With Ecclesiastes 6:11, we begin the last half of this book. There are a total of 222 verses, and 6:10 completes the first 111 of them. This last half is characterized by the questions “who knows?” and “who can tell?”
As chapter 7 begins, the writer once more approaches the idea of adversity: death, mourning, sorrow, rebuke, being made angry – all these are a part of our lives and nothing can be done about any of them. It is as if God has made them. In fact, Solomon says God has.
The question is: “how will we deal with them?”
Solomon suggests that adversity provides an opportunity to consider how we are living and to learn from the difficulties we face.
I like this verse: “Do not say, ‘Why were old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.” The reason it is not wise is that the “old days” we too often regard as ‘better’ because they had less troubles. But if God has made the bad times too, they we should not regret them, but use them to enhance our lives.