Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 (Green Hair)

And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

 I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment
    both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed.”

Ya know what I appreciate about Solomon as he writes all of this?  He is honest, brutally honest throughout this writing.  As much as I often feel better by putting a positive spin on things, I really appreciate that he is just tellin' it like it is. He doesn't sugar-coat things.  Like this for instance:

And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there (vs 16).

Have you noticed, like Solomon, that life is not fair?  Evil people are rulers over entire countries, and in the place of justice often sits a man who just wants to make a lot of money or be given much power, but he may not always care about true justice. Why does God allow those people to remain where they are?  Everyday we come in contact with the injustices of the world, and we may ask, "God, why aren't you doing something NOW to fix this?"

Perhaps it's not just in the big matters, too.  Even in small things, we want justice and we want it now!  The man who cuts you off as you're driving, wouldn't you love for him to get pulled over for speeding about one mile up the road?  And to the person who yelled at you or made you feel inferior, wouldn't you love for her teeth to fall out in the middle of the night?

I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment
    both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed” (vs 17).

God WILL bring justice, He says, for every activity.  Every single one.  But we really don't want justice right now, because if He did bring his justice and judgment to the man who cut us off or the woman who yelled at us, He would also have to bring justice to us. We would have to live with the same judgments and the same consequences now.  So, if we talked about someone behind their back, our tongues would turn green.  If we cut corners so that we didn't have to pay something, then we would go bankrupt in the next month, too.  If we felt a little too puffed up about ourselves, we would suddenly break out in never-before-seen acne and all of our hair would turn green and then fall out within weeks, too.

God is patient with us.  With all of us.  And really, we like it that way.

If I stop and think about it, I really don't want to Him to give people what they deserve right away, because I don't want Him to give me what I deserve right away either.

He promises that there will come a time.  The evil will get exactly what they deserve, and if it weren't for Jesus' sacrifice for me, I would get it, too.

But for now, I can trust His timing...and be thankful that I don't have green hair today.


Molly Monroe