As you and I continue to work on ourselves (Part 2), Ecclesiastes 9:13-18 reminds us that even bunglers and “bungler” realities can’t diminish the beauty of wisdom, the status of the poor in God’s eyes, or the value of quiet, unsung, heroic acts of service (Part 1).
This is a comfort, no doubt.
But even heroic acts of service have their limits. And Ecclesiastes is famous for asking the question, “Who can make straight what God has made crooked?” (7:13). The answer is no one can, and it’s a statement about both human limitation and God’s sovereignty.
Yes, we need to look to ourselves and be the change we want to see, but we must often look outside ourselves and “life under the sun” for hope beyond our fleeting, crooked, and broken existence. And if we’re open to a God who has the power to cause or allow some things to be crooked, we should be open to a God who has the power to work some “good news” miracles.
And here’s a bit on that front: When we get to the Gospels in the New Testament, there are some reversals to this “who can make straight what he has made crooked” dynamic in some very specific and major areas. And these reversals give hope to sinners of various stripes– including bunglers. Mark, the first gospel that was written—the one that the other relied on, begins like this:
1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.
2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight,’ ”
4 so John the baptizer appeared[e] in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The Isaiah prophecy is about John, but in a greater way, Jesus—the God-man—who does have the power to make crooked paths straight.
In Christ and through “the baptism of repentance of the forgiveness of sins” a Way is made. That is, through a series of divine heroic acts, light has broken into the darkness of our fleeting existence. So much so that Death has lost its sting. And in Christ, we are never forgotten. Moreover, we are promised that because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, nothing will ever be able to separate us from God’s love.
Dane Ortlund in his devotional Psalter says it this way:
“The grace of God grants a significance that transcends our brief little lives. For we have been united to Christ. His future now determines our future.”[1]
In my cynicism, I have found comfort and healing in reflecting on the above and listening to and singing the song Way Maker by the Nigerian singer and songwriter Sinach. My favorite version is by Leeland, and here is part of the chorus:
Way maker, miracle worker
Promise keeper, light in the darkness
Our God, that is who You are
Friends, we don’t need to be great kings or powerful influencers. We don’t even need to be noticed by them. As followers of Christ, what we need is to identify with the poor—especially the poor in spirit, grow in wisdom, work on ourselves, and find joy in quiet, unsung, heroic acts of service. Most importantly, we need to remember that in Christ our little stories are now united with God’s story. He is the Way Maker, and His future now determines our future.
[1] Dane Ortlund’s notes at the end of Psalm 102 in his Devotional Psalter (Crossway, 2001)