Ecclesiastes 10:9

Oppressors may impose their will on poor and needy men as easily as they can split logs of wood, but they should take heed, for it is a dangerous business, and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint, and He is mighty to avenge His beloved ones. Success in treading down the poor and needy is a cause for trembling: if there is no danger to persecutors here, there will be great danger hereafter.

Splitting wood is a common everyday business, and yet it has its dangers; so then, reader, there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life that you should be aware of. We do not refer to hazards by flood and field, or by disease and sudden death, but to spiritual perils.

Your occupation may be as humble as splitting logs, and yet the devil can tempt you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm labourer, or a mechanic, and you may be greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may harm you.

Those who stay at home, and do not mingle with the rough world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion. No one is safe who thinks himself so. Pride may enter a poor man’s heart; avarice may reign in a cottager’s heart; uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger, envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode.

Even in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a small purchase at a shop may be the first link in a chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a window may be the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we be secured? To keep ourselves safe is too hard a task for us: only You Yourself are able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread Your wings over us, and we, like little chickens, will cower down beneath You and feel ourselves safe!