Spitting On A Forest Fire

My father-in-law once told me that reading Proverbs regularly is a good idea, and that whenever I read through Proverbs, I should also read through Ecclesiastes.

Proverbs is about using wisdom to build. Ecclesiastes is about what it means to live in a fallen world and how sometimes the things you build get torn down.

The book of Job is a good balance of the two. Job has wisdom and it’s implied that he used wisdom to build his household and estate (Proverbs). Then it gets taken away (Ecclesiastes). And then it gets restored again even more than before.

It’s good to spend each day using wisdom to build a little more. But sometimes God’s story is so complex and overwhelming that it seems like I have no control or ability to affect it in any significant way. Plus anything I do will be forgotten by those who come after me.

Sometimes today’s work feels like spitting on a forest fire.

So how do I find meaning? Focusing on the forest fire is assuming that God is a “hard man” (Matthew 25:14-30) and will most certainly lead me to burying my talent in the ground.

But faithfulness is doing whatever is in front of me with whatever resources I have. Even if it’s humanly futile, God provides the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

And that is how I find meaning.

What do you think?
Joseph