The Wise Assessment of our Human Condition

One of the best proverbs in the scripture is found in Ecclesiastes 7.

Ecclesiastes 7:21–22 (ESV) Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.

In these two verses, we have so much Gospel-centered truth. What is the Gospel's first statement to man but that we have sinned! We are therefore all flawed and stained by sin. Since this is so, we must regard the insults of men or their praises as rooted in such flaws. The insult or praise is not necessarily true as it comes from a heart navigationally off course from the truth. In the end, the words or opinions of men and women must not be the definition of our lives. And we should consider that from our own hearts we have cursed others. 

James rightly agrees:

James 3:9 (ESV) With (our tongue) we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

Solomon further enumerates our own desperate estate by once again acknowledging his own failings in the pursuits of his life:

Ecclesiastes 7:23–24 (ESV) All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

Solomon tried and failed. The truth is no one can truly live fully wise. Therefore everyone must confess some measure of foolishness and understand their weakness as a human. 

He then considers how few good men or women really are. 

Ecclesiastes 7:27–28 (ESV) Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— 28 which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found.

This is not to suggest you find men more often righteous than women. Solomon is speaking from personal experience. He could perhaps find a friend among a thousand associates, but as a man, he could not make such a connection with a woman. Most honest people will admit to the struggle of close association with the opposite sex. The temptation and/or gender differences are too much to overcome. 

Finally, he arrives at the conclusion of the matter:

Ecclesiastes 7:29 (ESV) See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

God made man righteous in Adam, but through Adam's sin, all men have sought out their own way of life through their own folly to destruction. 

So Solomon comes to an important conclusion. Man's state is hopelessly flawed. The words in his mouth, the quests of his ambitions and the difficulty of his relationships all point to one inalterable reality: we are not as we should be. 

And here's the thing: this is good news. 

Why? 

Because if we never address our true condition, we will never fully seek our true solution. The true solution to our sin was in the one righteous man who made all men and shed his blood for them. The Master was cursed by us and for us and became the one righteous friend among 1000s to us. 

In Christ alone, and not ourselves, we find meaning, purpose, and joy. In Christ alone and not ourselves we find wisdom and truth.