There's Something Wrong with Everything...

And that's the premise of Ecclesiastes. In this life, in this world, there is nothing that is not flawed. Everything is screwed up... everything falls short. Nothing can satisfy.

What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

It's no surprise, then, when the Preacher comes to the realization that bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people (8.14 for example). So... believe it or not, the "problem of evil" is not some new philosophical proof against the existence of God... it's been around for a while.

But that begs the question... is it really a problem at all? Given the choice to do good, I've done evil. Over and over again throughout my whole life. So have you. So has everyone. When you live in a world where 6-7 billion people are choosing to do evil, why should it be a surprise to anyone when bad things happen? If God really is good and he really is just and he really is all-powerful, it's a wonder anything good happens to anyone at all.

The fact that nothing is perfect, yet the longing for perfection is present in every person should tell us that we were made for something other than what we see. The fact that we who choose evil still long for something good should tell us we were made for something else. The simple fact that we know things aren't the way they should be should tell us that we were made for something more.