusting Him when all that's happening in our experience, all that we see with our eyes seems to tell us otherwise, we must trust to look beyond this life where God says everything will be resolved, all the accounts will be right, justice will be done. Paul knew that, Paul expanded on this in his first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 4, verse 5, when there were some in Corinth who were questioning his ministry and accusing him of some things that were not true, this is what Paul said to the Corinthians, he said, therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time, each will receive their praise from God. It will not be human perspective that will be evaluating what was right or wrong, it will be God's. And only God knows what's hidden in darkness, only God knows what's in the heart by way of motives, and God will set everything straight when we stand before Him. Jesus said much the same thing in Matthew chapter 7, particularly when it comes to the wicked person who has a religious veneer and covering for his life, Jesus said this, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day what day is that future day, in eternity, in judgment when people stand before Him. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me, you evil doers. What Jesus is saying is there will be people who stand before Him who have had religion, and they have had religion that looks very powerful. They were cast not demons, they were doing miracles. So what's God be of God, right? No, not necessarily. Satan will do the same thing in the tribulation times. There is no reason why he can't do it now. He is a great imitator and mimic, he can mimic the power of God. By the way, Satan will raise somebody from the dead in the tribulation time, the Antichrist. So he's pretty powerful. God will allow him to have that power, and even today he can do things that really look a lot like the real thing. But powerful stuff happening in church is no measure of what it will be like when you stand before God. God is looking at your heart to see whether or not you really knew Him. On a personal basis, you had a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. There are lots of religious charlatans out there. And so Jesus says, not everybody who claims to know me and even does great things in their religious circles is going to be in heaven. So you see, God will set the record straight, and God will make sure that justice is done someday. When it doesn't look like that here on this earth, we have to look beyond this life. Secondly, Solomon says, not only look beyond this life, but enjoy this life. What a balance this brings. What a great balance this brings. Verse 15, So I commend the enjoyment of life because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil. All the days of the life God has given them under the sun. In the context of Solomon's whole approach in the book, and particularly of the argument which is carrying out here, what Solomon is saying is that you can find joy even in the midst of that perplexing problem that you can't figure out. Yes, you need to look beyond this life and believe trust that God will sort all of it out and will judge where judgment is due and will reward, where reward is due. He'll take care of the records when we get to heaven. But to bring balance to that, God doesn't want you just to have a pie in the sky, buy and buy mentality. But to make it through this life with a quince jaw and a grip fist and anger at God because nothing seems to be working out, how does wait till the judgment. Then it all will be right. No. God says enjoy the ride too. Enjoy the journey there and you can. Even if it is as simple as enjoying the food he's put before you. If everything else goes wrong in your life, remember we've seen that this joy of life is a simple approach to life. It takes all of the gifts that God gives us every day and rejoices in those finds joy in them. And Solomon says, even in the midst of this perplexing problem you can find joy in life. This is a common theme in the book of Ecclesiastes. I have made a case for the point that this is the theme of the book. That in the midst of all the realities of life, God is showing us how we can find true meaning, purpose, fulfillment and thus enjoy life as he intended us to. To receive it as his gift and to live it fully. This is not a playboy philosophy when he says, okay, verse 15, just hey, if life is going to be so tough, then just eat and drink. Me, go ahead, get the best you can get out of it. Oh, no, it's not that. Nor is this the arrogant boasting of the fool like Luke 12. Remember the fool that gave no thought to God? His farming business is doing great. His barns can't hold all that he's taken in. He says, man, I take an inventory here. I'm going to build bigger barns. And I will say to my soul, so you have much goods laid up for many years, take your e, eat, drink and be married. This is not the same thing. This is not an arrogant boast of a fool who has no regard for God and thinks he will live forever in this life. That's not what Solomon's saying. In the context of his argument in the book, and particularly this argument here, he's saying in the middle of the mystery of why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper, you can find joy in your relationship with God. Rather than sitting around getting bitter and cynical, even neurotic in trying to figure out why things happen the way they do, why hard things in life. Just pour yourself into each day as a blessing from God. Enjoy the food he gives you and the water he gives you to drink or whatever he gives you to drink. Water soda or tea or something like that. Milk, no, there's some good things. But enjoy those things to the full, even in the midst of that mystery. I love the story of Eddie Robinson. I'm going to take the time to tell it. Eddie Robinson was the football coach at Grandling State University for 56 years. Started in 1941, finally retired in 1997. Most victories of any Division I college football coach, Joe Paterno beating by one, but then several of his victories, 111 of them. In fact, I'm revocated. I'm not getting into that this morning, but Eddie Robinson recognizes one of the greatest, if not the greatest, college football coach of all time. But when he went to Grandling State, it was not the model black school and football program it would become. There was really nothing there. They had no seating for fans, not even any wooden bleachers. People who came and there were very few of them in those early days in 1941 who would come to a game would simply line up along the sideline to watch the game. So no stadium, not even any seating. He and his family moved into a rickety old house that had no electricity, no indoor plumbing, not even a bathroom inside. He had no staff, nobody working with him. It was him. That was all when he started. He would mow the field and and and strike it line it before the games. He would drill the cheerleaders on what they were supposed to do on the sidelines. He would go into the locker room then, little, little area they got dressed in, tape up the players, ankles. There was no medical staff, no help at all. They would play the first half and the half time he would direct the band. Then they would play the second half and after the game was over he would write the articles to send to the newspapers. He did everything. There were a lot of men who would never have stuck that out. But he poured himself into it with great joy. In fact, he tells funny stories about those days. He said when I first went to the gambling, he said it wasn't called, the gambling state university. Then it was called Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute. So he said when the cheerleaders, when the other team was getting ready to score, when the cheerleaders would lead a cheer, hold the line Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute. The other team would have already scored and was lining up for the extra point by the time they got done with the cheer. He's a fascinating guy. He was a fascinating guy. He took a situation that most people would never even have gone to and just rung every bit of joy out of it. And yes, he faced a lot of difficulties. Think of a black man leading a black football team in the deep south in 1941. He faced a lot of difficulties. But he persevered. He found things to be joyful in. And lived a great life. That's what Solomon's saying. In the midst of all the mystery, enjoy this life. Yes, look beyond this life. But don't forget to enjoy the ride as you go. And then quickly one final thing Solomon says, don't try to figure out all God's ways. Now this is not just some quick, easy solution without any thought given to it. Remember Solomon was the wisest man who's ever lived. And he gave this perplexing problem a lot of careful thought. It's reflected in verse 16. He said, when I applied my mind to no wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth. And he gives this little byline here. People getting no sleep day or night. What we would say today is people are knocking themselves out to make life work. And it just wasn't working. That's the idea. When I gave myself to understand that and figure that out, verse 17, then I saw all that God has done. This is a well-reasoned, thorough investigation into trying to figure out this problem. And what was his conclusion? Middle of verse 17, no one can comprehend what goes on under the sun despite all their efforts to search it out. No one can discover its meaning even if the wise claim they know they cannot really comprehend it. Now is that a morbid give up philosophy of life? Not at all. That's realistic. You'll never figure out all of God's ways. And especially in the middle of this mystery, you'll never figure it all out. Nobody has all the answers to this mystery. Nobody. I'm not trying to discredit our pastoral staff, but none of the pastors have all the answers on this either. Now we know the scriptures. We know the general parameters of how to look at these things. And most of you do too. You know that the scriptures teach that God is all wise and just and he is all loving. And he never makes a mistake. He's perfect. And even when we can't see what he's doing, we trust him. We trust him because we know that in eternity everything will be set straight. We know that. We know the general parameters. We know that everything works together for good. Even the bad God works together to conform us to the image of Christ. We know the broad parameters. But when you come to us and say, why did this happen to me? We can't always tell you why. God hasn't given us an answer book for all the tests of life that nobody else has. So what's all on the saying nobody? Even if a person says, I understand it all. I'm comparing it all. No, he doesn't. No, she doesn't. None of us will ever be able to figure it all out. This side of eternity. And there will be some perplexing problems you will face in your life that you will never figure out this side of eternity. So stop driving yourself crazy trying to figure out all the ways of God. And don't get bitter and disillusioned with him. Isaiah would say it this way and Isaiah 55. God saying, Isaiah, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways, my ways declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. And my thoughts, then your thoughts. You think you can figure out everything God does? Well, you don't know this passage then. You can't. Nobody can't figure out everything God does. And why? He allows what he allows. There are times when in faith we just have to say, God, I know you have a perfect plan. I know you are all loving. You are just. You are kind. You are right. I don't understand how that fits with what I'm experiencing right now. But I trust you that your ways are higher than mine. Your thoughts are higher than mine. And so I'll trust you. That's what Paul said in Romans 11. Paul would say, oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsurkable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out. You cannot track every step of God. You will never figure it all out. So what do you do? Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor? Obviously, it's answers. No one. No one completely knows the mind of God. And no one has the right or the wisdom to tell God how y'all to run the life. How y'all to run the universe. So where do we end up with this? How do we deal with this mystery, this perplexing problem of why the right to suffer, why the wicked prosper? Maybe you're right in the middle of it right now. Maybe you are living right in the middle of this mystery in your home at your place of employment, in your neighborhood with legal entanglements that may be bothering you. You know you're not perfect, but you've tried to live for the Lord, and it seems like bad stuff is all you get. People who don't care about God seem to be doing fine. You're right in the middle of that mystery. It is so critical how you respond. You can respond by giving up. You can respond by getting bitter and disillusioned with God. Or you can respond by saying, Lord, this is the way it looks down here. But I know there's coming a day when you will set the record straight. So I look beyond this life. I'm not going to forget to enjoy the blessings and what you've given me in this life along the way. So when you give me something to eat, when you give me something to drink, I'm going to enjoy that. I'm not going to get bitter and cynical about life. And Lord, I'm going to quit trying to figure out all your ways. I'll drive myself crazy doing that. So Lord, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust you. I was reading this week, Chuck Swindall's comments on this passage. And as he was wrapping up his comments, he said some things that just hit me with such force. I knew I had to include them this morning. He's drawing some conclusions about the truths of this passage. And he says, we must each admit I'm only human. I don't understand why. And I may never on this earth learn why. We must then try our best by the power of God, not to let that affect our faith. In fact, we should ask God to use that lack of knowledge to deepen our faith. The fact that I may never understand why should cause me to be more like Abraham, who didn't stagger at the promises of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith. He was on to tell a bit of the story of God promising them a child when they were physically incapable of it. And God did that. Abraham didn't stagger at that promise. He believed him, even though it didn't look like it could possibly work out. And then he says, we must each also admit I cannot bring about a change. We may have tried. We may have done everything we know to do, but we can't change this situation. It is another mystery, a riddle, and a nigma. We can't explain it, so it is time to admit I have no power to change it, Lord. God, you know what is best for your child. I wait. I will eat and drink. I will find my joy in you. This is what you have given me throughout the days of my life and the midst of all this toil. This is what you have given me under the sun. I will walk in it. And that, when Dahl says, explains how the Christian can have joy in the midst of wild and crazy, mysterious, and strained circumstances. And I would add only the Christian, only the believer, who is viewing the perplexing mysteries of life from God's perspective, and his word, only that person can live with joy, no matter what's going on. Let's pray together. Father, I know there are some sitting here this morning who are right in the middle of this mystery. No doubt in my mind, Lord, there are some people who may be right on the verge of becoming so disillusioned with you and bitter against you that they are ready to chuck it all and say, why even try? I don't even believe there is a God who loves me anymore. Father, I pray that you would reach their heart through your word and your spirit. Help them to come back to you, to look beyond this life, to enjoy the blessings you've given them in this life, and not try to figure out all the mysteries of how and why you do or allow things in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.