Why doesn’t everything in life go ‘as planned’ or ‘as it should be’? How come smart people are not always rich? How came fast people don’t win every race? Why do the strong lose important battles? Is it really time and chance that govern life? Is everything random and is there no guiding hand from Providence? I felt that way before I came to Christ! Oh, how I feel sorry for wise king Solomon. He laments that everyone has the same fate and there really is no sense to this life. But, deep down, he knows better. When you live life ‘under the sun’, you only see what appears on the surface. In reality, there is a vast difference between what is happening to people who have faith in God and those who don’t. First and foremost, Christians have the abiding presence of God, the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers do not. Christians do not merely ‘go to the grave’ or sheol, we live with Christ and other saints in glory forever. When bad things happen to Christians (the rain falling on the just and unjust), we can turn to God for solace, insight, and comfort. To whom do you turn?
I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them. Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 NASB
Do I expect to live life untouched by sin, difficulty, hardship and tragedy? How has God always been real and present with me?
God, as this day begins- I thank you for my lovely wife. Walk with her closely today. Give her the sense of value that I ascribe and I know that You do too! Sometimes I feel like I am working in ministry… and others moments ‘on the ministry’- shoring things up, building processes, etc. Give me the balance today since I don’t have too many meetings. Then, as this week finishes, help me minister to those getting married and foster that heaven-sent sense of joy… and in the next moments, grieve with precious families suffering loss.
