Expect the Unexpected

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When life doesn’t play by the rules, most of us feel disoriented and a little angry. Ecclesiastes 9 names that ache with startling honesty: the fastest runner loses, the strongest army falls, the most skilled employee gets passed over. We take you into Solomon’s world to confront five jarring truths about outcomes, chance, and the limits of control—and then we show why choosing wisdom is still the most reliable way to live.

We unpack the story of a poor, wise man who saves a small city from a great king and is quickly forgotten. It’s a gut punch that exposes how often quiet, faithful wisdom gets ignored while loud leaders win the spotlight. Yet Solomon insists that a few words of wisdom are better than the shouting of fools. We explore what that means in homes, workplaces, churches, and public life, where volume and virality often masquerade as authority.

From there, we trace the source of true wisdom back to God himself. Christ is the wisdom of God, and Scripture forms the instincts we need for right decisions, right reasons, right timing, and right motives. This isn’t a promise of easy outcomes; it’s a call to steady faithfulness when time and chance derail our plans. If you’ve felt overlooked, outpaced, or blindsided, this conversation will ground you in what’s better than applause: a life aligned with God’s Word, lived with clean hands and a quiet conscience.

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Stephen's latest book, The Disciples Prayer, is available now. https://www.wisdomonline.org/store/view/the-disciples-prayer-hardback