Ecclesiastes 9:4 says, For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.  In life, there is hope.  No matter how hard life seems to be for a person, as long as life exists, there is always hope that tomorrow will be better.  This should especially be true of God's people.  We should always live life in hope that tomorrow will be better than today.  I don't believe that God told us what was to come as the end of time drew closer to lead us to a life of resignation.  We, as followers of Christ, are to live in hope, victorious over the things of this world.  As long as we have life, we are to live in and proclaim the hope of Christ to the world.  A live dog is indeed more powerful than a dead lion.  Some people may seem to have all the power in this world, but in death, nothing of this world remains.  Death may release us from the stresses of this world, but we are not to seek death, but we are to live life in the hope of God.  Verse five says, For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.  As long as we live, we know that death awaits us, but once we die, we no longer know anything of this world.  Solomon also states that once we die, we have no more reward.  What we do with Christ in life is all that matters in the life to come.  There is no purpose in praying for the souls of the dead, and there is certainly no need to be baptized in the place of those long dead.  It is only what a person does with Christ in this live that matters, so no matter how big a sinner a person may be, as long as there is life, there is hope.  Then in verse six we read, Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.  Solomon said it doesn't matter how we feel about a person here on earth, whether we love or hate them, once we are dead, those feelings perish.  The things of this world truly no longer hold any power over us once we are dead, and as followers of Christ, they shouldn't have power over us even now.

Ecclesiastes 9:1 says, For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.  Solomon declared that those that believe God, the righteous and the wise, and all their works are in the hands of God.  The only wisdom we can claim is the knowledge that God is ultimately in control.  People may attempt to prove that they know just as much as God, but they only deceive themselves.  We cannot know the love of God based on the material world.  We can only know it through faith.  People may attempt to judge Christians by their wealth or even health, but people are only Christians by a spiritual relationship with God, and it is not dependent on materialism.  If we begin to proclaim a gospel based on material possessions, then we are not proclaiming what God's word states.  At least this is my understanding, and I believe is what Solomon was stating also.  Verse two states, All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.  I believe Solomon was saying that it doesn't matter what comes to us in live does not matter, but how we live our lives in relationship to God is what makes the difference.  Those who declare that there is no God may prosper, as may those that believe in God, leading those that do not believe to conclude that it is foolish to follow God.  Verse three says, This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.  Solomon proclaimed that the heart of men was full of evil.  This has not changed.   Without the direction of God, we all live under the evil and madness of the heart.  What can be more of a sign of evil and madness than to devote everything to the acquisition and hoarding of the things of this world when death awaits us, and those material things are forever lost.  We, as followers of Christ, must live in accordance with His leadership.

Ecclesiastes 8:14 says, There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.  I believe that Solomon was exploring the question we hear so often today, which is why do the evil prosper while the righteous suffer.  Solomon is saying that even if that is the case, we can never blame God.  Again, my understanding of this idea would be that we cannot claim that everything that happens in life is caused by God or is His will.  If it is, then we could indeed hold God accountable.  I realize that some people hold a different view, and that they see God as controlling ever aspect of life but as I have stated many times, this is not my understanding.  When bad things happen to good people, that is not God's will, but the result of people being given the freedom of choice.  Verse fifteen says,  Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.  Solomon said he commended mirth, or joy.  We, as God's people, should indeed be full of joy, no matter what is going on in the world.  We can really ask for nothing more than to eat, sleep and be merry, or joyful. A lot of money is spent today just to help people sleep, often because they are just too worried about gaining and maintaining the things of this world.   Verse sixteen and seventeen say, When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.   I believe Solomon is saying that even if we spend every moment day and night attempting understand everything that happens in the world, we would never be successful.  All we would accomplish is losing sleep and giving in to worry.  We must acknowledge that there are some things that we can never understand.  Like Adam and Eve, we may want to be as knowledgeable as God, but we never will be.  We must, as followers of Christ, learn to be content with simply enjoying our lives in a right relationship with Him.  As long as we accept that we have everlasting life with God, not someday but from the day we accept Christ as our Savior, then nothing else of this world really matters.

Ecclesiastes 8:9 says, All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.  Solomon was stating a fact that we today see everywhere, and that is that some rulers are not concerned with how much their actions may hurt others.  We really should not be surprised when this happens.  We too often look at the world from the perspective of life in America and think of how bad things have gotten, ignoring the abuse of people in the rest of the world.  We know that in some countries that those who oppose those in power are routinely killed, but somehow we are not really concerned.  We will really never change this through anything other than reaching people with the Gospel.  We may see leaders come and go, some supposedly to change things for the better, but once they are in power, they prove to be as bad or worse than those they replaced.  We must change their hearts by the acceptance Christ to really change anything.  Verse ten says, And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.  Those who abuse and mistreat the ones that they rule over may be buried with honor, their abuse forgotten.  This is not the final ruling of their life though.  One day, God will hold them accountable.  Verse eleven states, Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.  Solomon was continuing his study of those who do evil, especially rulers, and said since a sentence against evil was slow to come, they grew even bolder in their wickedness.  The same remains true today.  The longer a person lives successfully while doing evil in the world, the bolder they become.  We see so many instances of this in the world today, but we need to rest assured that one day they will face God, and they will then realize how vain their power and wealth really are.  Verses twelve and thirteen continue this thought stating, Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.  We cannot be upset with God if the wicked live long and prosperous lives here on earth, because our call is simply to serve God.  We need never think that because evil abounds that God has lost control or left us.  One day, God will judge all, and even those who thought they had a long life will realize how much like a vapor it really was.  Evil will never win in the end.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 says, There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.  We do not have the ability to avoid death of the physical body when it comes.  We can do everything that the health care professionals tell us to do, but we still will not be able to avoid death.  In our war with death of this body we are always going to be the losers.  It is where the spirit goes that we do have control over, and that is the ultimate victory or defeat.  If we are followers of Christ, we go to everlasting life with Him.  If we are not, we go away to eternal separation.   We can never have a victory over physical death, but we can choose how we live our life.  These last few verses have warned against fatalism and a devil may care attitude as well.  Especially as God's people, we can never take the attitude that nothing we do matters.  I hear Christians today say that they don't want to get involved in the things of this world because everything is so evil. We, as followers of Christ, withdraw more and more from the world and then sit back and complain about how bad things have gotten.  We cannot remove ourselves from the world and expect it to get better.  To restate another truth from earlier, we are sent into the world to change the world.  We are not commissioned to simply wait and pray for the Second Coming, but to use this life, no matter how long or short it may be, to spread the good news of Christ.  We are not a defeated people, but we are everlastingly victorious.  Again, we cannot control the fact that one day, no matter how hard we fight against it, we will die, but but that should never cause us to live fearful or reckless lives.  We are to live victorious under the leadership of Christ.

Ecclesiastes 8:6 states, Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.  We must always realize that everything we do is done at a certain time in life and is subject to the judgment of God.  When we realize this, that can lead to misery if we are not living by God's will.  That would be my understanding of what Solomon meant in this verse.  Matthew Henry says that good and bad are both preordained by God.  Again I will never believe that God is the author of evil.  Many religions do see their god, or gods, just arbitrarily sending evil into a person's life simply for their own amusement.  If we believe that God is responsible for everything that happens in the world, then we need not attempt to determine what we should do, because whatever we decide will always be God's responsibility.  That being the case, how could God in all fairness ever condemn a sinner, since God would be responsible for their actions.  This is one of the main reasons I believe that the free will of man is responsible for the evil in the world.  Verse seven says, For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?  Solomon said there was no way to know the future.  People today seek out horoscopes and seers to tell them what the future holds, but God tells us, as His followers, that we are not to be concerned with the future.  Our future, as His followers, is in His hands, and that is all we need to be concerned with.  As I have said before, I believe this means we are not to be concerned with pinning down the time of the Second Coming, but are only to be ready when it does come.  This really isn't a reward for those who have accepted Christ, but a judgment for those who haven't.  As we get older, as followers of Christ, we get ever so much closer to being with God forever, so we do not need to worry about our destination.  We do, however, need to be concerned with the everlasting fate of the lost and be utilizing our time reaching them.  The future here on earth is not something we can know, but we can be sure that God is in control.

Ecclesiastes 8:4 says, Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?  In the world of Solomon, the king's word was all powerful.  A person did not question what the king said.  In our world, here in America at least, we do not have one person who has that authority, so we may freely question why our leaders are doing something.  We may even question a law, but unless it goes against the teachings of God, we are still to obey it.  Many people in the world do not have this freedom, and are never free to question the ruler or rulers.  We as followers of Christ have one ruler we should never question, though, and that is God.  What God says will always be true.  Verse five continues with, Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.  If we are obeying the law, we do not have to fear that law.  Just as an example from today's world, have you ever found yourself looking at the speedometer with one eye and looking for the police with the other, because you know you are speeding?  If we are driving within the speed limit, and not by how much over we think we can get by with, we don't have to look for the police.  We may even want to see how far we can stray from God's laws and not get caught.  When we are looking around to see who is watching, be sure that God is.  When it comes to the law of man, if we feel that a law is wrong, we need to use wisdom and judgment in attempting to change it.  If we feel the need for civil disobedience, we must make sure that we are doing it under the leadership of God and doing it in a civil manner.  God will never lead us to riot and destroy simply to show our anger or to enrich ourselves.  If people are oppressed enough, as in many countries today, they may rise up in rebellion.  If so, they need the knowledge and understanding to replace the corrupt government with something better, or nothing will really change.  When we become followers of Christ, we not only renounce our sinful nature, but we replace it with a new nature that is led by the Holy Spirit.  This is definitely a better plan.