Ecclesiastes 9:11 - Meaning and Application

The preacher gives another proof that the world is empty and vain, and that our works are in God’s hand, not our own. He shows how uncertain future events are, and how often they go against the hopes we had for them. He had just urged us to do whatever we do with all our strength (Ecclesiastes 9:10), but now he reminds us that, after we have done all we can, we must leave the outcome with God and not count on success.

We are often disappointed in the good things we hoped for so strongly (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Solomon had seen this himself, and many people have seen it since, in both public matters and private life. Events do not always match what seemed likely or reasonable. Fortune does not give success to anyone so fully that all his efforts turn out well. The result of our plans often goes against expectation in a way we cannot explain. This keeps the highest person from becoming proud and the lowest from falling into despair. It teaches everyone to live in humble dependence on God, from whom every person’s judgment and lot come.

Solomon gives several examples of disappointment, even when the means looked very promising. One would think the fastest runner should win the race, yet the race is not always to the swift. Something may slow him down, or his confidence may make him careless, and someone slower may pass him. One would think the strongest army should always win the battle, or the strongest champion should always triumph in single combat, yet the battle is not always to the strong. Jonathan and his armor-bearer once drove a Philistine force to flight, and the right cause has often won against greater power. The point is that victory does not always follow strength.

He goes on: one would think wise and capable people would always do well in the world, have enough to live on, and even build wealth. Yet bread is not always given to the wise, and riches are not always given to people of understanding. Many gifted and practical people, who seemed likely to prosper, have instead fallen behind and come to nothing. In the same way, one would think people who understand others and know how to handle affairs would surely gain favor and rise in public life. But many capable people have been disappointed, spent their lives in obscurity, or even fallen into disgrace. Sometimes the very methods they used to raise themselves have ruined them, because favor is not always given to people of skill, and fools are often preferred over the wise.

Solomon explains all these disappointments by the rule of God’s providence. To us, events may look random, and we call them chance, but they are really guided by God’s fixed plan and foreknowledge. This book calls that appointed season “time” (Ecclesiastes 3:1), and the same thought appears in (Psalm 31:15). “Time and chance happen to them all.” God’s sovereign care breaks human plans, ruins human hopes, and teaches us that a man’s way is not in his own power, but under the will of God. We must still use the means before us, but we must not trust in them. If we succeed, we should give God the praise (Psalm 44:3). If we are disappointed, we should accept his will and be content with our lot.

We are also often caught by troubles we hardly expected at all (Ecclesiastes 9:12). “Man does not know his time,” meaning the time of his trouble, his fall, or his death, which Scripture often calls our day and our hour. We do not know what troubles lie ahead to interrupt our work or end our life. We do not know what time and chance will bring, or what one day or night may produce. It is not for us to know the times, not even our own time, when or how we will die. In wisdom, God keeps this hidden so that we will always be ready.

Trouble may even come in the very thing we expected would bring us the most pleasure and gain. Fish and birds are caught by the bait that attracts them, because they eagerly go after it. So human beings are often trapped in an evil time when it suddenly falls on them, before they know it. These things also happen alike to everyone. People often find harm where they looked for good, and meet death where they expected a prize. So we should never be careless, but always ready for change, so that even if it comes suddenly, it will not surprise or frighten us.