Things Just Happen — A LifeWords Devotion

I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time. (NLT)

Life is not always fair. As our text observes, there is no neat organisation of things so that we all get what we deserve. Bad things are rewarded, good things are dismissed. It seems that things just happen and it is all a matter of chance.

Here we need to understand what this whole book of the Bible is based upon: it describes how things are when we leave God out of the picture. Bringing God into the picture changes the perspective, but even so it doesn’t mean things turn out just the way they should.

We need to be careful about speaking of God’s sovereignty in this world. He is the ruler of the world no doubt. But there is an opposition party to that rule. Not even God gets his own way in his own world. That is why justice is not always done and that things don’t work out the way God or we want them to work out.

Having this perspective means we can understand the vagaries and contradictions and sheer randomness of what happens in our world. God is sovereign, but as yet he allows rebellion against him.

One day it will all change. But that day is not yet. Till then we live in a world where bad things happen and where a good God stands with us in grappling with them. His kingdom has intruded into our world, but as yet has not conquered it.

Blessings
David