One morning in late October, while I was driving to the Outreach Canada office, a big rock chip got thrown into my windshield, which cracked and broke off a piece, and left a dent on the roof top.

I was totally shocked and, later on, left with anger, as it caused $3,500 damage and $300 out of my wallet for the deductible.

"Why?" was the question I asked God, with anger and frustration.

God replied to me with the following Scriptural passage from Ecclesiastes 8, which I happened to be studying that same evening and I found meaning from it.

“There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth--his eyes not seeing sleep day or night-- then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.” Ecclesiastes 8:14

On Entitlement & Blessings

The reason why I cannot comprehend the meaning of all this is because I have the logic of entitlement.  The teacher has said that he cannot find a righteousness person under the sun. If that is true, no one under the sun should be entitled to have the blessings, if only righteousness lead to the blessings of God.

The fact is, God chooses to bestow his blessings to everyone because of His gracious nature. Likewise, God allows curses fall on everyone, regardless, because there is no righteousness He could see, except through the righteousness of the Son, Jesus Christ.

So, Christians, our salvation is by grace, and our blessings in life are also by grace.

We should stay away from the thought: “Since I am a Christ follower and I serve the Lord diligently, I should deserve...”. God will not always give good weather only to the church picnic, and God will not always spare "faithful Christians" from tragic calamities.

Life is unpredictable and short, and that is why we are told to work hard and enjoy - because it is God-given - but never demand anything from God!

He makes the choices and we will not always understand!

Alfred Chui practiced physical therapy for over 25 years before he joined North Edmonton Alliance Church in 2009, first as the English pastor & then in 2013 as the senior pastor. In 2019, Alfred & his wife Charis relocated to Richmond, B.C.  and Alfred joined Outreach Canada in July 2019 as the Simply Mobilizing (SM) Canada Chinese Language Coordinator - implementing, maintaining and expanding the Kairos and other SM courses to mobilize Canadian Chinese diaspora Christians and their next generations to reach and disciple all nations.