“Consider the word of God, For who is able to straighten what He has bent? In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider— God has made the one as well as the other so the man may not discover anything that will be after him.”
I love football. When football season is upon us, I plan around the games, especially the Cowboys. Sometimes I cannot watch the game and have to settle for discovering the end score. The reason I like watching the game live because I can see the all of the different plays throughout the game. I love watching the first downs and fourth and goals. During the game, you see great plays and also costly mistakes. This back and forth, the being behind on the scoreboard and getting the lead is so fun to watch. One thing is true, blowouts are not as fun to watch as the games that have the back and forth drama of taking the lead and giving it up. The game would not be as fun without it.
Life is full of prosperity and adversity. For all the good days we have, bad days are not far behind. I have said we often fall into a crime of perspective. The Bible talks about how foolishness and wisdom are locked in a battle, like a football game. At one end we have wisdom and at the other end we have foolishness and the crime of perspective is the score board. If all we ever pay attention to is the score we never seem to adjust our playbook of life to win against the enemy. Instead we find ourselves being handcuffed by our perspective.
Solomon, again, brings up a wonderful point. God has made the days of prosperity as well as the days of adversity. Both are working toward a goal that will glorify God. He ends verse 14 with a striking revelation; God does this so we will not discover anything that will be after him! In other words, God is working so that you don’t figure it out. Sounds crazy right? It does to me as well until you recognize that if we, as humans, could figure anything out about our future then we would plan for it. We would get ready for it, expect it, and plan around it.
In fact, Isaiah 55:8-9 says,
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Also, Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us,
“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”
Today, take some time and recognize what the Lord God has put in your path in front of you. Pay attention to the playbook, the Bible, and see what it says about your next play. It may feel like 4th down and forever, but remember as Christians, we walk in victory and the Lord will make our paths straight. We walk by faith and not by sight or circumstance. (2 Corinthians 5:7)
Prayer: Father, help us to consider every place where we place our feet. Some of those steps will be on smooth ground, some on rocky ground, and still others might be leaps of faith. But your Word promises us that you will make our paths straight no matter what. We acknowledge that your ways are not our ways and our thoughts are not your thoughts. Therefore, we humble ourselves before your hand oh Lord. Help us to find you before every step of faith knowing that you gone before us and leveled the mountains. (Isaiah 45:2) In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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