![[Photo of a Scripture verse]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/Ecclesiastes_5_8a.jpg)
| “If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things…” |
| —Ecclesiastes 5:8a |
I drove by six young men walking through a poor neighborhood recently. As they spied me sitting in the passenger seat while my wife drove my van, they elbowed one another, made an obscene gesture, and called out some racial slurs that referenced me as being a “fat, rich white dude being driven around town by his white…”—well, I won’t finish what they said because its crudeness embarrasses me.
Their hatred was palpable. I have some liberal friends who would insist that I deserve such treatment because I am white, a male, and because white Americans have historically and vicariously either profited from slavery, or treated minorities unequally, or a host of other charges. I scoff at such rhetoric.
For many reasons that I will not take the time to fully delineate in this blog post, I have done much over the course of my life to treat people with justice and fairness no matter what the color of their skin, their national origin, their gender, or any other factor that may have seemed to set them apart.
Furthermore, I am hardly rich. In fact, at a time in my life nearly thirty years ago, I borrowed so much money to help others in need that I fell hopelessly into debt. It was only by the extreme grace of God, extended to me over many years, that I eventually climbed out of an enormous debt to the place where I have remained debt free for many years. But, rich? Not in the slightest.
Fat? Yes, I have to admit that I most certainly am fat. And, I also have to admit that until very recently my dear wife did have to drive me around in my own van because, due to health issues, I was unable to drive myself.
If I am the target of such racial slurs, just imagine for one moment the kind of slurs that might have been hurled at King Solomon—a man of enormous wealth and enormous power. Yet, here’s the way Solomon responds to such criticism, as he considers what life would be like without God. His words are recorded in Ecclesiastes 5:8-12:
If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?
The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.
At the start of a new day, when we view the people around us, we do well to remember that God has created us all. Each one of us bears the Image of God. We all breathe the same air, drink the same water, and are all subject to the vagaries of life.
We may not occupy the same place in life. We may not have the same privileges. But, we all have the same God who loves those He has chosen with His unfathomable love. We all have the same God who extends to those He has chosen His mercy and grace. We all have the same Savior in God’s one and only Son, Jesus.
Whether I am driven through the streets by my wife, or walk the streets with my buddies—oh that I could do that!—we must recognize that life without God is truly meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
