The wisdom of Ecclesiastes lies in its plain speech about the world, an unexpected wisdom that boldly insists on “saying the quiet part out loud.” If there are doubts or questions that we’ve been hesitant to voice or even think, chances are that the Teacher of Ecclesiastes beat you to it. Ecclesiastes names a central tension we all feel in our lives of faith: God is good and beautiful and kind, yet in so many ways, the world he made fails to reflect this character. Ecclesiastes loudly points out the discrepancies and helps us wrestle through them.

This is the season of Lent, a season anchored in the most unexpected parts of the most consequential story ever told. Think about the language we’ve used over the years to talk about Jesus’ journey to the cross: the weakness of God, the suffering of God, the crucified God, the death of God. And yet this same story will give us: the defeat of death, the wonderful cross, salvation from our sins, the life of the world to come, and resurrection from the dead.

Writings like Ecclesiastes remind us that God’s wisdom has always shown up in unexpected places—that God’s truth has always been accessible even, and perhaps especially, in the darkest of places and the most difficult of questions. The world can be brutal, so let’s leave our platitudes behind and instead cultivate some real wisdom to get us through. May we see God accompanying us the whole time and be unafraid to look squarely at anything we face.