A few days ago, the newspaper reported a terrible accident.  A taxi-driver with his passenger was killed when their vehicle was rammed by a Ferrari.  The driver of the Ferrari also died.  I believe many felt sad especially for the family of the taxi driver – his three children are still schooling and he was the sole breadwinner of the family.

This incident was captured on video by a fellow taxi driver, Mr Yeo, who had stopped just beside this unfortunate taxi at a traffic light junction.  When the light turned green, the taxi beside Mr Yeo moved ahead.  Mr Yeo took his time as he was tired and that saved his (Mr Yeo’s) life.  Mr Yeo told the Straits Times that he slowed down for several reasons.  For one, he was feeling tired and jaded about driving.  Furthermore, he had lost the drive to race ahead to pick up more passengers after so many years of driving.  The choice of slowing down to earn more money saved his life. The Bible says:

There is a time for everything,
And a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal … …

A time to be silent and a time to speak
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace (Eccl 3:1-8)

In other words, mankind is enslaved by these events and is unable to stop them from happening and affecting them.  At first glance, it is very frustrating.  Thus, the Teacher (the writer of Ecclesiastes) writes: “what do workers gain from their toil?”  In other words, it is pointless to work hard because mankind is not the master of their own destiny.  “I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race,” that is, it can be very frustrating for mankind.

It seems then that Mr Yeo could not help feeling tired.  He could not seem to stop what many people would also experience after so many years of driving: loosing the drive to pick up more passengers. Is this a bad thing or a good thing?  From the perspective of wealth, it is a bad thing.  But after this incident, it seems more like it is a good thing.  Thus, Mr Yeo’s passenger exclaimed in the video: “lucky man” because if he had chosen to race ahead to pick up more passengers, the taxi driver hit could have been him.  It was a good thing to be tired after all.

That is also what the Teacher says: “He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time” (3:11).  We wish sometimes that we were more intelligent or capable.  Then we can earn more money.  There were times also when we felt frustrated about being caught in a traffic jam.  At other times, we wished we had not missed an opportunity for a better paying job.  On the one hand, these misses seem unfortunate.  But God allows them because “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”  “How can this miss be something good?” you may ask.  The reason is sometimes unknown to us because our wisdom is limited.  But because God the Son, Jesus is our Good Shepherd, He makes everything beautiful for us in His time, let’s then when faced with life frustrations, trust God patiently because He will make all things beautiful for us.