Faith and Action Under the Sun

For all this I noted, and I ascertained all this: that the actions of even the righteous and the wise are determined by God. Even love! Even hate! Humankind knows none of these in advance— none! For the same fate is in store for all: for the righteous, and for the wicked; for the good and pure, and for the impure; for one who sacrifices, and for one who does not; for one who is pleasing, and for one who is displeasing; and for one who swears, and for one who shuns oaths. That is the sad thing about all that goes on under the sun: that the same fate is in store for all. (Not only that, but people’s hearts are full of sadness, and their minds of madness, while they live; and then—to the dead!) For one who is reckoned among the living has something to look forward to—even a live dog is better than a dead lion— since the living know they will die. But the dead know nothing; they have no more recompense, for even the memory of them has died. Their loves, their hates, their jealousies have long since perished; and they have no more share till the end of time in all that goes on under the sun. Go, [my son,] eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy; for your action was long ago approved by God. Let your clothes always be freshly washed, and your head never lack ointment. Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For that alone is what you can get out of life and out of the means you acquire under the sun. Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. For there is no action, no reasoning, no learning, no wisdom in Sheol, where you are going. I have further observed under the sun thatThe race is not won by the swift,Nor the battle by the valiant;Nor is bread won by the wise,Nor wealth by the intelligent,Nor favor by the learned.For the time of mischance comes to all. And human beings cannot even know their time. As fishes are enmeshed in a fatal net, and as birds are trapped in a snare, so humans are caught at the time of calamity, when it comes upon them without warning. This thing too I observed under the sun about wisdom, and it affected me profoundly. There was a little city, with few men in it; and to it came a great king, who invested it and built mighty siege works against it. Present in the city was a poor wise man who might have saved it with his wisdom, but nobody thought of that poor man. So I observed: Wisdom is better than valor; butThe wisdom of the poor is scorned,And their words are not heeded. Words spoken softly by wise men are heeded sooner than those shouted by a lord in folly. Wisdom is more valuable than weapons of war, but a single error destroys much of value.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-18 confronts us with the unsettling reality that the righteous and the wicked share a common fate — yet within that hard observation, the Teacher presses his readers toward joyful, wholehearted trust in the God who ordains even love and hate. Faith here is not a guarantee of escape from trouble, but a settled confidence that our times and actions are held in God's hand.