Hit it Hard

Ecc 9:10a "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…".
ESV

 

Hard work is hard. Yet, hard work is rewarding. I think that this may be what Solomon is trying to get across in this verse.

 

"Whatever your hand finds to do…". It almost sounds like your hands are looking for things. The way he phrases this makes me think that we are constantly on a search to keep busy, to make, to create, to form. Our hands always find things to do. Whether it is what we are doing in our jobs, or what we are doing with our families, or what we are doing in our ministries, or possibly a project we are working on…Whatever. Solomon encourages us to make sure that whatever our hands find to do, that we do it only one way…with our might. Some translations say "with all our might"…with all our strength…with all our power. Don't be a slacker. I am not to take the responsibilities that I have been given and ease up. It is just the opposite. I am to take what I have been given and I am to work hard. I am to press on. I am to pursue it with all that I am. Paul put it this way: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." Col 3:23,24 The word "heartily" actually means "out of breath".

 

When I was in college, I had the privilege of being discipled through a group called the Navigators. A representative from the Navs would periodically come to campus and meet with us. I can remember to this day how this guy always said good-bye. He said: "Hit it hard." He didn't like the phrase: "Take it easy.". Why? Because it was not Biblical. What is Biblical, what is honoring to God, what Solomon lived and practiced and encouraged was that whatever our hands find to do, we should "hit it hard".

 

As I think about my day today I need to go to work with the commitment to hit it hard. As I think about the time that I spend with my family, I need to hit it hard. As I am given responsibility at church in various areas I need to hit it hard. This life is too short to watch it go by eating cheetos on the couch in front of the TV.

 

At the end of the day, my head should hit the pillow exhausted because my hands found things to do and I did them with all my might. Hit it hard.