Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
" Consider the work of God,
For who is able to straighten what He has bent?
In the day of prosperity be happy,
But in the day of adversity consider—
God has made the one as well as the other
So that man will not discover anything that will be after him."
Have you ever taken stock of your life to step back and view it in its whole? Think of the twisted puzzle pieces of your days and consider the pattern they make and the story behind each. As you assemble each colorful piece a pattern will start to emerge ... if you view them through the eyes of faith ... a faith that sees them through God's eyes and a faith that sees them shaped and formed by the hand of God. This is what God is telling us in the above passage. Through Solomon's writing and thoughts, God is telling us to "consider" the work of God in our lives. We often simply think of "God's work" as His creation and we are here to enjoy it and live in it. Yet, the real work of God's hand is how He moves us through this creation and uses the events of our lives to shape us and to form us. God, according to Solomon, actually takes time to "bend" parts of our lives. We would like everything straight and comfortable, but Solomon tells us that what we want straighten, God has "bent." The Hebrew word used here in the verse for "bent" is often used in the negative of making the truth, crooked, or making justice, perverted. It can also mean to bend down and bend over. What Solomon is telling us is that the puzzle pieces of our lives have been made crooked and twisted by the work of God. That work, he tells us, should be celebrated when it appears to bring prosperity. But, when it brings us adversity we ought to stop to "consider" the work. God has made the prosperity but He also uses the adversity ... we ought to consider that. God makes one as well as the other. The last line of verse 14 is to be the conclusion of the previous. If we consider the work of God in our lives and that he brings the adversity (for a purpose) along with the prosperity, if we indeed consider that by faith, then there is nothing to discover in mystery after that. We are not going to find some secret thing later that explains life other than this fact: God is in charge and nothing else matters. He will go on to write about seeing the righteous end up, in Solomon's eyes, like the wicked and the wicked, in man's eyes, will end up like the righteous. This all might seem futile, but in reality God is simply weaving a bigger pattern than we can see, at times. We are to praise God and worship Him for how He bends parts of our lives. Consider the work of God's hands in your life. It might look bent, but God did it for a purpose that fits His plan for you and others.
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