My Sunday school teacher (David Smith) taught a lesson a few weeks ago that really grabbed my attention. The scripture was written by King Solomon (King David’s son) and he was the wisest and richest man to ever live. Literally. He authored three books of the bible, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and The Song of Solomon. These three books follow the book of Psalms which was written by his father, King David.

Ecclesiastes is shockingly applicable to today. It is like the book was written last week even though it was written 935 years before Christ. I want to focus on the false idea that we (as humans) can control our life by our own education, wisdom, strength, skill or wealth. Look at the following passage of scripture.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NLT) “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,”

If you are like me, I haven’t yet been able to wrap my mind around all the meaning of that verse. It is so deep. What part I do understand, I understand very deeply. It says to me that we can do all the right things and still fail because it is up to God to put us in the right place at the right time. This is clearly the story of my life and maybe yours too. Only God knows where we are supposed to be and only God can ordain the circumstances to line up in our lives.

The message is simple. Seek God’s will and his favor and trust that he has us in his hand and he will put us in the right place at the right time. We have no control. When we accept that, it allows us to live more freely and have more love, joy and peace. It’s funny, that the words love, joy and peace are used mostly at Christmas time. Merry Christmas. KT