Without God - Part 35: Getting What They Deserve

 

“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.”

—Ecclesiastes 8:14

As we continue to follow the pathway King Solomon lays out before us at the end of his life, we take note of these words, recorded in Ecclesiastes 8:14-17:

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.

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.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night— then I saw all that God has done.

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.

Reading King Solomon’s words, we must remember that he is leading us to consider what life must be like for those who do not have a relationship with God. As we consider this, I cannot help but think of these words from the first verse and refrain of the hymn “Satisfied,” written by Clara Teare Williams of Houghton, New York, the later site of my beloved Alma Mater, Houghton College:

All my life long I had panted
For a draught from some cool spring,
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within.

(Refrain:)
Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.

The late Donald Doig sings a remarkable version of this hymn, with a beautiful orchestral arrangement by the late Ronn Huff. Please take a moment to listen:

 

 

 

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