Life is a battleground of cruelty and oppression.
“I saw people being mean to each other and making them sad. The powerful people who are mean have all the control, and there’s no one to help the sad ones,” (Ecclesiastes 4:1).
It’s like this throughout history of the world, with one group always hurting another. It happens today, too. People suffer being oppressed, crying with tears with seemingly no one to comfort them.
There’s no hope since there is no one to take their side. The powerful ones keep hurting them, and there’s no one to stop them. Solomon even thinks that the dead are better off than those still alive. And it’s even better if you were never born at all!
“So, I think it’s better for the dead—they’re luckier than those who are still alive. But the luckiest of all are those who were never born, who never had to see all the bad things that happen in the world,” (Ecclesiastes 4:2-3).
This shows how people who don’t believe in God: extreme pessimism about what’s happening in the world. Without the hope and comfort that Christ gives, they can only see the bad things around them, and it makes them feel utter hopelessness.
In Solomon’s honest look at human suffering, he speaks to those who don’t believe in God. Without faith, they see life’s unfairness and feel hopeless. But even in the darkest times, there’s always a chance for hope. We just need to remember to look for Christ, believe in him, and hold onto our faith.