How do you make an entrance? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Tonight, we look at Ecclesiastes 10:8-11.
He who digs a pit will fall into it,
and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall.
9 He who quarries stones is hurt by them,
and he who splits logs is endangered by them.
10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,
he must use more strength,
but wisdom helps one to succeed.
11 If the serpent bites before it is charmed,
there is no advantage to the charmer.
Of course, there could be reasons to dig a pit, such as trying to catch an animal, but many times, a pit would be dug by humans hoping to trap other humans. This could be simple robbery even just to get a victim to a place where they can easily get what he has. In this case, it can be a sort of Wile E. Coyote event where the trap you set ends up coming back on you.
The same could be said about breaking through a wall, unless of course, you’re the Kool-Aid man. Don’t be surprised if there is a trap waiting for you as well. A person who was breaking through a wall would not normally be entering a hosue the proper way and thus likely having something like burglary in mind. So your sins will find you out, eh? How does that help us?
Except, sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men can go wrong. Many of us probably remember the news story a few year ago about the miners who got trapped in a shaft. Were they doing anything wrong? No. They were doing their jobs and disaster struck. There is no guarantee that because you are doing good that you will avoid suffering.
That’s a lesson we all need to learn.
We should not be surprised when the Teacher goes back to one of the points he wants to emphasize. Wisdom. If you go to work and your tool is defective, you will not be likely to succeed. Treat your tools right and you will be better able to do a job. Treat them poorly and you will need a lot more work from the same tool in order to complete the task.
This is especially so in cases where one is put in a dangerous situation. He is not saying anything against snake charming because he considers it dangerous, but because it is an example his readers would understand. If a serpent bit a man before the charming was done, then there would be no profit to the worker. What good does it do to aim to do a task if you are unable to complete it and will suffer loss?
Wisdom again. How one approaches their work should be met with wisdom. Again, this does not guarantee a lack of suffering in the process, nor does it guarantee success, but it sure will make it far more likely that you will succeed and succeed without suffering.
Isn’t that what we want?
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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