Suffering...

Ecclesiastes 8 - If we believe in a good and loving God, we must face the difficult question of why there is so much suffering in the world.  Solomon solved the problem of evil by affirming these factors and seeing them in their proper perspective. 
                (1) Authority (vs. 1-9) - In these verses Solomon gives us the picture of what our options our when we are under an evil king who wants us to follow his orders.  He gives four different options to us.  We can disobey (vs. 2).  Solomon says we should follow the king's orders because to disobey would break a promise to the ruler and to God.  The king's word would have more power than the word of his servant and was bound to prevail.  We could obey to avoid punishment.  But what if the servant truly cannot obey what the order is - We could desert (vs. 3a).  We could use defiance (vs. 3b) because our obligation is to obey God and not to obey man.  We could use discernment (vs. 5b-6).  Wisdom helps us understand people and situations and to figure out the right thing to do at the right time.  It truly is all about using God's wisdom and discernment to decide what to do in particular situations.  There are many examples in the Bible of people who used God's wisdom to discern what to do in situations.  Esther did not tell the king that she was a Jew until she was in a position to help her people.  Rahab lied about hiding God's spies.  When we allow God to use us, it glorifies Him.  That should be our total desire - bringing glory to God and not to man and we need to rely on God's wisdom to help us know what to do to glorify Him in every situation.
                 (2) Inequity (vs. 10-14) - The key is verse 14 that points out that the righteous men on earth may get what the wicked deserve and the wicked get what hte righteous deserve.  But verses 12-13 point out that the wicked will eventually be judged and the righteous will be rewarded.  We need to keep this in our mind continually because it is so easy to compare ourselves on this earth and only think of life in the earthly perspective becaues this is what we know and what we see.  We need to keep eternity in mind at all times.
                 (3)  Mystery (vs. 15-17) - God doesn't expect us to know the unknowable, but He does expect us to learn all we can and obey what He teaches us.  God expects us to continually study and learn more about Him and His word.  We shouldn't stop if we think we know enough because we've been in Sunday School or Bible School for most of our lives and we know the basic stories.  We need to continually keep learning and obeying Him because even if we study for the rest of our lives we will never know everything there is to know.  But by continuing to study we are striving to become more and more like Him.  And the more we know, the better able we are to obey and glorify Him - and isn't that our goal in life.

Ecclesiastes 8 (ESV) 1 Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. 2 I say: Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him. 3 Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. 4 For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, "What are you doing?" 5 Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. 6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him. 7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? 8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. 9 All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. 11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15 And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. 16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.