Why Lao Tzu was wrong about the 1000 miles

"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." Ecclesiastes 9:11

"The journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step." Lao Tzu.

"Lao Tzu was wrong." Bill Brown

Solomon was complaining about life's unfairness when he wrote this, but in 1895 F.B. Meyer in "Our Daily Homily" interpreted it in the light of Paul's assertion that even the weak can win the race when we rely on His strength and not our own. But there is a third way to look at this.

Solomon was of course right. Life is sometimes not fair. But Paul and F.B. Meyer were also right. Not all things are good, but our Father can work all things for the good of those who trust Him. We can win, regardless of our weakness, when we are running the race in His strength and, just as importantly, in the right direction.

Why Lao Zi was wrong. Lao Tzu said a journey begins with the first step--but what if the first step is in the wrong direction?

I like to joke that I'm greater than Columbus because he tried and failed to find a shortcut to Marco Polo's fabled port of Zayton (Quanzhou), but I've made it there dozens of times! Of course, it is only 70 miles north of my home of Xiamen, so I could walk it if I had to. But what if I began my 70 mile journey by walking south? The earth is round so I might by some miracle make it anyway, but it would be a lot smarter to begin my journey not with the first step but deciding upon a destination and then making sure I'm headed in the right direction. And once I've set off-never quitting until I either reach the destination or am led clearly to change tracks.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 speaks to me of persistence. The swift and mighty sometimes lose the races and battles not because life is unfair but because they think too highly of themselves, or too little of the opponent, or take on more than they can chew in one bite. God may well have given us a goal but He also gave us common sense.

Sunzi, in his "Art of War," said "Know yourself and know your enemy and you can fight 1000 battles without fear of defeat." To consider your limitations is not to limit God but to assess that He has created us with abilities and limitations. "How do you eat an elephant?" One bite at a time--unless God has gifted you with a very large mouth.

But having said that, He may very well be calling us to eat an elephant. If so, we'd better buckle down, loosen our belt, and start eating--and not quit until we've cleaned all our elephant off the plate.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 also reminds me that, even with God's strength, we must use our brains and common sense and make sure that we 1) head in the right direction, 2) use the strength and skills we are uniquely gifted with, and 3) never quit.

Before we look at Meyer, here's a story from my book "Discover Gulangyu." (taken from a story by Reverend John MacGowan, of the Amoy Mission, in 1913):

Eastern Tortoise, Western Hare

“The Chinese as a race are on the whole a robust and healthy people. I have no doubt in my` own mind that this is largely due to the fact that they have to work for their living…One is surprised in traveling through China at the tireless activity of this people, and I have often wondered how they have been able to endure the wear and tear of successive ages and to be the strong and sturdy people that they are to-day. The simple food they are compelled to live upon, and the health-giving force of daily labor have had the effect of producing a race of people that seem to have all the elements of strength and endurance wrought into the very fiber of their lives.

“On one occasion a race had been arranged for between two cutters —one managed by an English crew and the other by ordinary Chinese boatmen. The former were men who had been selected with great care from a British man-of-war, whilst the others were men who were daily getting their living by rowing passengers across a broad river. The contest was a peculiar one, for, it was meant to be a test of the powers of endurance of the men of the East and the West, and so it was decided that the course should extend to a large village in the interior nearly twenty miles distant.

“Looking at the crews as they sat in their boats waiting for the signal to start, one felt that there could not be the least doubt as to which would be the winner. The bluejackets [British] in their well-known uniform looked the very picture of strength. They were big, brawny men, with thews and muscles that seemed to be made of iron. These men could never tire, one thought, and there was a proud and confident look on their faces that made one feel that there was no doubt in their hearts as to who should gain the victory.

“The Chinamen, on the other hand, with the careless, indolent way in which they are accustomed to hold themselves, gave on the impression that they could never hold out to the end of the journey.

“They had never been made to sit upright, and they lounged on their seats as though the whole thing were a vast joke. There was an amused smile on their faces, and they were, no doubt, tickled at the idea that they were going to compete with the famous English, whose deeds of prowess had often been exhibited, to the detriment of their Empire.

“At last the signal was given, and away the boats started on their long race. The English got away with a swing, and soon they were far ahead of their Chinese competitors, who continued to row with an even, steady pull upon their oars as though they were quite unconcerned at the rapid progress that the English were making ahead of them.

The beat and the rhythm of the sounds that came from their boat never quickened, nor was there any excitement in the faces of the men, but with a calmness and serenity typical of the East they kept on with their measured strokes, apparently indifferent whether they won or not.
“By the time that they had gone ten miles the English crew began to show signs of distress.

Their faces were flushed, and their clothes were wet with perspiration, whilst the vigorous swing and dip of their oars with which they had begun the race had lost their naturalness, and were not the result of a strained effort that had begun to feel the stress that was laid upon their powers. The Chinese, on the other hand, seemed absolutely unchanged from what they were when they first started. There was no sign of distress on the faces of any one of them, and their pull was steady and regular as though the men were pieces of machinery that were being moved by some invisible force that brought no fatigue upon the rowers.

“In the meanwhile the boats were drawing nearer to each other, apparently without any special effort on the part of the Chinese, and finally the latter took the lead and easily came in victors without any signs of strain or fatigue such as were seen in the English crew when the long, exhaustive race was ended.

“The Chinese are a strong, sturdy race, with vast physical powers, which have enabled them to successfully endure the wear and tear of constant labor for countless ages. The many days of relaxation that ease the working-men in England are entirely unknown in China. As a Sunday does not exist in that country, they cannot claim the rest of one day in seven which that Christian holiday gives to men in England. There are, indeed, a half dozen or so festivals during the year when people, by universal custom, drop their work and take a holiday, but beyond these labor is continued on every other day in the year…

“…But whilst it is perfectly true that the nation on the whole are a healthy, vigorous people, and show no signs of decay in consequence of the incessant toil which every class of worker willingly carries on until old age creeps over him and compels him to take life more easily, it is equally the fact that there is a very considerable amount of sickness to be found existing in any district through which one may be traveling. The casual passer-by would never discover this, for in the bearing of pain and disease the Chinaman is a hero who shows the fiber of which he is made by the quiet endurance with which he suffers and dies if needs be without revealing the agonies that may have made life a torture to him.”

And now.... F.B. Meyer, "Our Daily Homily" (Morgan & Scott, 1894).
The race is not to the swift, not the battle to the strong. Eccles. 9:11

This is true in another sense than the Preacher meant. His conclusion was that time and chance happen to all alike in the race and battle of life. To us it means that God comes to those who are not swift, but, like Mephibosheth, lame on both feet, and gives them the prize which they could not win; that He bends over those who are not strong, and gives them the victory which they could not procure. The Gospel is full of promise to younger sons, bruised reeds, lame and helpless souls, to babes and sucklings, to those that have no might; whilst it hides its secrets from the wise and prudent, and withholds its rewards from the swift and strong.

YOU ARE NOT SWIFT. Long ago the spring was taken from your life, and the elasticity form your feet. For many years you have lain by the Beautiful Gate, seeing the happy souls pass to the inner shrine, and coming out entranced. You have been content to live on their alms. But better things are in store. He who knows your case will even now give you perfect soundness. Though you cannot win the prize of your high calling by running, it shall be yours by receiving and taking. It is a fight; and though you have not legs you have surely hands.

YOU ARE NOT STRONG But it is well. Many of us are too strong for God. He has to weaken us by touching the sinew of your thigh. When Jacob went from fighting to clinging, he became a prince with God. Isaiah left it on record that God gives power to the faint, and increases might to those who have no power. And the great Apostle of the Gentiles gloried in his infirmities, because he had discovered that when he was weak then he was strong, since the power of Christ was only perfected in weakness.


Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com