Things Do Not Always Go As We Expect (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12).
His first lesson is that men do not necessarily succeed because of their advantages and their abilities, because in the end success is largely a matter of chance
‘I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men with business acumen, nor yet favour to men of skill. But time and chance happens to them all.'
Things do not always go as expected. It is not always the swift who win the race. It is not always the strong who win the battle. It is not always the wise who are fed. It is not always those who have business acumen who succeed in business. It is just that some are in the right place at the right time, others are favoured by providence, while still others are unfortunate. Thus it is not always those who are expected to win who gain the prize. It is only too often simply a matter of chance. The truth is that they might fall at the first fence. So all are subject to time and luck. Such are the uncertainties of life.
‘For man also does not know his time. As the fish who are taken in an evil net, and as the birds who are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falls on them suddenly.'
His second lesson is that men do not know what the future holds. Life may be going along smoothly when suddenly they find themselves ensnared in one way or another. It may be by invasion, it may be by the toppling of authority and replacement by a new authority, it may be by pestilence or plague. But it can come suddenly and unexpectedly on men who are unprepared. For a man does not know what time has in store for him. Thus we should seek to prepare for possible emergencies.