Turks and Caicos, August 4, 2017 – Providenciales – The past few hours have been quite an experience. One I never imagined I would ever face. I spent the last two weeks, and more so the last two days studying the wisdom books of the Bible — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job. I became extremely fascinated by a passage from the book of Ecclesiastes Ch 12:1, which says paraphrased, “Set your mind on Christ in your youth.”
I taught from this scripture in my boy’s small group session for the past weeks and have been eager to read the entire book to understand the intention of the author. Through study I found out that in order to understood the message of Ecclesiastes, you also have to understand the message of Proverbs, which comes first, and Job, who comes last.
The Book of Proverbs highlights the concept and the principle of wisdom. It simply indicates that whoever finds and exercises wisdom is guaranteed success in all areas of their life.
The Book of Ecclesiastes is written more from a critic’s tone of voice. The teacher and the author describes how life is but a whisp of smoke. It is unpredictable. Things good and bad happen to the wise and the unwise. We all share the same destiny: death. Death equalizes us.
The Book of Job builds on this wisdom, and ends with a beautiful and powerful message. Job is tested by God to the extent that he loses everything he ever valued. The scriptures indicate that he did absolutely nothing to deserve it. He then decided to question God and ask, why did this happen to me of all people? God responded to Job very vividly in a vision indicating that, there are some things in life we may never come to understand. The message of the book of Job was simply to trust in God’s wisdom.
I had a conversation with my Pastor earlier after mentioning this to him and he gave what I thought was a perfect summary. He said, “fairness is not a biblical concept; trusting God is.”
I may never get closure. Justice may never be served. But I trust that God in his infinite and mysterious wisdom and divine sovereignty knows all things, and does all things well.
I recall not being fearful at all for the entire time that I was facing the ground, taking orders from masked gun men, tied up, held hostage in the backseat of my car, held at gunpoint, robbed, and released. There was an overwhelming sense of peace and wisdom that saturated my consciousness and being to which I grateful to the Holy Spirit.
The robbers remarked that I was a good man and therefore handed me my bag, my wallet and after several request, my phone—unharmed.
I remember sitting to my desk yesterday afternoon reading Job and saying to myself, God, I hope I don’t have to be tested in such a way any time soon. Not knowing that, in a matter of hours, my time would come. I am not the least bit discouraged. I am more so empowered by the way my faith and trust in God has grown and has been growing.
I am encouraged to share this experience as I assist with leading the memorial for my 19 year old cousin who lost his life in an accident that I was 5 minutes away from experiencing.
May this be a lesson to all of us. God is Sovereign. His wisdom is unmatched and not always understood.
And as the book of Ecclesiastes states, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Thank you all for the calls and comments. It was sincerely appreciated.
Blessings and love,
Darron D. Hilaire Jr. ❤️ߙ
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ESV
