The Race Isn't Always to the Swift (Ecclesiastes 9:10-11)

From the truck

DeWayne recorded this one from the road while driving his daughter to college, so it's a little looser than usual. The text is Solomon's: whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

Time and chance

Then verse 11 complicates things. The fastest runner doesn't always win, the strongest army doesn't always win, and the smartest person doesn't always get rich. Time and chance happen to everyone.

Two wrong conclusions

One is to quit trying, since you can't control the result anyway. The other is to grind harder than everyone, sure that effort guarantees the win. Solomon rejects both. Faith without works is dead, so do the work. But the outcome belongs to God, and sometimes He gives the win to someone else for reasons you won't see yet.

For anyone starting something new

It's a fitting word for a student starting college: work hard, and let God own where it leads.

Try this

• Put full effort into one task today that you've been half-doing.
• Pray over the result and leave it with God.