If the book of Ecclesiastes depresses you and the writer sounds like a spoiled whiner, as one person has told me, then chances are that life is pretty good, and, for whatever reason, you are immunized against the gut-wrench sorrow many experience. However, if you are struggling with a situation of injustice or unbearable pain, in which you have suffered absolute horror and the perpetrator was let go with little more than a slap on the wrist, or you suffer from excruciating pain that the doctors are unable to alleviate—in other words the kind of experiences counselors hear almost every day—then Ecclesiastes will inevitable lift your spirits.

Appreciation for the book of Ecclesiastes is not limited to melancholies, but it certainly follows an inverse curve to the amount of adversity one has met or is capable of feeling empathy for in life.

In either case, whether you are hanging onto hope by only a thread, or you would like to help someone in such a condition, the writer of Ecclesiastes offers five rules for living with injustice in life.

1. "Nobody can understand what God does here on earth." (Eccles. 8:17)

The last thing any sufferer needs is an explanation for why he or she is suffering. Explanations seek to make things reasonable and thereby acceptable—which is the last thing in world someone in real pain wants to hear. Adding God into the mix only makes things worse. It suggests that not only do we live in a world of cause-and-effect, action and reaction, in which bad things simply happen as part of the nature of things, but that at the bottom of everything, God sees fit for heinous things to happen. Suffering is the natural counterpart to sin—we are all sinners, after all.

If you are suffering and you believe this, remember Rule 1: Nobody can understand what God does here on earth. My own reading of the Bible offers little explanation for the suffering and pain people experience in life. Job, the psalmists, Habakkuk, John the Baptist, even Jesus cried out for an answer, but never received one—or perhaps at best an indirect one.

The cry of complaint is made in the name of some higher order of good, therefore radical complaint against unjustified suffering and pain can only be made in the name of a good that nowhere exists in this world. So the stronger the complaint, the higher must be the good, until complaints lead us to a perfect good, which is only another name for God. We cannot understand what God does on the earth, but one thing is certain: wherever God shows up, it is always on the side of widows and orphans, the poor and the oppressed, the suffering and those who carry heavy burdens.

2. "Both good and bad things happen to everyone." (Eccles. 9:2)

Most of us assume that the physical world runs on cause-and-effect, action and reaction. We do not expect our coffee cup to float away from our desk as we sit typing at our computer, but we are not surprised if it becomes airborne when the plane we are flying in hits a sudden wind sheer. We understand the laws that govern the movement of objects.

Likewise, we are astonished if a quiet, well-mannered friend suddenly goes berserk, and wonder what brought about the change. Things don’t just happen without a cause. But when we observe the moral world, we find a very different picture. Both good and bad happen "to those who sacrifice and to those who do not. The same things happen to a person who makes a promise to God as to one who does."

The fool draws the lesson from this that if there are no necessary rewards for doing good, then why try? That is the way fools think. The lesson the wise learn is that what happens to us is not a direct indication of whether we are good or bad. Just because things turn out bad for us is no sign that we are bad. Likewise, just because things are going well, is no sign that we are good. Doing good is not based on rewards or punishments. The only reason for doing good is because it is good. That is the way the wise think.

3. "Even a live dog is better off than a dead lion." (Eccles. 9:4)

This is a rule for very bad days. The good thing about having a bad day is that you are still alive so that you can have bad days. "The living know they will die, but the dead no longer think about such things. Dead people have no more reward. People forget them" (Eccles. 9:6). So, on your next very bad day, repeat over and over again to yourself, Rule 3. "Even a live dog is better off than a dead lion,…even a live dog is better than a dead lion,…even a live dog is better than a dead lion,…" and your day will take a decided turn for the better.

We all make comparisons when things go bad for us. Next time, however, when things go bad, don’t compare your life to that of a friend or even a fortunate enemy, compare your life to the condition of the most esteemed dead, and ask yourself then if you would like to trade places. More than likely your day will seem better

4. "After a person is dead, he can no longer show love or hate or jealousy. And he will never again share in the things that happen here on earth. So go eat your food and enjoy it. Drink your wine and be happy. It is all right with God if you do this. Put on nice clothes and make yourself look good. Enjoy life with the wife you love. Enjoy all the days of this short life God has given you here on earth." (Eccles. 9:5–9)

At first blush, this sounds a lot like a great deal of secular philosophy—eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die. The tone of Ecclesiastes is, in fact, quite different. The focus of Rule 4 is upon attending to the good things of life, not upon numbing one’s mind into a state of indifference to death. The writer of Ecclesiastes is telling us what mental health experts tell us: most mental suffering in life comes by way of the past or future.

If we want to be happy, we need to focus on the present moment. We need to live in the now. We need to enjoy the good things we experience daily in life. Trying to stop worrying only intensifies the worry. Only enjoyment trumps worry and sorrow. So go eat your food and enjoy it. Drink your wine and be happy. Put on nice clothes and make yourself look good. Enjoy life with the wife you love. It is all right with God if you do this.

5. "The fastest runner does not always win the race. The strong army does not always win the battle. The wise man does not always have food. The smart man does not always become wealthy. And the man with special skills does not always receive praise." Still, "The quiet words of a wise man are better than the shouts of a foolish ruler. Wisdom is better than weapons of war. But one sinner can destroy much good." (Eccles. 9:11–18)

John F. Kennedy was right when he said that life is not fair. Still, some things in life are better than others. In a certain town, there was a wise man who put his wisdom to saving the town against a great king who fought against it, only later to have everyone in the town forget him. Still, it is better to be wise than a fool. Any fool can destroy much good. But only the wise, often at great cost to themselves and indifference from others, preserve the good. And what is their reward? The reward of being wise.

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