[7, 8] Solomon tries to find satisfaction in morality, trying to do good all the time. The problem with this frame of mind, this is not living! If we are not willing to take a stand on vital issues, we are not living! Solomon tries not to get angry with anyone, but to be nice to everyone. He tries to walk in the middle and not take a stand. Ecclesiastes 7:9 says, “Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool.” This sounds good at first glance, but what Solomon is really saying is take the middle of the road and blend in with the world and the church. Live like you want on Friday night and go to church on Sunday. He wants mankind to live for applause and try to make everyone around them happy. Solomon is living lukewarm.
Chapter 8:1 says, “How wonderful to be wise, to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person’s face, softening its harshness.” Jesus Christ brings freedom and liberty into our lives… believers don’t have to follow the crowd. It is only Christ who can bring joy and peace into the believer’s lives. The man who is trying to blend in with the world is not living in peace. They may believe they are living in freedom, but they have no peace because as in verse 8, “…none of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.”
Solomon leaves the reader with a sad recommendation in Ecclesiastes 6:15, “So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.”
