Wisdom for Hard Times - Ecclesiastes 9:11-10:20

What do we do when life doesn’t happen as we expect it to?  Sometimes we think that if we’re just fast enough, strong enough, and smart enough, we’ll be able to manage our future and avoid the pitfalls of our “times.” But the Preacher says, “time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time.”In our passage, the Preacher does not deny God’s sovereignty but writes from the perspective of one “under the sun” (from a finite, limited human perspective). Many things that occur in life have the appearance of being the result of pure chance.In an evil time, people are like fish, happily swimming along, but then suddenly caught, or a bird singing as it flies through the air, but then unexpectedly snared. Calamity suddenly and unexpectedly falls upon people. We are not masters of our fate.  Life does not always work out the way we expect it to. Somehow our wisdom must include both the general principles of wisdom, found in Scripture, but also the wisdom necessary for the seemingly absurd exceptions.Today we’ll look at …Wisdom’s Discernment (amid calamities)Folly’s Dullness (on the everyday path of life)Wisdom’s Caution (under foolish rulers)Wisdom Personified