Ecclesiastes 7:13 (NIV) Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what He has made crooked?
Look at somebody and tell them, Neighbor, I’m trying to make it make sense.
Look down your row at somebody else and say, but sometimes it just doesn’t make sense.
Because if we’re honest today, life will put you in some situations that will make us scratch our head and ask, God, what’s really going on?
I’ve prayed, and fasted, sowed, and stayed faithful, and yet things seem like they are still falling apart.
I loved them right, but they didn’t love me back.
I worked hard, but the door still shut in my face.
And it seems like in moments like these, Heaven is closed for lunch and didn’t leave a time of when anyone would return, Lord, make it make sense.
May I tell you that there are some things God intentionally leaves crooked.
Solomon said, Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what He has made crooked?
Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. The book is his reflection on life, its meaning, its frustrations, and its divine purpose.
In chapter 7, Solomon is exploring the sovereignty of God and the limits of human understanding.
He’s saying, in essence:
Pause and reflect on the hand of God in your life. When God allows something to bend a certain way, no human effort can straighten it out, unless He wills it.
Now this verse is not about physical crookedness; it’s about the circumstances and seasons of life that don’t seem fair, logical, or understandable.
Look at the text. We need to consider what God has done.
The word consider means to pause and think deeply.
Solomon is urging believers to look beyond what they see and recognize the invisible hand of God in every situation.
Sometimes we’re so busy trying to fix life, that we don’t stop to reflect on how God is using life to fix us.
He’s saying, take a moment and think. Could this situation be part of something divine that I can’t yet see?
The question is who can straighten what He has made crooked?
The word crooked here doesn’t mean sinful or evil, it means bent, twisted, or difficult to understand.
It refers to the seasons in life when things don’t line up:
A door closes unexpectedly.
A dream delays.
A plan doesn’t work.
A prayer seems unanswered.
Solomon is reminding us that God is sovereign, meaning He rules and reigns over everything, including the things that seem unfair or unclear.
When God allows a crooked path, He’s often teaching us dependence, humility, and trust. He’s teaching us lessons we would not have never learn if everything was straight and smooth.
This verse invites us to surrender our need to his control.
We can’t straighten what God has allowed to bend, and sometimes the bend is what leads us to blessing.
It means:
Stop fighting the seasons that God is using to shape you.
Stop trying to fix what God is using to form you.
Stop questioning what God is using to qualify you.
Sometimes the very thing that looks crooked is the path to our destiny.
When life doesn’t make sense, Ecclesiastes 7:13 tells us to stop asking why, and start asking what.
Not why is this happening to me.
But, what is God trying to show me through this?”
Because God’s ways are higher (Isaiah 55:8–9), and what seems crooked now often becomes clear later.
Think about Joseph, his life was full of crooked moments:
He was thrown into a pit.
He was Sold into slavery.
He was wrongly imprisoned.
None of that made sense, until he was promoted to the palace. Then the crooked path suddenly straightened out, and Joseph it teaches us in Genesis 50:20, what you meant for evil, God meant for good.
That’s Ecclesiastes 7:13 in action.
When life feels twisted, we need to trust the Potter’s hands.
When the path feels crooked, remember, He’s still directing our steps.
When nothing makes sense, God is shaping something greater than our understanding.
Because sometimes, what looks crooked to us, is crafted by God.
In other words, there are some things God designed not to line up the way you expected.
See, you can’t fix what God intentionally twisted. You can’t correct what God purposely bent. Sometimes the crooked things in our life, are divine designs and meant to keep us praying.
Because if everything did made sense, we wouldn’t need faith.
But faith is believing even when it doesn’t add up.
Faith says, I don’t understand it, but I still trust Him.
Why, Lord? Because He’s still working!
When, Lord? In your perfect time.
How, Lord? By His mighty hand.
May I tell you that when it doesn’t make sense, it’s possibly making you stronger.
Sometimes God will let confusion become our classroom.
He will let pain become our professor.
He will let uncertainty become our teacher.
Romans 8:28 says, All things work together for good.
But what we forget is that all things includes the things that don’t make sense.
The heartbreak.
The delays.
The rejection.
But it’s working together for something greater.
So don’t try to straighten what God is using to shape you.
Don’t curse the crookedness, because that’s where the character is built.
Tell your neighbor: It’s not supposed to make sense yet, but it’s supposed to make our faith stronger.
Here it is. God will make sense out of nonsense, in His season
There’s a moment when what didn’t make sense suddenly does.
When the puzzle pieces you cried over finally connect.
When the pain you endured produces the purpose you carry.
In John 13:7, Jesus told Peter:
You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
Somebody shout, later.
Because later, it will make sense.
Later, when the healing comes.
Later, when the blessing arrives.
Later, when you see what God was protecting you from.
Later it will make sense!
Let me close with a story…
I’m reminded of a story about a young man who visited a pottery studio one day.
He watched as the potter took a lump of clay, pressed it, stretched it, and then placed it on a spinning wheel.
As the clay spun faster and faster, the young man asked.
Why are you spinning the clay like that? It looks dizzy and it looks messy.
The potter smiled and said, If I stop the spinning now, it will never take shape.
Then the potter added some water, pressed it again, and placed it into a fiery furnace.
The young man shouted, why would you burn it like that? It was already beautiful.
The potter said, If I don’t put it through the fire, it won’t last long. In fact, it will crumble under pressure.
After some time, the potter pulled out a shining, strong, perfectly shaped vessel.
Tears fell from the young man’s eyes, and he whispered, now it makes sense.
PTMC, you may be spinning, life may be stretching you, and you are feeling the fire, but may I tell you to stay on the wheel.
Because when God finishes what He started, you’ll look back and say, Now It Makes Sense.
So, I dare somebody to raise your hands and declare Lord, I may not understand, but I still trust You.
Lord it hurts sometimes, but I still believe You.
Even when it doesn’t make sense. You’re still making a way.
Because now I know that what looks crooked right now. Lord it just might be that you are using this moment to create something beautiful.
So the next time you are going through, don’t lose faith just say:
God, I don’t get it yet, but make it make sense — in Your time.
But when God make it make sense.
You will shout louder, praise harder, and testify stronger.
Because now it finally makes sense.
It didn’t make sense to some people when Jesus said, if you tear down this body in three days, I’ll build it up again.
But he got up with all power in his hands.
