“If the clouds are filled with rain, they will empty upon the land. If a tree falls in the south or if it is in the north — in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.”

(Ecclesiastes 11:3)

In French, the phrase “C’est la vie” simply means, “that’s life.” It is the pronouncement that things happen in this world — of some we are pleased, of others we are displeased, and of others still we are more or less indifferent. In the end, though, these things happen to all people in all places of the world, so don’t think that you have a cloud hanging over your life — deal with what is before you and move on with life. 

That is the heart of what Solomon is encouraging us to deal with in this verse. Look — when the clouds are filled with rain…eventually that means that rain will come down onto the land. If the rain is advantageous to you, great. If the rain is disadvantageous to you, it will still fall; that’s just the way it is. The same holds true with a tree. It would be convenient, were a tree to fall, if it fell and landed near where you needed the wood. But that is not how things work. If a tree is in the north, it will fall in the north and lay on the ground in the north until someone comes and fetches it. And, if no one fetches it, it will rot where it lays. And the same thing happens when a tree falls in the south. So, if you need lumber, whether you are building a house, a table, or a fire, you best be prepared to go fetch the tree that has fallen and bring it back to your workshop.

The same principle is true with wisdom. Wisdom does not just happen, it must be learned through the study of God’s Word and experience in applying God’s Word. Sometimes people are jealous — “he knows is Bible better than me” or “she has huge portions of the Bible memorized!” — God did not tap them with a wand in their regeneration and give them some sort of super-Bible power. No, they committed time to making the study and application of God’s Word a priority in their lives — won’t you?