Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
I read this scripture at several times and it was one of those that did not make sense to me. I even read it using multiple versions. Here is a basic explanation of this verse: If God has made something crooked we are not going to be able make it straight. We have been instructed to be joyful when prosperity lands in our life and we have been instructed to learn during moments of adversity. Prosperity and adversity operate within the same realm. God has set them beside each other in order for us to realize that both have a purpose and that we will learn to realize life is filled with uncertainty.
We want like it when things operate in a certain pattern. We like routine and we like things to go as expected. We need to expect the unexpected. God uses the uncertainty throughout life to build our faith. The crazy things we endure and the unusual blessings we receive keep us on our toes. One day you are expecting a blessing and you receive adversity. The next day you are expecting adversity and you receive a blessing. There are so many times we can look back on certain life events and actually say “that did not go like I had envisioned it to go. God does these things so that we can set our minds on His will and His work in our lives. The unexpected brings us to a place where we have to totally trust God. We have to use faith in order to maneuver through adversity and we have to use faith in order to rejoice over prosperity.
God operates the scales. From our end things may not seem very balanced. I, for one have wondered if God why God decided to send adversity in my life and prosperity in another person’s life. I have also wondered why God has chosen to bless me while allowing others to be born with such adversity. Our perspective does not see God operating fairly. Honestly, I have wondered if God even knows what balance truly means. Sometimes I think God’s prosperity channel is stuck on someone else and someone’s adversity channel is stuck on me. Through this I have to learn to have faith that God knows the balance. Would it not be great if it were all prosperity? If that was the case we would not know how to be joyful during moments of prosperity because we would not even know adversity. It is through adversity that we learn to appreciate prosperity. It is through prosperity we learn to appreciate adversity. There is no great blessing than to know you have endured adversity in order to experience a blessing at the finish line.
Lesson: Seasons are simply seasons. They are both uncertain and unpredictable. Every seasons is tempered with prosperity and adversity. The balance is in God’s hands. We must expect the unexpected and just trust God.