Ecclesiastes 9:1 All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them ² is vanity, since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath. ³ This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone.

This passage repeats a refrain of Ecclesiastes – justice is hard to find in this life. It should be that good people prosper and the wicked are punished, but that’s often not how it works out. Evil prospers and righteousness suffers. It’s an age-old problem “Why do good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people?” Answer: Only God knows. Two more thoughts…

First, our time in this life may appear to be unjust, but the after-life will not be. The teaching of scripture is that all people will be held to account in the end. This would be good news except for my second thought:

v.2b “As are the good, so are the sinners…”

I tend to think of myself as among the “good”, but the truth is that I am very much among the “sinners”. Apart from Christ I am a child of wrath. But by the mercy of God, through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, my sin is cleansed and I am made righteous in his sight. This morning I’m reflecting on this truth and giving thanks to God for his incredible love and faithfulness.