Episode Details

On his quest to search out the meaning of life, here is where Solomon starts: I set my heart to search out by wisdom all that was done under the sun. And here is his conclusion, his summary based on everything he has seen in life (v14): “I have seen everything that is done under the sun,” says the preacher, “and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.” All is hevel, all is temporary and insubstantial. It’s over quickly, and it’s impossible to hold on to it. Solomon’s overarching observation on life is simply this: it is all passing quickly, it is a chasing after the wind.

Solomon begins unpacking this big-picture conclusion with a riddle in verse fifteen: “What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.” Now what we have in this verse is a proverb. Check out the Book of Proverbs (also mostly written by Solomon) and you’ll find piles of these things. A proverb is a short, pithy, wisdom saying, a poetic expression – not intended necessarily to give you a quick easy answer, but an expression rather designed to make you think. You don’t speed read proverbs, you hold each one in your hand like a rubics cube and ponder it. You feel its weight, you consider its parts, you digest it slowly. That’s what Solomon wants us to do in here in verse fifteen, we’re not here for easy answers, we’re here to pause and consider. So let’s do that, let’s pause and consider what Solomon is saying here in this proverb.

“What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.” What does Solomon mean by this? Well, in his quest to understand life, Solomon’s first observation is pointing out a single basic truth: that there is something wrong with the world. This is what he means when he speaks of crooked things – there is something wrong with the world. He also says that there is something missing in the world, this is what he means when he speaks of the things that are “lacking.” There’s something wrong with the world, and there’s something missing in the world – that’s what this proverb is meant to convey to us.

And does that not make perfect sense? I was talking with an unbeliever a few months ago, and they were objecting to the Bible’s teaching that people are sinful. And I said to this person: “But surely you can see that there’s something wrong with the world?”And – unhesitatingly – this person agreed. There is something wrong with the world. When someone kills someone else, it’s wrong. When women or children are abused, it’s wrong. When families fall apart and the kids are scarred for life – something is wrong. And yet, these sorts of things happen every day in the world around us. This is the world we live in. Solomon is reminding us of Genesis 3, this is a fallen world.

So then, as we begin trying to understand life, what Solomon is saying here is this: pay attention and take note, there are crooked things in this world, and there is something lacking.

Now our tendency, when we see these crooked things, when we see the things that are lacking, is that we start thinking about how we can straighten what is crooked and how we can supply ourselves with what is lacking. That is a natural response to the world, you actually see people trying to do this all the time. Governments get re-elected by promises of straightening crooked sticks, they try and fill what is lacking with tax-payers dollars. And we do it on a personal level as well, we try and fix the crooked things in our lives, and we try and fill the gaping holes of what is lacking.

But take note here of what Solomon is saying, because it’s profound. What he is saying is you won’t solve it that way. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and when it comes to what is lacking – forget about meeting the need, you can’t even count the