God puts a restraint on man when he is disobedient to him. If we live as if God is not there and does not matter, then there is a penalty to pay. When the preacher explains the gospel, maybe he spends too much time saying that if you sin, you cannot come to know him in the world to come. Maybe he should say more of what Solomon says – ‘If you do not seek him then you will lose out even while you are still in this life. If you ignore him you will suffer even here. That is why everybody has sadness and disappointment and limitations in life.’ You say, ‘That cannot be true. I know of people who have made millions in their lives, and become great financiers – nothing seems to go wrong for them.’ Yes, but a fly on the wall will see something else: problems and pressures and unhappy home life. Others are passed over for promotion and made to do things beneath them. There is a limitation placed on all who will not have time for God. Here is the courtier who is out of step with the king, and so the king puts limits on him.
The wise man recognises that he is living under authority, under the Lordship of Christ. All things work together for his good and he finds himself in harmony with the purposes of God. But the fool, the unbeliever, lives continually out of step with God’s providence, so his self-centred plans are thwarted by God, and he has an oppressive sense that his whole life is unprofitable. God’s laws are not given to men to restrict them and frustrate them, but to protect them from dangers and to lead them into fullness of life. What hope of success can we have if we do battle with God? Even if all mankind were to unite against him and try to overthrow his government, God would laugh at them, for the nations are as a drop in a bucket to him.