LUCK OR CHANCE

LUCK OR CHANCE

One fine day I passed by the Lottery Betting station, and out of curiosity I spent a few moments looking at the faces of people placing their bets, hoping to hit the jackpot which would solve all their problems or they thought it would. The faces were anxious, forbidding, ravenous, as they gloat over the person ahead of them in the line.

People regardless of culture have common and widely held  beliefs  which strongly influence their thoughts and actions.  Standing out among these strongly held beliefs, is the belief in the element of chance or luck, in one’s life. Another is belief in fate. And the third is  belief in superstition.

How are these beliefs viewed in the light of the Christian faith?

To a Christian belief in chance would negate the providence of God, a proposition which contradicts his faith. To the unbeliever, who ironically believes in chance, everything happens by chance and nothing ever occurs except by chance. Things happen as they are with no purpose, for everything is coincidence. Everything that happens,  just happened. Life is ruled by the roll of the dice, chance is the master and the believer in chance should be prepared to surrender his life to this hopeless random absurdity. The believer in chance would suffer extreme anxiety, for he could not rely on anything but chance which only offers empty coincidences.

A Christian however is able to surrender his life to the powerful hand of God’s providence, for he believes that all things even the most difficult, painful and hardest of circumstances come to him by the outworking of God’s will in one’s life.   He believes that God is actively involved in the affairs of men, and has the overruling power to direct  events and circumstances to accomplish  His purpose and plan. To a believer there is nothing independent of the will of God both in the worst of experiences,  the most shocking of the unexpected, and in the best of times, joy, abundance, contentment, and successes.

Scripture abounds with real examples of people whose lives were directed by the hand of God to accomplish His purpose.

The life of Joseph the Dreamer is a case in point.

It was no mere chance that Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers, to the Gentile merchants, who in turn sold him in Egypt, as slave, purchased by Potiphar, and seemingly suffered one misfortune after another. But all the misfortunes suffered by Joseph  paved the way to his becoming prince of Egypt.

In all of the circumstances of Joseph’s life, God was with him. It was not mere chance that Joseph was placed by God to rule Egypt and become Egypt’s wise economic manager, so that God’s people could survive the famine which was to come, and provide them a place of refuge. In the life of Joseph there were no accidents. It was not sheer luck  that he rose as ruler of the most powerful and civilized nation of the world of his time. From the mouth of Joseph himself he acknowledged that what happened to him and what became of him was orchestrated by the Living God whose power, no mortal could override

Listen to what he said:

⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.^[a]

 ⁸ “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Genesis 45:5-8 (New International Version)

 In the face of adverse circumstances, pain, and suffering we sometimes ask God where is His goodness and mercy. We become severely depressed, we ask Him if we are being punished or left alone in our despair.

In the life of Joseph we are reminded that we can absolutely surrender our lives to the fact that all things come by the Hand of God. God is the Supreme Architect of our lives and He designs the circumstances for our good, to take us to that higher purpose which He wills to accomplish. The Book of Romans written by St. Paul is one of the most inspiring affirmation of faith ever written to us who suffer major bumps in our lives. Paul the Apostle himself was a man of great suffering but listen to him:

  ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.(Romans 8:28.NIV)

In all things St. Paul said, God works for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.

Behind what we experience to be accidents, misfortunes, or strokes of luck, there is God who is in control of everything, and there is nothing independent of His will. While evil and wickedness abounds these have no absolute sovereignty, apart from the permissive will of God who one day would right every wrong and reward every good deed done for His Glory.

I find great comfort in the assurance of our Lord who said, “I have told you all these things so that in you may have peace. In this world  you will have trouble. But take heart because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)