A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on September 10, 2023.
Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, not bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good (Ecclesiastes 9:11–18).[1]
In our daily Bible reading schedule, we recently finished the book of Job, and though I have gained much from Job, it can at times be a feat of endurance to finish. Our English translations don’t help much, rendering the Hebrew poetry wordy. And after the beginning of the story from the supernatural realm to the devastating tragedy that is Job’s life, we can get lost in Job’s dialogue with his so-called friends. On and on, back and forth, one is struck by their lack of mercy but also Job’s candor. But what Job and his friends are both guilty of is what I call “karma Christianity,” or theologians call the “retribution principle,” “the idea that God blesses those who are righteous and punishes those who are wicked in this life. If a person is blessed, that is proof that he is righteous. If a person suffers hardship, that is proof of sin in his life.”[2] Such teaching was popularized in the last century in a movement called the “prosperity gospel,” but it was nothing new. What charismatics were selling on television is the same thing Job and his friends believed.
That is, until God intervened with this direct question: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2), not a question you want asked from heaven. Immediately followed by, “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me” (Job 38:3), not a command you want heard from heaven. Job, as well as his friends, are speechless, as we all should be when hearing God’s special revelation, as God takes Job all the way back to the beginning of creation and walks him through a myriad of rhetorical questions. At the conclusion of the questions, Job rightly has no answer but can only say, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). He retracts his former demands, repents of his presumption, and falls upon the mercy of God.
What Job learned from the mouth of God Solomon confirms by experience: “… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time” (9:11-12a).
The Certainty of Uncertainty
My nephew says, “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.” Perhaps Solomon would agree and certainly about uncertainty. Solomon leads us to consider a few timeless examples. Typically, the fastest runner wins the race but not always. Typically, the strongest army wins the battle but not always. Typically, wisdom is rewarded with plenty and smarts with riches but not always. But there are two things that are certain for the fast and slow, the strong and weak, the wise and foolish, the smart and dumb, and all the rest of us in between: time and chance.
Some argue that there is no such thing as chance, believing it infringes upon the truth of God’s sovereignty, despite Solomon’s and Jesus’ use of the word. But this is merely a semantic misunderstanding. For example, in his Parable of the Good Samaritan, when Jesus says that the priest was going down the road “by chance” (Luke 10:31), he is not negating God’s sovereign ordination. He’s simply telling a story set in the context of this life, a life from our perspective that seems full of uncertainties, a figure of speech used to convey the human perspective. If you and I play a board game that involves rolling the dice, the outcome, we say, is up to chance. From our perspective, we don’t know, we cannot know, and that’s chance. But God knows; in fact, Proverbs says he decides it (Prov. 16:33). Using the word chance does not deny God’s sovereignty, but it’s helpful in describing uncertainty.
Curiously, in describing life’s uncertainties, Solomon couples that which characterizes uncertainty, chance, with that which seems certain, time. The measurement of time is from the beginning, as creation did not occur randomly but in the order of days. Within each day, our Creator created specific parts and things of creation, concluding on the sixth day. On the seventh day, God rested from his creative work and so concluded the first week of creation, a specified sequence of time. Days, weeks, months, years have passed ever since. But within God’s creation of time, the Fall distorted our time. While life begins at conception, life does not continue without end, at least in this life under the sun. Life here ends in death, for such are the wages of our sin (Rom. 6:23).
Within the consistency of time, then, we witness the effects of time, so to speak. For example, I have two granddaughters and a grandson on the way. One of the most beautiful things about being a grandparent, I am finding, is seeing the changes: first looks, first words, first steps, first birthdays. One of the saddest things about being a grandparent, I am finding, is seeing the changes (rapid changes!) and so easily forgetting what just happened. I look at pictures from one year ago and how much they have changed already. If only I could stop time, the saying goes, but I can’t. And one day they will be my age and perhaps experience the same thing that I have, and perhaps I will be forgotten.
The passage of time, for the living, is a certainty. How long we will live is not. Like a fish caught or a bird shot, the end of our time, also known as death, comes unexpectedly, as if by chance. Perhaps like a teetering wall, we see the signs of old age, the growing frailty of our infrastructure, but we don’t know the day until it “suddenly falls.”
Solomon refers to this as “evil,” not implying that we have done evil in dying but that death is the wage of sin, which it is. Adam and Eve were not created to die but die they eventually did, as the consequence of their sin. Death is truly tragic, as it is a mortal reminder of what was lost in the Fall.
This is a reason it is appropriate for us to mourn the loss of a loved one. In this life under the sun, it is truly loss, and so-called celebration merely masks the sorrow. And yet, we do not mourn as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). For the Christian, it’s not an either/or problem, mourn or don’t mourn. It’s both/and. Yes, we mourn, because the curse of our sin has taken the one we love, but we do not mourn as if death defines us: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so,” in Christ we know that we will be reunited with the Lord and those who have gone before us in Christ (1 Thess. 4:14).
Time and chance do happen to us all, so believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, even today!
The Superiority of Wisdom
When we think of Jesus Christ many words may come to mind, but one oft-overlooked word is wisdom. But Paul says that Jesus, by virtue of his righteous life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection, through faith in him, “became to us wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1:30). To trust in Christ then is to trust in the wisdom of God. But the world does not see Christ this way, because the world does not regard the wisdom of God.
Consider, for example, Solomon’s story of the poor, wise man: “There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man” (9:14-15). It was an uneven battle, the great king should have won, the little city should have fallen. The city only had the wisdom of one man, and wisdom won. Surely, he was heralded as a hero, rewarded with riches? But no, instead he was forgotten, as are most whose only wealth is wisdom.
The story is a sad one but sadder still is how true it is. Had the man been rich, surely his wisdom would have been regarded, as crowds line up to garner advice from the wealthy. Had the man been a great king, surely he would have been heralded for his wisdom, as people revere the words of the powerful. But a poor, wise man of no regard? Why bother? Why remember? The world doesn’t.
Take note Christian, for such is the story of our Lord. Though poor, he conquered the great king of this world, saving us according to the wisdom of God. When he came, though the king he did not sit upon a thrown. When he came, though rich he lived humbly. Indeed, “though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:4-8). Our Lord Jesus Christ chose to become one of us, and so live with us, die for us, rise before us that we might be united with him and reconciled unto God.
But the gospel truth of Christ crucified and resurrected is utter foolishness to the world, as Paul explains, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:21-25). The world may not remember the poor, wise man who won the victory, but we know:
God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11).
The Humility of Wisdom
Therefore, we should not expect the wisdom of God to come packaged for worldly consumption. Solomon says, “The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.” Perhaps in quiet such wisdom is best heard, rather than the blustering nosiness of our age. Peter says that it is the gentle and quiet spirit that is precious to God (1 Pet. 3:4).
Typically, the person who is constantly trying to be recognized, shouldn’t be. The one who must tell you how wise he is, probably isn’t. So, if you’re looking for wise counsel, don’t listen to the blundering self-promoter. Find the meek and humble servant and learn of his gentle and quiet spirit (1 Pet. 3:4), for the wisdom of God doesn’t need self-promotion.
In George Eliot’s masterpiece, Middlemarch, she describes the impact of her quiet heroine, Dorothea, as an antithetical model in this fallen world, writing, “the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”[3] In an age of self-promotion, where social media often serves as a platform for our flesh, can we imagine living “faithfully a hidden life”? Yet, in the wisdom of God we can, making much of Christ and less and less of us. “He must increase, but I must decrease,” John the Baptist said (John 3:30). And so may we, as we grow in the humility of wisdom, looking “not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others,” and having this mind among ourselves, which is ours in Christ Jesus (Phil .2:4-5).
Time and chance may happen to us all, but in this short and uncertain life, we may certainly and humbly confess, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] https://www.gotquestions.org/did-Job-sin.html
[3] George Eliot, Middlemarch (New York: Penguin Classics, 2003), 489.
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