In Days of Adversity
This Sunday, I had the opportunity to preach on Ecclesiastes 7 at my church, Trinity Church Denver. Here, I’ve distilled and adapted a portion of the sermon. You can check the full sermon out directly here.
“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.”
- Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
What are the troubles that you face today? Life faces us with all sorts of trouble. Life doesn’t promise a particular pattern of prosperity. The arrival of adversity is unpredictable, whether it’s the loss of a job, the strains of the economy, a difficult chapter in marriage, or the death of a loved one. And here’s what might be even more troubling at first glance: Solomon (the author of Ecclesiaste)( assumes crookedness to be something He has made. Consider. Open your eyes to “the work of God” (7:13). Solomon wheels you before God and asks you to keep your eyes open.
There is deep mystery to God being the Author of our adversity. But hold back from asking, “why is my life this way?” for just a moment. God is often silent on the questions that we would like answers to and, here, he calls us to ask a few better questions about our hearts:
What kind of response do you give when faced with trouble?
What kind of character are you in seasons that cause you severe discomfort, pain, and grief?
Do you work to straighten what God has made crooked?
There are many schemes by which we try to straighten what God has made crooked (7:29). When life is not giving us what we want, we often make efforts to overrun God’s role. Whether we are scrambling to make up for trouble by fixing our own image (Ecclesiastes 7:16) or running to pleasures in seeking to prolong life under the sun (Ecclesiastes 7:17), the human heart makes vain attempts to straighten what God has made crooked.
Step back for a moment and consider this from another angle. Do not forget the layers to the scene that’s at play, consider another character that’s on the stage: Satan (1 Peter 5:8). This schemer loves to tempt us to in service to the trinity of darkness (the world, the flesh, and the devil). He would love to help keep you spinning for all of our lives, scrambling to keep one’s own self-image. Putting a veil of sinful pleasure in front of the messy seasons. Ensuring that you don’t sit quietly before your God.
Naturally, we look for answers as to ‘why?’ and ‘what caused this?’. But there is a way out of all of this, “It is good that you should take hold of this, and form that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them” (7:18, emphasis added). Solomon offers little response to our natural questions and instead answers the completely different question of ‘how?’ Fear God. Bind yourself to the God who is present in the scene that you’re standing in. There is a great line from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,
“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” ―C.S. Lewis,The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
This God may not be safe but He promises good things to His children. Exhibit A: remember the death of Jesus. God used the schemes of man to work the crucifixion of Jesus for your good. How? Not by giving us ‘straight’ lives, lives that we can coast through…but His Son died on a crooked cross in order to straighten the hearts schemers. What a useful meditation for our own crooked lives! Look for His works in the sobering places. Don’t close your eyes to the story He has for you. Consider the ways He is renewing your heart today.
