Faithfulness in an Uncertain World

September 13, 2026 | Faithfulness in an Uncertain World |Ecclesiastes 9

JD Cutler

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This morning we are continuing our look at the Old Testament wisdom book of Ecclesiastes. Each month, we step into this book to learn about finding purpose in life.  As we've journeyed through Ecclesiastes, we are increasingly seeing that the purpose of life is to live faithfully in a world we cannot fully understand or control.  As we've journeyed through Ecclesiastes together, the Preacher has systematically dismantled many of the false places we, as human beings, look for meaning and security in life.

In chapter 1, we saw the futility of life under the sun. Left to ourselves, life feels like an endless cycle where nothing ultimately satisfies. In chapter 2, the Preacher pursued pleasure, possessions, accomplishments, and success, only to discover that even the greatest earthly achievements cannot satisfy the human heart. In chapter 3, we learned that while life unfolds in seasons we cannot control, God has appointed every one of them, calling us to trust His timing rather than our own. In chapter 4, the Preacher exposed the brokenness of life—oppression, loneliness, envy, and selfish ambition—and reminded us that we were created to live in relationship with God and with one another. In chapter 5, he corrected our posture before God, teaching us to approach Him with reverence rather than empty religion, and to receive His gifts with humility instead of chasing wealth. Then in chapter 6, the Preacher showed us that even abundance is meaningless apart from God. The difference between emptiness and abundance isn't how much we possess, but whether we know the Shepherd who gives life. In chapter 7, we entered what we called The School of Wisdom. The preacher shifted from exposing life's vanity to teaching us how the wise live in a fallen world. We saw that wisdom learns from adversity, receives correction, rejects nostalgia, and ultimately trusts God's providence—even when life doesn't make sense. In chapter 8, we continued learning about wisdom as we talked about peace not coming from gaining control of life, but by trusting the God who is in control.

That brings us to chapter 9. If you have your Bible, go ahead and turn there now.

In some ways, I think Ecclesiastes 9 serves as a summary of everything that has gone before. The Preacher seems to be circling back over many of the themes that have been developed throughout the book, reinforcing them as he moves toward the conclusion of his argument in chapters 11 and 12.

He once again highlights the futility, brokenness, and brevity of life under the sun. He once again commends to his readers a better way. Trust God, choose joy, enjoy work and life each day as a gift from God. And once again he tells us that although wisdom is not the ultimate purpose or answer to the vanity of life, it is better to be wise than foolish.

Some of what we hear this morning may sound familiar. But God's Word does not repeat itself without purpose. Paul understood this when he told the Philippians, ‘To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.’ So this morning, we're going to lay some of these familiar truths on our hearts again, not because we've never heard them, but because we so easily forget them.

Therefore, I am thankful to be able to take us through some of the same things this morning, praying it will be beneficial to you.

Let’s read Ecclesiastes 9 together now.

Ecclesiastes 9 ESV

1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. 7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. 11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. 13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. 17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

This morning, as we walk through the preachers familiar lessons looking for a better understanding and to lay it to our heart ourselves, let’s look at three descriptions of life under the sun.

I. The Mysterious Providence of Life (9:1–6)

Ecclesiastes 9 picks up where Ecclesiastes 8 left off. There the preacher says he applied his heart to know wisdom and in the end he came to the conclusion that it is frustratingly mysterious and no man can figure it out, not through much labor and not through much wisdom.

Life seems to unfold irregularly and often unfairly which brings us to chapter 9. But…

Yes, life may feel random, chaotic, unfair. Yes, it can be frustratingly mysterious, we don’t know what is coming… But…the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God.

Life may feel random to us. It may feel chaotic to us. It may even feel unfair to us. But Scripture tells us that it is not outside the hands of God.

I think if we’re honest with ourselves this morning, we have wrestled with some of these thoughts. Why does that person who does evil, seem to have favorable experiences in life? Why does the liar not get caught? Why do the wicked go unpunished? Why does the sweet, godly lady get hit by a drunk driver and perish while he walks away without a scratch. Why cancer? Why death? Why sickness? Why when something catastrophic happens in the world do we see both the good and the bad experiencing the same thing?

The preacher tells us the answer, even though it may not satisfy our questions…it is in the hands of God. As we saw in chapter 3, we are not called to figure it all out, but to trust the one who knows it all. Life is not unfolding in random events and segments of time to God. God is outside of time in a way that is hard for us to wrap our minds around.

You may find the idea of providence immensely comforting or immensely discomforting, either way, it will ultimately be mysterious to us because we are the created trying to understand the work of the creator.

So what? Should we just throw our hands up? Should we just give up and wait to die?

No, because life is still worth living. Verse 4- the living have hope, the living have tomorrow; the dead have nothing. Here the preacher shares a short proverb.

A living dog is better than a dead lion.

Think of the comparison. A lion is at the top of the food chain, king of the jungle. A dog is at best a scavenger and at worst completely dependent on human beings. No one would think that a dog is better than a lion. We want to be the lion. Strong, powerful, successful, graceful, not the dog.

The comparison is absurd…unless.

The dog is alive and the lion is dead.

Then we’d choose to be the dog every time.

Whether a person was full of love or full of hate, their part in what happens under the sun is over when they die. Life, as it were, is for the living.

The preacher has painted a pretty bleak picture. The same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and him who does not sacrifice…The same event happens to all. They live and then they go to the dead. Any life at all is better than death.

So what do we do with this? Where do we go from here?

Let’s look at what the preacher says next under the heading…

II. The Fleeting Opportunity of Life (9:7–10)

Verse 7 seems so sudden. It’s like just as you lean forward solemnly as the preacher’s voice trails off, he yells ‘Go, get out of here, live your life’

That’s exactly what he does. After reminding us of the mysterious providence of life, he suddenly shifts to these imperatives. Go, eat, drink. This should be familiar to those of you who have been with us throughout Ecclesiastes. This is far from the first or only time the preacher says this. Listen to these verses again…

Ecclesiastes 2:24–25 “24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”

Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 “12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.”

Ecclesiastes 3:22 “22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?”

Ecclesiastes 5:18 “18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.”

Ecclesiastes 8:15 “15 And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.”

So what he says in chapter 9 should not come as a surprise.

The answer to the frustratingly mysterious aspect of life is not to figure it out but to simply enjoy it. However, this time, the preacher adds a statement that could easily be misunderstood. For God has already approved what you do.

In no way is the preacher giving permission to act without moral restraint. He tells us elsewhere we are accountable to God. This is not permission to do whatever you want and assume God approves. If you will remember what the preacher has said, enjoyment of the simple things in life comes from God’s hand. Pleasure and satisfaction are divine gifts. Finding enjoyment in honest labor, accepting one’s lot, enjoying the food before you, this is the proper response to the life God has given you.

He is reminding us that this kind of living, which receives each day as a gift from God, is genuinely better for people.

Why is this important?

Because sometimes we treat ordinary life as spiritually worthless. We think about spirituality in terms of church or ministry vocation, completely ignoring that eating our bread with joy, working diligently as unto the Lord, loving your spouse well, leading or serving your family, these things are actually participating in the life he designed and approves of. We only get one chance to enjoy this God given life. Some of us may get to experience the gift of eternal life but miss the gift of this life.

So if you have been head down, working towards a one day that you’ll enjoy life, if you are so busy trying to hustle for a better life, or even if you spend your days looking back at your younger days wishing you were there, don’t miss the gift of today.

Because your days are finite. We don’t know when each of our time will be over, but we know that each day is a gift and one day there won’t be anymore days for us.

Friends, live the life God has given you now. eat your bread with joy drink your wine with a merry heart enjoy your marriage enjoy your work do what your hand finds to do do it with your might

This is not hedonism, this is gratefully receiving God’s good gifts in light of the brevity of life. Ecclesiastes isn't telling you to live for pleasure. It's telling you to receive pleasure as a gift from God.

You might ask, how do we navigate gratefully receiving God’s good gifts and loving the gifts more than the gift giver?

This is why we need wisdom, even when it isn’t alway praised. Let’s turn our attention to…

III. The Unpredictable Outcome of Life (9:11–12)

Beginning in verse 11, the preacher again highlights the unpredictable nature of life. The very thing that makes it a vanity of vanities. The fastest person doesn’t always win the race, the strongest doesn’t always win the battle, the wise doesn’t always get the reward, the intelligent doesn’t alway get ahead.

Time and chance happen to them all. The word translated chance in the ESV isn’t suggesting actual randomness or the idea of luck, but rather an unfortunate event that happens.

The preacher is essentially reminding us that life doesn’t always reward us according to our perceived ability.

We do not control the outcome because we do not know our time. We don't know what is coming, and we don't know when it will come.

This takes us back again to the lesson of chapter 3. Life feels frustratingly mysterious because we do not know what will happen, when it will happen, or control what will happen.

So why train to be fast, why lift to be strong, why study to be wise, why gain knowledge?

Because sometimes the thing itself is better even if the outcome isn’t what we would expect.

The preacher gives us a perfect example. Let’s read it again in light of that line of thinking.

13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

Small city with just a few men against a great king with an army and great siegeworks against it.

By all accounts the king should win the city, easily and quickly. What hope could they have? He has the numbers, he has the strength.

But surprisingly he doesn’t. Because the battle doesn’t always go to the strong.

But press further.

The mightiest man in the town didn’t save them, the richest man in town didn’t save them. A poor wise man delivers the city by his wisdom. Yet when the king has given up, when he goes home, when the people are no longer under threat, no one remembers that poor man.

His wisdom isn’t rewarded or even seemingly recognized.

Even so, the preacher says, 16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.

He continues…17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Do you see?

No one may celebrate that poor man, no one may reward him, but because of his wisdom he led his city to resist being conquered. It’s better, even when it doesn’t get rewarded.

This is remarkably similar to what we saw in chapter 7.

Wisdom doesn't guarantee success.

Wisdom doesn't guarantee recognition.

Wisdom doesn't guarantee wealth.

Wisdom doesn't guarantee that everyone will listen to you.

But wisdom is still better than foolishness.

So where does that leave us this morning?

If God is providentially in control, if we only get this one life to live and each day is a gift from God to be enjoyed, and if we know that our days are ultimately accountable to God, what do we need?

Wisdom.

What is wisdom? Where does it come from?

The Bible says that it begins with the fear of the Lord.

Reverence for God isn’t just the right posture for worship as we saw in chapter 5, it is the foundation for living wisely in an unpredictable world. Wisdom begins when I recognize that God is God and I am not. I don't have to understand everything He is doing. I don't have to control the outcome. I don't even have to know what tomorrow holds. I simply have to trust Him and faithfully do what He has given me to do.

Ecclesiastes leaves us asking an uncomfortable question:

What if I do everything right and it still doesn't work out?

What if I live wisely, faithfully, and obediently, and I don't see the reward?

What if, like this poor wise man, I do what is right and nobody remembers?

The fastest doesn’t always win. The strongest doesn’t always win. The wise doesn’t always get rewarded.

To that I would add, the faithful don’t always get rewarded this side of heaven.

But as Christians, we know something the Preacher could only see dimly from where he stood in redemptive history. We know Jesus. Jesus entered this broken world and lived the perfectly wise and righteous life. And yet He was rejected, despised, crucified, and buried. From every earthly perspective, His life looked like the ultimate failure. But three days later, He walked out of the grave.

We know that this life is not the end of the story. That death doesn’t get the final word.

And because Christ rose from the dead, we know that what appears to be vanity is not the end of the story.

Ecclesiastes has repeatedly shown us the seeming vanity of life and yet the New Testament, in light of the person and work of Christ has a different message. 1 Corinthians 15:58 “58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Not because everything you do will be recognized now. Not because every faithful decision will produce the outcome you hoped for. Not because the righteous always get the reward in this life.

The Preacher says wisdom is better even when it isn't rewarded. Paul tells us why we can believe that. In Christ, your labor is not in vain. Christ has secured the final outcome and one day God will make all things right.

The injustice will be judged. The faithfulness will be vindicated. The suffering will end. Death will be defeated. And the work done for Christ will not be wasted.

And what does ‘all things right’ ultimately look like?

Revelation gives us a glimpse. Revelation 21:1–4 “1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””

If you belong to the Lord, are you living each day like it is a precious gift from the Lord? Are you treating the things He has put before you each day to do as your spiritual service? And are you willing to be faithful even when you don't see the reward?

You may not understand what God is doing. You may not know what tomorrow holds. You may not see the reward for your faithfulness in this life.

But you can fear the Lord. You can live wisely. You can receive today as His gift. And you can trust Him with the outcome.

Because in Christ, your labor is not in vain.

If you haven’t surrendered your life to the Lord, if you have not come to faith in Christ, do you realize this morning that tomorrow is not promised?

That no matter if you are a good person, or a strong person, or a young person, life is fleeting.

Don’t wait to come to Christ. Don't presume upon tomorrow. You don't know what tomorrow holds. You don't know when your time will come.

But you know this: Christ is calling you today. The Bible says, ‘Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’

So don't wait for a better day. Come to Christ in faith today.

We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know what God has put before us today.

Let us pray.