"Unpredictable Life?"

"I have seen something else under the sun; the race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned, but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come." Eccl 9:11-12 NIV
"No man can predict misfortune." Eccl 9:12 MSG

Those words contain a lot of truth because all of us have experienced those times when we did everything right and the result just didn't quite work out the way we had expected. Sometimes "swift" isn't enough to win the race, nor "learned" good enough to gain expected favor. How do we explain that?

You may have your own way of interpreting misfortune but in my experience, most of it has been the result of my own lack of knowledge, skill, commitment etc. Its easy to convince ourselves that "I did/am doing my best" but if we're truly honest we might admit that is rarely the case. We can virtually always do it better if we are willing to invest time and energy in learning how to do so.

I think Solomon maybe should have said, "SOMETIMES the race is not to the swift" etc, because when taken on balance, more often than not, the swift, the strong, the wise, etc. come out on top. However, I also think the wise man was unwise to leave God out of his equation. He is right that "No man can predict misfortune" but there's another force at work in the lives of those who are called of God, a force much greater than any misfortune.

Paul said, "We KNOW that in all things God works for the good of those that love him - if God is for us who can be against us?!" Romans 8:28,31

I guess Paul's experience of a life of ups and downs was very different from his ancient ancestor. He always knew God would bring him through whatever misfortune came his way. And God did!

I'm standing with Paul on this. Although everything in my life hasn't always met my expectations and I have seen much that Solomon saw, God has always been at work to make it all produce something "good" for me and multitudes of others who can share the same testimony as Paul. If I am honestly open to learning what God wants to teach me, he will always bring me out on top! He has and he will regardless of any misfortune and I think that is just a huge HALLELUJAH!