Without God - Part 22: Evil Observed

 

“I have seen a grievous evil under the sun…”

—Ecclesiastes 5:13

How far do we have to look before we can see evil? Most will recognize evil as quickly as they scan the daily news reports. Horrific crimes scream at us from the headlines. But, what about evil that lurks just around the corner of every human heart?

Do you know someone who is quick to criticize others? How about the husband who verbally abuses his wife? How about the wife who talks ill of her husband to her friends? How about the boss who takes credit for the work of his or her employees? How about the employee who surfs the internet on company time?

We could go on and on and name many kinds of bad behavior, all of which stems from the evil that permeates our hearts and minds.

In his quest to consider what life would be without God, King Solomon also very quickly observes evil. Notice what he writes, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 5:13-17:

I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit.

Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.

This too is a grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind? All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.

Solomon seems to focus on evil from a materialistically motivated direction. 1 Timothy 6:10 states:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Whenever a person falls in love with money—and the possessions it can buy or the power that it can wield—that one is destined to tumble into evil. There is nothing wrong with wealth. But, to lust after wealth and be willing to harm others in order to become wealthy extracts a great price from anyone caught in its snare.

Likewise, anything that causes an unnatural attraction: wanting others to hold oneself in high esteem, or seeking praise, or desiring control over others, or a thousand other selfish pathways—they all lead to evil and evil leads to destruction.

Thanks be to God that a life without Him is not the lot of those He has called to Himself. We who belong to Him have a freedom that only He can give. We need to move forward along the pathway of spiritual formation and seize the opportunity He has given us to put aside evil and let His holiness flood our beings.

If we do that, we will find that our “doings” will become transformed for His glory and for the praise of His great name.

 

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