So I would like to get others perspective on this verse:
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.
12 For man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.
I've always found this verse fascinating. I have for a long time believe there is so much random luck involved in our lives, where we end up in life, what things happen to us. And this verse seems to confirm those beliefs of mine. Yet it is also difficult for me to reconcille that with the sovergnty of God and God being in control. I've heard an explanation, but not one that I can agree with. Your views?
There is nothing that happens in this world that God does not know about�that He does not give His consent to happen. Not even the slightest bend of a blade of grass will occur without God�s consent.
So�I can understand the �confusion� that those verses bring to mind.
The thing is that while God knows what will happen next�we men do not. God will allow bad things to happen to good people for His Purpose. That is where chance comes in to play and time is simply �God�s Time�.
You may be sailing along on top of the world, when�Boom!...a flat tire sends you off the road and you crash and break both of your legs!
Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes in his senior years�when he could look back at the wasteful and carnal nature of his youth. Solomon speaks of Vanity and how all things below Heaven will Vanish away in time.
In my opinion these verses speak to the vagaries of sin and how because we have free will (and a weak and sinful nature), we are at sin�s mercy and in sin�s grasp.
Two, I wonder if you misspoke when you said
�I think Solomon had wisdom, David had truth.�
Are they not the same thing�Wisdom and Truth? Wisdom is Knowledge of the Truth and the Truth gives you Knowledge to be Wise. I am trying to think of what you might mean, but�?
If you compare the Proverbs of Solomon with the Psalms of David, if you compare the life of Solomon with the life of David; one will see that Solomon was wise and knew many things, but David knew the LORD.
Solomon was called 'the wisest man that ever lived', David was called 'a man after Gods own heart'. In the end Solomon was lead astray by his wives, and David was remembered as Israel's greatest king through the whom the Messiah would come. Solomon was far richer in earthly things than David, David was far richer in relationship with God than Solomon. Solomon had wisdom, David had truth/relationship.
Things are the same today, one may be wise in things of man and God, but without relationship with Jesus they are still lost. The verse Shawn posted is the wisdom of Solomon, where Solomon observes that things don't always happen according to mans logic.
Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure I agree that this is solely about bad things happening to good people. I think he is saying that just because your are the fasted doesn't mean you will when the race or just because you are the strongest that you will win the battle. That there are othe variables involved than just your skill. He attributes those variables to time and chance. I have always been interested in how people of "success" end up where they were, and so often it isn't about how good they are but pure luck and good timing.
I have heard people try to explain this as: well the bible records what happens, doesn't always mean it is right. Example, it records the events about David and Bathsheba, but that doesn't mean what David did was right. So they say this records what Solomon wrote, but it is not time and chance but God that is the variable. My problem with that is then we are left trying to figure out what is truth and what is not in a book that proclaims truth. So I have to lean that what is said here is truth, that time and chance do play their parts in events, which of course leads back to the conflict with God being in control.
I understand your conflict,however things need to be read in context of the book and who God used to write it. Does a person glean doctrine from the book of Revelation or Song of Songs ? Does a person learn the story of creation from the Gospels? Is the Gospel message explained in Chronicles and Kings? If you seek spiritual truth in Ecclesiastes you will be hard pressed to find it. However if you seek wisdom from the perspective of a man who was given great wisdom by God, then this book is loaded with wisdom, good wisdom, even Godly wisdom,but if you read carefully it is mostly wisdom written from the perspective of man. I see hardly any written from the perspective of God.
Let me try to explain it this way. �Time and Chance� deal only with Man. God is beyond Time and Chance. God Allows Time and Chance to occur�follow? God does this for His Purpose�with His Reasoning and in His Time.
So there should be no conflict. Time and Chance come into our lives because God allows them to�that is the only way they will happen to us.
I think things appear to us to be time and chance. We may be in the right place at the right time or know the right people or we could also be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I recall a time when I was at a red light in Nashville, TN. I could see up an off ramp and there was a semi with a trailer coming down the ramp way too fast. At the bottom of the ramp he made a sharp right turn and laid the rig on it's left side. He did not hit any other vehicles and the truck stopped rather abruptly. The driver got out and we stopped to make sure he was ok and to direct traffic until the cops got there. He said he made the turn on purpose because he was sure he would hit someone in the intersection.
Here's my point. Was it just chance that I was at the red light instead of the green one? Was it just chance that the driver was able to make the decision he made? was it just chance that no cars were hit? Was it just chance that the driver was not injured?
This is a handful of events that took place in about three minutes. Was this just perfect timing and chance or was providence involved? Do we really know and can we really be sure? Regardless of the reason for the events I think God gets all the glory. We know that He uses all things with us to our benefit. Little do we sometimes know the reason or the cause.
Of all the crazy heresies you say PJ. (And that is a long list!) This one tops them all! I am so glad my GOD is in control of everything cause I would be very afraid if He wasn't! You need to get a new book PJ, it's called the Holy Bible! That book will tell you GOD IS in control of everything, and we can rest in Him knowing that!
