“When you dig a well, you might fall in.

When you demolish an old wall, you could be bitten by a snake.

When you work in a quarry, stones might fall and crush you.

When you chop wood, there is danger with each stroke of your ax.”

Ecclesiastes 10:8-9

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It's time to get real!

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If you ask anyone in our church to finish this statement “Life is _____,” almost all of them would say “Life.” Life is Life; Christians get cancer and broken bones just like anyone else. Our pastor reminds us of this often, not to discourage us, but for a reality check. We can’t live in fear of those things, but we can’t walk through life thinking that we are exempt from them, either. The truth is… Life is life!

 

Solomon the wisest human who ever walked and will ever walk this earth (I Kings 3:12) stated the obvious: if you dig a well, there’s the chance that you might fall into it; if you pull down an old stone wall in the woods, there could be a snake lurking, and he might bite you. In today’s words, if you drive a car, you might get in an accident; if you eat, you could get food poisoning. The truth is, the normal things in life have risks attached to them. IT’S NORMAL… It’s called life!

 

Solomon didn’t leave us there (and neither does our Pastor). The next verse in this chapter of Ecclesiastes says this: “If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.” The wise thing to do… sharpen the ax! If you are doing something, be wise about it. Apply God-given wisdom (which usually looks a lot like common sense) and you increase your chances of things being successful, rather than disastrous.

 

In a previous blog (Wisdom Beyond our Years), we looked at wisdom specifically related to difficult times in our lives. Today, wisdom is referring to that built-in, common sense wisdom that God equips us with. When you drive a car, it’s more of a risk to drive in speeds that exceed what has been determined as safe for that area. For our safety and the safety of those around us, we need to be wise—don’t exceed the speed limit! When we eat, there are certain precautions that are obvious… be wise—DON’T EAT GREEN MEAT! (unless you’re Sam-I-Am)

 

Life is life! We won’t avoid all the pitfalls of it. We won’t walk through it unscathed. As Christians we are just as susceptible to the consequences that came about through the sin of Adam and Eve as everyone else is. The consequences are universal. BUT, God equipped us all with wisdom to help us through this journey called “life.”

 

We can’t wake up in the morning and say “I don’t think I’ll do life, today.” If we’re alive, there is life. We can’t be afraid of it, but we can’t live in “la-la” land, either. We must be thankful for the blessing of wisdom God equipped us with, and remember as Christians, we are blessed even beyond that… we know we can ask God for more wisdom in times of need. And when the tough things do touch our lives, we have an Advocate; we have a Comforter; we have the Prince of Peace to turn to.

 

Yup… Life is life, and what an "every day" gift it is!

 

Reminder: Life is risky, but God has equipped me and blessed me with what I need to make it through.