“I have observed something else under the sun. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor riches to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all,” Ecclesiastes 9:11.
I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race. The strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. Those whom are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance—being at the right place at the right time.
There are laws created by God that govern the universe. However, sometimes ‘chance’ happens, and what seems as though it should be, isn’t what is.
There are times when things happen that we have no control over. Life is full of challenges. Some challenges are big, and some challenges are small. The question I ask you today is: are you equipped for the challenge? How determined are you? Do you have the integrity, and tenacity that only God can give?
Everyone has a God-given destiny. King Solomon knows and sees the divine providence of God.
“For all, I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God. You need to know, and you must know that your life is in the hand of God. What does a person gain for all his efforts while he labors under the sun? Generations come and go. What will be, and what has been done will be. Can one say look at this, it’s new? Did it already exist?
“For there is nothing new under the sun. I have applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge that I might know God. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself, I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them. I also owned livestock, I have silver and gold for myself, and I have male and female servants. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. I see myself as the wise but did what a fool would do. So what will happen to a fool will also happen to me. How is it that the wise person dies just like the fool? The work that I did under the sun distressed me. For it pleased man but not God. I am the wise, not the fool. For all my days are filled with grief and sorrow.
“I have seen all this done from God, and who can eat and enjoy life apart from God? For the person who is pleasing in His sight, He gives His wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to one without Him [God], He gives the task of gathering in order to give to the one who is pleasing in His sight,” Ecclesiastes 9:1.
How are you living in God’s Divine providence?
