God's Control

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11


"There is One who knows the destiny of the world, He, who first made the sketch, He who controls and rules the world according to this plan. What is confusion for us is order for Him, what we call chance is designed by Him, thought out from eternity and executed with omnipotence. It is indeed much to know 'He thrones in might and doeth all things well.' Chance? With this sorry word we merely admit that we do not know why things happen as they do. But God knows; God wills it. " Emil Brunner, "Our Faith," pp 22-23

It doesn't matter what a man thinks of himself. He may decide he is strong, wise or skillful. If he perceives himself lacking, he may try to obtain these qualities. He cannot see all those things are nothing and can bring nothing which God has not from eternity willed to happen. It has been rightly said, "man proposes, God disposes." How many times, naturally speaking, have we seen the wise in the wisdom of this world confounded; the strong bested by the weaker; the swift hare bested by the slow tortoise. Men look at these events and say, "what an unlucky break!" There was no luck involved. It was God's determination and that before the world's were! Luck, Chance, Fate should have no place in the vocabulary of a Christian, for IF one has been taught of God they KNOW He does ALL THINGS well.