I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭9‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Seems like practicing noble virtues should count for something.

The bible tells us God can’t lie, change, or think like us. That latter ‘omniscience’ is a regard that God is all-knowing.

An equal chance that a good or bad thing happening to us is improved upon by practicing good, wisdom-infused behaviors toward which God instructs and directs us tilts the scales and probabilities in our favor.

However, in a corrupt and fallen world with a tangible enemy in the mix working as hard against us as we are working for us, bad things can still happen to set us back from what had seemed like realistic and logical explanations for doing the right thing.

If we were omniscient like God, we might see that he will and does work all things together for the good who love God and are called according to his purpose.

Maybe not instantly but most certainly strategically to build faith and spiritual depth in us, God’s timeline and omniscience will produce a better outcome in the end. His end.

So still do your best, wisest, swiftest, most brilliant and favorable work, and let time and chance (God) take hold of the outcome from there.

In the end, with your dashed expectations put aside, watch him do his magic and defeat for good that which the enemy meant for evil.

The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Escaping oversight or even just a healthy challenge often finds the challenged grasping for too many words to defend positions often poisoned by their own lies and half-truths.

Brevity, once the plain talking cut-to-the-chase answer that broke through a clutter of excuses, is now the ugly stepchild of those who either will not take blame and accept consequences, or worse, won’t have the guts to stand for unpopular convictions.

While politics is often the stage where this acts out, we’ve all experienced this interpersonally.

All of us are sinners who at times either try to avoid God’s probing or are too meek to stand up publicly for his truths and get caught up in long-winded word salads of our own.

Let your yes be yes

and your no be no.

-Matthew 5:37

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.

Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭31‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Our senior citizens are in desperate need of advocates.

I’ve spent the last dozen years and a lifetime before speaking out and speaking up for a lonely and voiceless generation to which I now belong.

Lacking money, energy, and now the basic technological skills to make their voices heard in an online world, their concerns and requests remain brushed under a rug.

They are a lost generation becoming more invisible by the day for lack of interest and enthusiasm of the now selfish generations they created.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬

One by one, they are becoming an impoverished cohort of forgotten stories and crushed voices whose equal rights are without equal representation.

God instructs us to be advocates for the needy with whom we share this earth.

If we fail, what goes around will-in time-most certainly come back around.

Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given.
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭25‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Delivering truth to someone is a special craft.

Our well-intentioned words can enlighten and heal or trample their souls into undeserved grief.

Golden apples arrayed on a silver tray is analagous to gracious and beautiful words delivered gently and thoughtfully to the right person at just the right moment.

Unsolicited commentary may have its place—albeit more infrequently—but when solicited, it presents opportunity to speak the truth in love.

Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine the path they’re walking.

Be that apple of gold that creates change and leaves a lasting impression. 

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭25‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Disarming by acting unexpectedly removes the weapon from your enemy’s hand.

Those at odds with you don’t expect your kindness to prevail.

But taking the higher road still recognizes and responds to the needs of others despite your differences.

The greatest of these is love. -1 Cor 13

Love is foundational to human existence and relationships; it has the power to inspire, heal, and connect.

Disarming an enemy in this way results in a reward that hastens resolution of conflict by making it personal, assuring the other that you care beyond the conflict.

A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭19‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-Triggered without gunfire.

-Smart people know what sets them off and they know when not to shoot.

-God knows our triggers and the wisdom in not letting them control what we do when they’re pulled.

It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭20‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-Knee-jerk reactions are for children to start fights. Adulting tempers our emotional triggers and moves interactions forward in ways that promote peace and understanding.

Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭21‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-Know your own triggers before they own you.

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Count on me, lean on me, depend on me. So many songs about friendship, its expectations and its cost it’s hard to imagine life without one or two good people who gladly will have your six.

Then a test comes and you discover you’re just as alone as the day you came into this world.

Heartbreaking.

What little trust you had in people is shattered in an instant.

Throughout history until very recently, the blood bonds of family were considered super glue and inescapably reliable.

As believers, we enjoy a new and literal blood bond with Jesus, a brother who has our six, three, nine, and twelve at times and places when misplaced loyalties and allegiances have burned us.

We need friends, but when the rubber meets the road, our only and truly reliable advocate is the one who came through for us and gave his life to save ours.

My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you.

Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and to insight, “You are my relative.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Tethered to the commands and teachings of God, we create an inanimate bond and relationship to life itself.

Inseparably, wisdom and insight are prized like members of your family for whom you would gladly die.

There’s a compelling reason king Solomon chose wisdom over riches when presented the choice.

Holding intangible virtues trumps all the world’s riches as a guide through the complex decisions of life.

If it was an easy path we wouldn’t need to hold so tightly against the temptations of the world that otherwise so easily snare us.

Be different.

Lead from virtues.

Model an inseparable connection to the holiness of God and watch others follow.

It’s what people need, want, and seek most of all.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:

haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are quick to rush into evil,

a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The seventh is a summary of the other six, emphasizing the cumulative destructive impact to a community of the previous six.

Health and vitality for a group of believers is deconstructed piecemeal by individual sins.

Keeping your own nose clean is a service to yourself but moreover it’s a service to all those who share your space.

Your sin works double-duty for the devil who won’t stop at just tearing you down but relishes the thought of it bringing down the entire house.