Time and Opportunity
I read an interesting article on CNN News last week. The article was written by a 35-year-old man named Mitchell Heidsman who lived at Harvard University's Camps apartment and committed suicide at 11 am on Saturday, September 18, the day of the Jewish Atonement (Yom Kippur). Before he took his own life, he wrote a 1,905-page suicide note. That note was called “Suicide Note”. The Suicide Note mentions people like Socrates, Newton, Einstein, and also about the wisdom about freedom, nihilism, God, Judaism, Jewish symbols, Jewish IQ, and history of Anglo-Saxon. I have not read all of the notes, but one thing that I agreed with what he said was “Life is meaningless”. As I was reading this in an Internet news article, the words of Ecclesiastes 1:2 came into my mind: “’Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’” I was saddened as I read the man who wrote “Life is meaningless” in his own suicide note and took his own life. The reason is that he may have realized the vanity of life, but he did not realize the meaning of life in Jesus and took his own life. If he understood the meaning of life in Jesus, he would surely have not committed suicide, and that he would have lived for the Lord by living the best of his life. And if he realized the meaning of life in Jesus and lived a meaningful life for the Lord, he would never have had a vain death. Rather, I think he could have met the beautiful death of the saints before God’s sight.
I'm thinking a bit about "timing" these days. In other words, I think about those who are suffering from illness who try to live their best for the loved ones but when should they let go of the effort and leave the world comfortably. The reason is because of my beloved father-in-law. His doctor told me that he should prepare for the end. In some ways, it is advisable to give up on him and send him to the hospice program until the last day of his life in this earth because the doctor and the hospital cannot do any more medically. Nonetheless, my mother-in-law is doing her best for him since she loves him most dearly. So I came to think about timing. Of course, nobody know the timing exactly. The reason is that even though the doctor tells us to give up and make the final preparations, we who believe in Jesus can continue to pray for him by believing in the God of healing. And we pray because we do not know whether God will spare him or take him Home. One example is that when King David’s first baby born to Bathsheba was sick, David fasted and prayed to God. He apparently received God's word through the prophet Nathan, “But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die” (2 Sam. 12:14), he still fasted and pleaded with God for the child (v. 16). Why did he do that? This is what 2 Samuel 12:22 says: “… While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.”
When we look at Ecclesiastes 9:11, King Solomon said, “… but time and chance happen to them all.” What is the meaning of this word? Before we know the meaning of this word, the first thing we need to know is that in God's sovereignty, there can be no coincidence. There is no coincidence as everything is happening in God's sovereignty and providence. We believe that everything is done in the sovereign will of God. So I personally do not accept the word "good luck". Then what does it mean by “chance”? According to the Internet Naver dictionary, chance is defined as ‘appropriate time or occasion for doing something’. And the Internet Naver Korean-Chinese dictionary says chance is ‘the expected time, the appropriate time for doing work.’ Generally speaking, what do we usually expect when we catch an opportunity and work? Isn’t it a success? What should those who wait for a chance to succeed do? They need to prepare. They must prepare their own abilities in order to be successful by making the most of their opportunities when they come.
In Ecclesiastes 9:11, King Solomon speaks of five kinds of prepared people, or people who are capable. We can say that these are people who are well prepared in developing their own abilities for their own life opportunities. Those five kinds of people are:
(1) They are the fast racers.
What do the fast racers want? Of course it would be the first place in the race. To do so, the fast racers train themselves to run faster. And when they are given a chance to race, they will do their best and run hard towards the goal line. The reason is so they can enter the goal line and make the first place.
(2) They are the warriors.
What would the warriors want? Of course it will be to win the war. And to win the war, the soldiers have to be truly brave soldiers. That will require a lot of training.
(3) They are wise men.
The wise men should be able to use their knowledge effectively in their lives so they can contribute to the living. I am sure there will be no wise men who want to live their lives without being able to afford themselves with their useless knowledge.
(4) There are the discerning people.
Those who are discerning will also work hard with their smart brains to earn a lot of money and be rich.
(5) They are the intellectual people.
They want to be acknowledged and graced by many people with their knowledge and hard work.
But the problem is that even though these five types of prepared and capable people expect success in their own way, and seize the opportunity and do their best, the results cannot be guaranteed. This is what King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 9:11 – “I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.” No matter how fast the racer is running he may not win the race. No matter how brave the warrior is he may not win the war. The meaning of this is that we cannot understand and explain it. In other words, all of these things happen as a result of God's intervention, and we cannot explain them (Park Yun-sun). This is what Dr. Park said: ‘Therefore, man should not be arrogant as he will succeed by self-sufficiency, even if he has the necessary conditions there to achieve a certain purpose. He must always look to the Lord.’
There is arrogant in our human sinful nature that keeps on saying that we succeed with our own efforts. For example, our arrogant hearts want to boast that we have made a lot of money with our own strength and ability. But this is what Deuteronomy 8:17-18 says: “Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.' But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” The Israelites did not gain much wealth because of their ability. But God fulfilled the covenant that he made to their fathers. God has to give us power to make wealth. So the apostle James says in James 4:16 – “But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” Why are we not to boast in our arrogance? This is because the day of disaster can happen to us unexpectedly. Look at Ecclesiastes 9:12 – “Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.” What does it mean? It means that even though we have done our best to prepare for hard work and strive to do our best, unexpected things can happen to us. What is that unexpected things? It is a day of calamity that comes suddenly. The Bible tells us that the day of disaster can come suddenly, as if a fish caught in the net and the bird caught in the snare, and we cannot do anything with our own power. What should we do then?
We must remember. There is a time for everything (3:1-8). There is a proper time and procedure for every matter (8:6). As we remember these words of truth, the truth that we should not forget in the days of disasters we come upon is the words of Ephesians 3:11 that God makes everything beautiful in its time (Wiersbe). Although all the things that are happening in our lives are not going as we expected but is painful and difficult like a day of disaster, we should not put down a hope in the Lord. We must believe that everything that happens in our lives is happening in God's sovereignty. Furthermore, we must believe that God will ultimately make everything beautiful through all of this. We must believe that, even though in our human sense, the plight of the disaster is so dark and not at all beautiful, God who loves us will work together even in this calamity to make good in the sight of God. In doing so, we will see the glory of God.
In John's Gospel, Jesus often said many times that ‘My hour has not come yet’ (2:4, 7: 6, 8, 30, 8:20, 12:4, 23, 27, 13:1, 17:1). What does Jesus mean by "my time"? That is the time when Jesus was crucified and died to redeem us. In other words, the time of Jesus refers to the time when glory can be revealed as the Son of God. The Bible promised us that Jesus, who died and resurrected, will surely come again. The Bible says that only God knows that time (Mt. 24:36). Then God will make all of us who are living in this dark world and all the people of God beautiful with the completion of salvation. I hope and pray that we be ready for that time.
Remembering the grace of God, who beautifully showed the glory of God through the death of the first baby,
Pastor James Kim