Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny. The more words you speak, the less they mean. So what good are they? In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent? Our lives are like a shadow. Who can tell what will happen on this earth after we are gone? (Ecclesiastes 6:10–12)
Solomon writes “Whatever exists has already been named” (Ecclesiastes 6:10 NASB). His first observation then is: God is sovereign. At the heart of life’s major struggles is a theological issue. Putting it in the form of a question: Is God in charge or is He not?
Solomon continues his journal entry: “and it is known what man is” (6:10 NASB). This second observation is: Mankind is not sovereign. Let’s put it another way. God is the potter; we are the clay. God is infinite; we are finite. God is all-powerful; we are limited in strength and ability. God is faithful; we are unfaithful and inconsistent, irresponsible, fractured, and so often confused. The point is clear: We may be a lot of things, but sovereign is not one of them! “For he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man?” (6:10–11 NASB 1995).
The third observation is: Disputing is a waste of time and effort. C, S. Lewis said it well: “When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all.”1
So long as I fight the hand of God, I do not learn the lessons He is attempting to place before me. Everything that touches me comes through the hand of my heavenly Father who continues to love me, who continues to maintain control of my life, who continues to be totally responsible for my life. He does the same with all His created things. That’s why He’s God!
I encourage you to put this issue to rest. Come to terms with it. Recognise and confess how futile it is to fight against the sovereign hand of God. That is one of the greatest things that has reduced my anxiety level in the ministry. When I find myself getting anxious again, it is usually because the size of mankind has gotten greater than the size of my God. The horizontal has overshadowed the vertical, and I have momentarily lost sight of who is still on the throne. Even a capable, strong-willed king named Solomon had to admit his inability to fight a winning battle against the living God.
- S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, rev. and enlarged ed. (New York: Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing, 1952), 53.
