Life From God's Perspective

We are often destitute of the things that life demands,
We want of food and want of shelter, thirsty hills and barren lands;
We are trusting in the Lord, and according to God's Word,
We will understand it better by and by.

Charles Tindley

Read

Today let's look at Ecclesiastes 4:1-6. This "under the sun" section is divided into 2 paragraphs, and they don't seem to have much in common. Read it a second, or even a third time, thinking about what in the world they have to do with each other.

Think

Solomon takes us to more evil under the sun. More things to confuse us, to make us wonder about whether or not God knows what He's doing, if He even exists. First, we have oppression. Powerful people oppress the weak and poor. It's a fact of life. Second, the workplace is full of both over-competitive and lazy people. The bosses relentlessly fight their way to the top, and the lazy people do just enough to live.

But then there are those people who live above it all.

In the midst of oppression, though it seems it would be better to never have been born, there are always those people who seem to be unaffected and unwavering in the face of their oppressors. In the workplace, there are those who don't seem to be concerned with getting ahead, yet they are productive, not just getting by.

The common thread?

If our mindset is under the sun, we will never be able to reconcile the oppression of the poor with the idea of a good and just God. If our mindset is under the sun, we will either be consumed with getting ahead at work, or we will do just enough to get by. Living life in God's perspective, though, allows us to know that oppression happens, but God is the ultimate judge. Living life in God's perspective allows us to realize that there are more important things in life than that next promotion or raise, and at the same time gives us purpose and meaning in our work.

Help us indeed to be content, Lord, in the pleasant valley between too much and too little; between slavery and sloth; between overcompeting and underperforming. There, in that valley where heaven meets earth, we can walk with our hand in Yours rather than grasping at the wind.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth