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[0:00] Ecclesiastes chapter 8, and we'll read all 17 verses. Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things?

[0:13] Wisdom brightens a man's face and changes its hard appearance. Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before God.

[0:24] Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, what are you doing?

[0:39] Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him.

[0:56] Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the day of his death.

[1:09] As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. All this I saw as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun.

[1:21] There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. Then, too, I saw the wicked buried, those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this.

[1:36] This, too, is meaningless. When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men who are reverent before God.

[1:59] Yet, because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth.

[2:12] Righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This, too, I say, is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.

[2:31] Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth, his eyes not seeing sleep day or night, then I saw all that God has done.

[2:51] No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.

[3:06] Occasionally, I catch the Sean Hannity show in my car.

[3:18] And as most of you know, he's a conservative pundit. And as part of the intro to his radio show, they play a recording of Ronald Reagan saying this, in the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem.

[3:33] Government is the problem. And Ecclesiastes 8 echoes that sentiment. Reagan was saying that smaller government is better than bigger government.

[3:46] And Coalesce's view, that's our teacher, his view is that all government is part of the problem. It can't solve the problem because it is the problem.

[3:56] And so Ecclesiastes is about living in a world where everything is upside down and things are confusing.

[4:07] And instead of contentment from our work, we feel discontent. We feel frustrated. And instead of joy, we're upset.

[4:19] We're discontent. We're frustrated. And instead of justice, there's great injustice. And we probably see that no place better than in politics and government.

[4:30] And so no discussion of Havel, of meaninglessness, would be complete without a lesson about living under government, living with government, living with bureaucracy.

[4:44] Because you know if you've ever paid taxes, that our government, that all government, is full of Havel. And there's no shortage of it.

[4:54] In our adoption process, the number one question we get asked is, why does it cost so much? And if there's so many orphans in the world, why wouldn't governments be handing them out?

[5:10] Why are they just giving the children away? And part of the answer is, the smaller part of the answer is, for security purposes. So you have to have security to protect the children.

[5:21] And that means background checks and so on. But the bigger part of the answer is the fact that you are dealing with government. When you're adopting internationally, you're not only dealing with one government, you're dealing at least with four.

[5:35] So you have the United States government. You have the state government. You have the foreign government in the other country. And probably the provincial government in that country.

[5:46] And so everyone has their hands in the pot. And ladies, you know how that is in the kitchen. If four cooks are in the kitchen, it's difficult to work. And it works the same way with adoption.

[5:58] The big part of the cost is just wading through all this government work. The greatest part of the hassle is precisely at this point. Because everyone has to have their papers in just the right way.

[6:13] And so there is a lot of havel, a lot of frustration in government. And you've probably seen it. Just getting, renewing your driver's license.

[6:24] So you're standing there in line. And then the person that was, who arrived after you, he goes in front of you. And then you have to get this paper. And you don't have that paper. And so what ends up happening, you end up going to like five different county, state, UN buildings, trying to get the one paper that you need to renew your driver's license.

[6:44] Government is havel. But government is part of life. It's a necessary part of life. God instituted government for our good. And so if we're going to live wisely in this world under the sun, where everything is havel, where everything is frustrating, then we desperately need to hear God's wisdom in this matter.

[7:05] If you're not going to go insane paying your taxes, if you're not going to go crazy down at the DMV, if you're not going to become so angry and frustrated just from watching Fox News, then we need God's perspective on government, on the matter.

[7:22] And that's what we have here. Coleth is going to give us advice about how to live under government and deal with government. And he's going to give us some of his discoveries of what he's seen as far as civic life goes, some things that are true.

[7:39] And then he's going to give us that familiar recommendation that he's given to us time and time again. And so Coleth begins with his advice. And it centers around the benefit of wisdom.

[7:54] If you're dealing with government, this is one thing that you want. You want wisdom. Wisdom is supreme. So look at chapter 8, verse 1.

[8:05] Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things? And these are rhetorical questions. Who is like the wise man? And the answer is no one. The wise men are one of a kind when it comes to dealing with politics and with government.

[8:23] And who knows the explanation of things? Well, only the wise man. Only the wise man sees past the murk of government and sees to the bottom of things.

[8:34] And so wisdom is supreme. And that is what he has said. And that's what he's going to say again. You want wisdom. You really do want wisdom, especially when you're standing in line at the DMV and everything's going on around you when it's easy to be turned into a fool by all the paperwork, by all the frustration, by all the ineptness of government.

[9:01] And so Coleth goes on. Wisdom brightens a man's face and changes its heart appearance. Wisdom puts a smile on a man's face when he's in those situations.

[9:14] It makes his face to beam. And so he's in a very difficult situation, but you can tell he's wise because he's smiling. Well, why is he smiling?

[9:26] Why is he able to smile even in those hairy situations where all this government bureaucracy is going on? Well, because wisdom gives him insight into things. Remember, he has the explanation of things. And so he can understand why these things have to be the way they are.

[9:39] And more than that, wisdom gives him patience. It gives him patience. Who are the fools standing in line down at the county office? Who are the fools pulled over on the side of the road?

[9:53] Who are the fools standing in line to pay their taxes? Well, you can tell who they are because they're the ones muttering. They're the ones complaining. They're the ones who are angry and impatient.

[10:05] And you've seen them. They're arguing with the secretary. And they're yelling about the rules as if the secretary made the rules and she decided that this was the best way to do it.

[10:16] But see, fools have a very narrow vision of things, don't they? They see the secretary. They see all the rules. And they're angry at them. And when it comes to government, only a very wise person can see through it all and actually smile and say, you know what?

[10:36] This is the work of God. They can see God at work. See, wisdom tells you that this is all Havel.

[10:50] This is all meaninglessness. This is all nonsense. And soon it's going to be over. And so there's no point in getting angry and pouting about it because it's going to happen.

[11:04] It is a part of life. And it will soon be over. And so let me ask you, when you're watching the news, when you're listening to those talk show hosts, when you're standing in line, can you smile?

[11:21] Can you watch the news and still walk away with a smile afterwards? And I hope none of you watch the news just to become angry at what is going on in our country, just to become angry at what our president has done now and what our Congress is doing and what the Supreme Court has failed us.

[11:38] I hope none of you are like that, that you just watch these things to become irritated because you like to get worked up because that's what a fool does. See, government is Havel.

[11:48] The United States of America is Havel. Everything is Havel is what Koholeth has said. And wisdom can make you look at that and smile.

[12:00] Wisdom gives you perspective. It gives you an eternal perspective. You're not caught up here and now and not a narrow vision of things. It's giving you a wide vision of things. And so are you wise?

[12:12] You can tell by the way that you react in situations like that. Well, Koholeth goes on. Wisdom teaches you to obey. Teaches you to obey. Look at verse 2.

[12:24] Obey the king's command, I say, and remember who he is, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

[12:39] Since the king's word is supreme, who can say to him, what are you doing? So this is a little suggestion about rebellion.

[12:51] It's a warning against rebellion against the king. Instead, Koholeth says, you should obey the king because you took an oath after all. You took an oath before God to obey the king and so you should.

[13:02] And so, you can tell that Koholeth in this passage is specifically talking to people who are in positions of power in the government. They are in the government. And he says, don't be in a hurry to leave the king's presence.

[13:16] What that means is don't be in a hurry to sneak out to foment rebellion to create a problem for the king. To hatch some scheme behind his back. Don't stand up for a bad cause.

[13:27] Well, why does Koholeth say that? Why does he say obey the king? It's not a very theological reason, but it is a very smart reason. And he says this at the end of verse 3, for the king will do whatever he pleases.

[13:45] See, kings don't carry the sword for nothing. God's given them the sword to destroy evil doers.

[13:56] And if you plot rebellion and you disobey, then you are an evil doer. And the king is going to do what he wants with you and what he wants to do with you is not going to be very pleasant.

[14:09] for you. Since the king's word is supreme, who can say to him, what are you doing? When you're strung up on the gallows or your head is on the pike and all of your friends, all your fellow conspirators are dead in a hole in the ground, no one is going to say to the king, what are you doing?

[14:30] That wasn't very nice because his word is supreme. And the fact is that most rebellions fail. Go home tonight and Google failed coup attempts and see what you can find.

[14:45] Failed coup attempts are a dime a dozen. They happen all the time. In Venezuela, this is what I found, in the last 15 years, there's been three failed coup attempts.

[14:56] There's been several in the Philippines. In the last couple of years, attempts in Paraguay, East Timor, Qatar, Turkey, Togo, Zambia, Niger, Zimbabwe, have all failed.

[15:09] Koleth is no fool. So he says, obey the king because it will be good for you, because it's safe. You see that in verse 7. Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm.

[15:23] And we need to balance something here, and you probably are feeling this. This kind of sounds very mercenary, very self-seeking. But this is not all that the Bible says about the Christian's relationship to the government.

[15:39] We can disobey the king if he tells us to directly disobey God. If obeying the king means disobeying God, then we have the right as Christians to disobey the king.

[15:53] So Peter and John, you know the story, they're before the Jewish authorities, and they say, judge for yourselves whether it's right, in God's sight for us to obey you rather than God.

[16:07] So there are times when man's government and God's government come in direct conflict, and in those times we should disobey the king.

[16:19] But we can't, we have to be careful. We can't contradict the apostle's example in teaching with coalesce example in teaching as as if what he is saying is not of any value.

[16:34] We have to keep a hold of the one and not let go of the other. And the problem is, and this is just part of living in this world, that there's a lot of gray area in between.

[16:48] When it comes to government and the Christians involvement, there are some very difficult, sticky situations that it's hard to know what's right. So let me ask you a question, and don't answer.

[17:03] It's a rhetorical question. Could a Christian, let's say, serve in President Obama's cabinet? And maybe some of you automatically say there's no way.

[17:18] It can't happen, it shouldn't be. And I want to say, be careful, because I'm not so sure that we can be so quick to make that judgment. You can't be so sure about that.

[17:30] So imagine a king that hates God. He hates God. He's an idolater. And he kills God's prophets.

[17:42] And he's a thief. And he's a murderer. And that's who he is. So could a godly man work in his government, and would it be right for him? Well, before you make a judgment, remember Obadiah.

[17:56] you say, I don't know who Obadiah is. Well, you can look at who he is in 1 Kings. So Obadiah worked in King Ahab's palace. And he wasn't just like the servant boy.

[18:07] He was in charge of the whole palace. And this position had power, and it had authority. And it says that he feared God. So Ahab murdered God's prophets, and he chased Elijah in order to kill him, and he stole Naboth's vineyard and killed him.

[18:29] And yet Obadiah, 1 King, says Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. And he was using his position to do good. He was using his position to hide God's prophets.

[18:43] Now we need to make a distinction here. Obadiah didn't rebel against the king. He disobeyed the king. He secretly hid the prophets, but he didn't seek to overthrow King Ahab.

[18:56] And so Daniel was in the same kind of position. For years and years, he served kings who routinely, this is what it meant to be a king, you routinely stole things and pillaged and murdered, and yet Daniel didn't rebel.

[19:18] He obeyed the king faithfully. Now there were points where they were not when Obadiah disobeyed and when Daniel disobeyed, but their default position was obedience and they weren't hatching schemes in order to overthrow the government and put a Christian or a Jewish government in their place.

[19:40] The fact is they didn't try to win every battle. They didn't try to overturn a sinful government. Why? Because they understood Koaleth's wisdom.

[19:55] They understood what Koaleth was saying. So look at verse 5. For there is a proper time and procedure, this is verse 6, for there is a proper time and procedure for every matter though a man's misery weighs heavily on him.

[20:14] In this world in the midst of government and havel, there is still a proper time and procedure for every matter.

[20:27] And that word can be translated judgment, for every judgment is actually probably better. And so what is Koaleth saying? He's saying that you have to be careful about when and where you decide to take action.

[20:45] the proper time of handling injustice, of making a judgment and making something right. So are men troubled?

[20:57] Is government unjust? Yes. Yes, it is. From top to bottom, it's havel. And usually the further you go up, the worse it becomes.

[21:10] But not every battle is worth fighting, is what he's saying. Why? Because there's a proper time and procedure for everything. And every time and every place is not necessarily the proper time and the proper place.

[21:22] But someone says, you don't understand, this man was unjustly accused, he was treated unfairly, what they did was criminal, and this has been very bad.

[21:34] And Koaleth says, so, so what? Prudence and patience is not undone by the trials that men face.

[21:50] Just because something is very bad doesn't mean that you necessarily go full board to try for justice. See, prudence and patience is not the same thing as compromise and cowardice.

[22:06] And see, suffering and injustice doesn't overturn prudence is what he's saying. And that's hard for us to take, but it's really recognizing who we are and what it's capable of for us.

[22:21] Jesus said, the poor will always be with you. And if the poor are always going to be with us, injustice will be with us too. And so there's no point, and having some highfalutin view that we are going to bring some sort of utopia.

[22:39] We're going to have justice on this earth. And maybe that sounds crass to you. But Coleth knows that judgment is coming.

[22:52] He's already mentioned it several times. And there is a proper time and a proper place for dealing out justice and it's not necessarily and it's usually not in human hands.

[23:04] It's in God's hands. See, God has a way of taking care of things on his own. And he doesn't need our input into the matter every single time.

[23:16] And you can see that in verses 7 and 8. Look at verse 7. Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?

[23:26] God will come. We don't know the future. Man doesn't know the future. But God does know the future and so we can give the future to God.

[23:37] He knows how it's going to end. See, the wicked king, he doesn't know how it's going to end. And I don't either. And you don't either. We don't need to die on every hill just because a talk show host told us that the end of the world is coming if we don't do something because no man knows the future.

[24:00] So Sean Hannity, obviously I listen to him sometimes, he doesn't know the future. Rush Limbaugh doesn't know the future. Glenn Beck doesn't know the future.

[24:12] Maybe some of the things that they are saying will come to pass and maybe they won't. But no man knows except for the future.

[24:26] He is working all things together for his glory and for our good. Man doesn't know the future. But God does.

[24:37] So we can leave it in his hands. Well more than that, God knows how to deal out justice. And when it comes time for God to deal out justice, there's nothing a man can do to withhold or to keep God's hand from it.

[24:55] There's nothing that man can do about it. Look at verse 8. No man has power over the wind to contain it. That's probably the wind, his spirit. It's the same word in Hebrew.

[25:06] No man has the power over the spirit to contain it. And so no one has power over! the day of is death and God gives out the wages.

[25:25] And so when payday comes no one can refuse the paycheck. We can do that here. We can say no I don't want to be paid. But when God writes the check and puts it in your hands payday is here.

[25:36] And so did the king feast on the poor? Did the government rebel? Or did the people rebel against the government? did the king rebel against God? Did he kill God's prophets? Did he extort money from his citizens?

[25:51] Then he will reap what he sowed. God knows how to bring justice for his people. And God knows how to bring justice to the wicked.

[26:03] And God will take his life. And that man will not be able to take his! spirit back. That man will not be able! to keep God from taking his spirit when the time comes.

[26:15] As no one is discharged, it says in verse 8, in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. What does that mean?

[26:27] It means that when judgment comes, no one will be safe. No one will be able to escape the judgment. So when you're in the middle of the battlefield, and the bullets start flying, no one can say, you know what, I want to go home now, I want to be safe now.

[26:47] There's no escaping it. No one is safe when they're in the midst of battle. So a king is in his armor, and he has all of his armor on, and he's wearing a disguise, because men have wanted to kill him especially, and he rides out into the battlefield, and some poor schmo, some nobody, draws his bow, lets out an arrow fly totally at random, and that arrow goes up, up, and then it goes down, and down, and at the bottom of the flight, the king and the arrow have a not very friendly meeting.

[27:28] And so the arrow falls into the chink in that king's armor, and the king is dead by nightfall. Do you remember the king's name? It was Ahab, the same king that Obadiah served.

[27:45] God knew how to bring about justice in that situation. And so Obadiah could leave ultimate justice and overturning governments into God's hands.

[27:59] See, no one can escape in the day of battle, even a king, and no one can escape the day of judgment, because no one can escape the end of wickedness.

[28:10] See, when you're in the grips of wickedness, it will not release you until it's finished its course. It will be easy in the beginning, but the bitter end will come, and there's no escape.

[28:29] There's no release from it. death. The wages The wages of sin is death. So there's no one here who can escape the end of wickedness.

[28:41] No one can be released from it on their own. But we heard this morning that there is a release, there is an escape, and the children heard about it all this week. And Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[28:56] And so if you forsake wickedness, and you cling to Jesus Christ, then you can be saved. You will be saved. So wickedness is stronger than you, judgment is stronger than you, but Jesus Christ is stronger than everything.

[29:16] He is the strongest of all, and so he has broken sin's grasp. He has actually been able to release his people from the grasp of wickedness because he took God's judgment.

[29:30] He took the end of their wickedness. So wisdom, and that's this whole first part, it chases you to Jesus. Don't anyone think that you can be wise and not have Jesus?

[29:45] So wisdom, it brightens your face, it gives you resources to handle the havel of government, and best of all, it points you to Jesus Christ who teaches you, who helps you, who saves you from wickedness, and he can give you everlasting life.

[30:03] That's what wisdom is giving to you. Well, second, Koaleth catalogs different things that he's seen in civic life and government.

[30:17] And we should notice that none of these things wisdom can prevent. Wisdom can't prevent any of these things from happening. If you're wise, you'll see them, but you know a lot of times you won't be able to do anything about it.

[30:37] And so Koaleth is telling us to be wise, but if you've seen, if you follow through this book, he tells us to be wise, but then with one hand he tells us to be wise, and with the other hand he says, but be realistic.

[30:51] There's things that wisdom can't fix. He's always brutally honest about what wisdom can and can't do. So look at verse 9.

[31:03] All this I saw as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There's a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. So wisdom can't prevent the abuse of power.

[31:15] And the almost sad thing about it is when a man lords it over another person, it turns around and it hurts himself. And you can see this in the political world.

[31:29] And you can see it at McDonald's. I mean, it happens everywhere. So here's a manager, and he lords it over the other employees. And so for a while, things go well.

[31:43] But slowly, steadily, an insurrection is brewing among the McDonald's employees. And finally, ten employees complain, and before you know it, a district manager is rolling into town, and the manager is fired.

[31:59] So men lord it over others to their own hurt. And guess what? Wisdom can't keep it from happening. Wisdom is good, but it's not the final answer to Havel.

[32:14] Well, Cole left next goes to Michael Jackson's funeral, or maybe Ted Kennedy's funeral, or someone like that. He says this, then too, I saw the wicked buried.

[32:25] Those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is Havel. This is Havel.

[32:37] This is nauseating Havel. Wicked men do wicked things, but they have a thin veneer of goodness, of religiosity over their lives, and it's enough to make people forget all the evil things that they've done, and they have a beautiful funeral for them.

[32:54] They're honored. And more than just forget all the wicked things, the wicked men are paraded through the streets, and people come out in masses to lay down flowers and to light candles, and you've seen this.

[33:08] And there's nothing new under the sun. What happened in Cole last day happens in our day, and wisdom can't keep it from happening. If anything, wisdom opens your eyes, and you see the TV thing, the parade there, and everyone crying, and you see the superficiality of it all.

[33:31] And it makes you even more frustrated, because you are wise, and you can see what other people can't. Well, there's more Havel in verse 11.

[33:45] When a sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. So crime, sometimes it seems like it does pay, and then other times when people are caught, it takes so long for justice to come, that people aren't deterred.

[34:07] And everyone in their right minds knows something is wrong with our justice system. The penalties don't work. They're not adverting people from committing crimes, and one of the reasons is maybe they're not harsh enough or something, but another reason is that the punishment is so far in the future that it doesn't ever come into the calculations of the person trying to commit the crime.

[34:30] It doesn't keep people away from the crime. Douglas Wilson, who is good for a soundbite on Ecclesiastes every now and then, says this, we live in a time when the deterrent value of swift justice is denied by the enlightened, but the godly know what swarms of sociologists do not, and that is that swift and sure punishment deters the wicked.

[34:59] the wise know it. And the problem is human government is not wise. It's broken.

[35:11] It's broken. And the wise can't fix it. I mean, we can vote, we can put band-aids on this situation, we can work for change, but wisdom is not going to make any ultimate change.

[35:24] It's not our salvation from this situation. See, we're waiting for a savior who when he comes, he will burn the earth with fire and make it a home of the righteous.

[35:38] And we are looking for something that wisdom can never give us. And that's what Jesus is going to do for us. And see, praise God, judgment is coming. And it's coming and it's going to be swift and it's going to be sure.

[35:53] And then the end will come. And the wicked will be no more. And Coleth assures us of that in verses 12 and 13.

[36:03] Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with him, with God fearing men who are reverent before God.

[36:16] Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. Do you hear Coleth's faith?

[36:29] Sometimes he's viewed as almost godless and certainly pessimistic and cynical, but do you hear his faith now? Will terribly unjust things happen?

[36:43] Yes. Yes, they will, but this I know. This I know that it will still go better with God-fearing men. And so he's not contradicting what the Bible says.

[36:57] Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. Coleth, at this point, he doesn't know how. He doesn't know how it's all going to work out, but he does know God.

[37:09] And God is going to make it all right in the end. See, God is going to sort it all out, even when in our wisdom, we can't figure out how he's going to do that. Verse 14, he makes one more comment.

[37:24] on Havel and politics and civic life. And this is sort of a summary of everything that he said, and he said this before. There's something else meaningless that occurs on earth.

[37:36] Righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. Well, he's already talked about this before. He points it out again.

[37:49] And wisdom can't explain this, exactly why this happens, and wisdom can't make it better. So that's the situation.

[38:01] It's a mess. It's a mess. We're waiting on Jesus. So what do we do? What do we do while we're waiting? Well, third, he tells us.

[38:15] What do you do when Fox News is depressing you? What do you do when the U.S. government is letting you down? What do you do when you're in the grips of some bureaucracy that is just part and parcel of our life?

[38:32] Well, Coleth goes back to that familiar recommendation. Verse 15, so I commend the enjoyment of life because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.

[38:45] so if the news is depressing you, it's depressing you, then maybe the best, the most godly thing that you could do is to hit the off button and go into your kitchen and eat some cookies and say, you know what, wow, this world is messed up, but you know what, these cookies are delicious and God is good.

[39:19] And that might sound trite to you, but that is wisdom. It's foolish to get yourself all worked up about things that you can't help, but it's wise to enjoy God's gifts in whatever form they come in.

[39:35] So if you're standing in the DMV and you're getting the bureaucratic run around, right, and maybe the most godly thing, the best thing that you can do, is just smile and be glad that you don't live in like Thailand where there's anarchy, or in some other country where the DMV is only open on the fifth Wednesday of every month.

[40:05] You could live there. and you think it's strange that people live like that. They think it's strange that your DMV is open every day of the week.

[40:17] You are drinking in God's grace every day. And so Coleth is saying enjoy it and smile. Things are messed up. Things are hard.

[40:28] They're frustrating. But in the midst of everything, God is good. He's good. And so enjoy it. Enjoy him. Thank him. Praise him. And keep on believing.

[40:38] Coleth is just believing right through this mess. So keep your joy. But how do you do that? How do you do that? How can you eat and drink and be merry all the days of your life?

[40:53] In the midst of all this bureaucracy, verse 16 and 17 tells us, when I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth, his eyes not seen sleep, day or night, then I saw all that God has done and no one can comprehend what goes on under the sun.

[41:11] Despite all of his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims to know it, he really, he cannot really comprehend it.

[41:25] And this is the foundation. This is how you can turn off the TV. This is how you can smile. this is where wisdom comes from.

[41:35] At the bottom, you see that God is doing all these things, what he's done. So God is sovereign at the White House. It's not like inside that big White House there that God isn't the king.

[41:50] He is the king. He's sovereign over Congress. He's sovereign in Indianapolis. And he's sovereign over every human government. So God has done this.

[42:02] He's done it. And he's sovereign over unfair funerals. And he's sovereign over the wicked living a long time and the righteous dying young.

[42:15] He's done it and man can't figure it out. So what should man do? How can he be happy in that situation?

[42:27] Well, it's simple. Take your place. mind your own business. And what I mean is let God run the universe.

[42:39] And you humble yourself before him and you eat and you drink and you be glad to his glory. It glorifies him when you smile at the DMV.

[42:52] And it glorifies him when you turn off the news and say, who cares? God's in charge here. And you do it for his glory and you do it for your joy.

[43:04] And that's how you glorify him and that's how you enjoy him for these few short days that you have. So let him who has ears hear.

[43:15] Let's pray. pray. Our heavenly father, we do thank you that you are sovereign over all things, that we can put our trust in you completely.

[43:32] And that faith can work itself out in the day to day realities of our life. Thank you Lord for speaking to us about these situations when we're caught up in the government, we're caught up in foolishness of men and endless paperwork work and things that don't make sense.

[43:59] Thank you that they don't have to make sense to us to be just the things that we need. And thank you that you rule over all and that somehow and in some way you are working all things together for the good of those who love you.

[44:19] Lord, I pray that your people would take comfort in that. Not to be caught up in what so many people are caught up, but to be sold out completely to your kingdom.

[44:34] To seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then worry about and let God worry about everything else. Father, teach us wisdom.

[44:47] Give us wisdom to enjoy the days of our lives, though they are short, though they are few and they're full of frustration and problems. Will you help us to do it for your glory because you are a good God and you do good to us.

[45:02] So help us to be thankful and rejoice in who you are. I pray for any sinner here who's trying to make it through this world on his own.

[45:15] What a horrible thing, horrible place to be. I pray that you would have mercy on them and forgive them for Jesus sake.

[45:26]  And it's in his name I pray. Amen.