TIME AND SPACE
26 May 2022
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of
understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time
and chance happen to them all.
Ecclesiastes 9:11
I want you to know how you can have "time and
chance" happen to you. Let me show you what the
original Hebrew language reveals about how this
can be your reality.
The Hebrew word for "time" is the word eth,
meaning time or season. The Hebrew words for
"chance happen" are pega garah. Together with
eth, they present a picture not of random
occurrences, but "right happenings" that are
dependent on the Lord's orchestration. It's
unfortunate that the word "chance" is used in the
English translation. When you read "time and
chance happen to them all," it gives the impression
of random happenings, occurrences that happen
as if by "luck."
But if you study the root of the word pega in the
Scriptures, you'll see it is from the word paga,
which actually means to make intercession or pray.
Let me introduce to you at this point a principle of a
Bible interpretation called the law of first mention.
When you are studying a word, look at the first
time it appears in the Bible. There is a lot of
spiritual truth and significance in the first
occurrence of the word in the Bible.
Applying this principle to the word paga, we see in
the Bible that the first time it is used is in Genesis
23:8 (NIV), where it means "intercede." The same
word is also used in Isaiah 53:12 where it says the
Lord "made intercession for the
transgressors" (boldface mine).
The other Hebrew word, garah, is often used in
other parts of the Bible to explain God-ordained
happenings. So "chance happen" should more
accurately be translated as "prayed opportunities"
or "prayed happenings." When you have eth and
pega garah combined here, it speaks of right-time,
right-place happenings, or of being at the right
place at the right time, doing the right thing as a
result of prayer. What an amazing blessing to
possess, which is simply triggered by coming to our
loving Father in heaven and expressing our
dependence on His protection over us and our
families. I want this blessing activated every day,
don't you?
