In Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 Solomon bemoans how random chance falls upon mankind. The fastest runner doesn't always win the race. The smartest person doesn't always get the scholarship; life doesn't operate purely on the basis of fairness. The "under the sun" solution is self-reliance. In this sermon Mike Bealer demonstrates that the mathematics hard-baked into the universe suggest that God does not operate randomly. He creates a purposeful universe and one of His purposes is that we will rely upon Him rather than rely upon ourselves and our meager understanding of God's purpose and plan.

2. Series Overview
Trivial Pursuits
•Worldly Wisdom
•Worldly Pleasure
•Riches/Contentment
•Lasting Gain
•Self-Sufficiency
Meaningful Pursuits
•God’s Timetable
•Companionship
•“The” God
•The Fear of God
•Obedience

3. The Pursuit of Self-Sufficiency
Self-
Sufficiency is
Meaningless
Can you see
God in this?
In Christ,
‘doing life’ is
worth it!
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

4. Ecclesiastes 9:11
11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

5. Ecclesiastes 9:12
12 Moreover, no one knows when their
hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.

6. First Point
Time & Chance
will get us all
Self-
Sufficiency is
Meaningless

8. Fun
Probability
Exercise
Odds of Mike dreaming of a
big, vivid turtle: 1 in 18,000

9. Fun
Probability
Exercise
Odds of Mike dreaming of a
big, vivid turtle: 1 in 18,000
Odds of a big turtle crossing
the road in front of Mike’s
truck: 1 in 3,600

10. Fun
Probability
Exercise
Odds of Mike dreaming of a
big, vivid turtle: 1 in 18,000
Odds of both events
occurring on the same day:
1 in 65,000,000
Odds of a big turtle crossing
the road in front of Mike’s
truck: 1 in 3,600

11. Fun
Probability
Exercise
Odds of Mike dreaming of a
big, vivid turtle: 1 in 18,000
Odds of both events
occurring on the same day:
1 in 65,000,000
Odds of a big turtle crossing
the road in front of Mike’s
truck: 1 in 3,600
Or once every 175,000 years

12. Another example…

13. Another example…

14. Second Point
Time and Chance
are not random!
Can you see
God in this?

16. Third Point
You are not on your
own ‘on the mountain’
In Christ,
‘doing life’ is
worth it