Chance or Providence?
(Exhortation - March 2003)
Is there such a thing as chance in the life of a saint? We know that there is no god of luck or fortune, so why do we sometimes catch ourselves saying, “fortunately or luckily,” when an event happens in our favor? Let us review the scriptural teaching on this subject that is clearly demonstrated by various events in the lives of several people and nations.
Abraham’s faithful servant
When Abraham decided that it was time for his son Isaac to have a wife,
he left nothing to chance. He understood that if a godly line was to be
preserved, his future daughter-in-law must not be selected from the pagan
Canaanites among whom he dwelt. Instead, this God-fearing man instructed
his servant to travel back to Syria and seek a bride from his own family:
“Thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my
son Isaac” (Gen. 24:4).
For Abraham to delegate such a delicate matter to a servant, the man must have had his complete trust. The caliber of the servant was such that he gave the matter considerable thought: “Peradventure the women will not be willing to follow me unto this land.” Abraham reassured his servant that it was not a matter of chance: “The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence” (Gen. 24:5-7).
Later on, when he was reiterating his instructions to Rebekah’s family, the servant stated that his master had also said: “The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way” (Gen. 24:40). Further, he was explicit in explaining that the ease in which he had found the household was due to angelic guidance, nothing to do with luck, good fortune, or a chance encounter: “I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren” (Gen. 24:27).
The
source of Joshua’s success
Immediately after the death of Moses, the young man Joshua received his
daunting commission. He was to lead the people of Israel into the land:
Arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them even to the children of Israel, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you…from the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast…for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them (Josh. 1:2-4, 6).
Without hesitation Joshua took command of the sometimes wayward nation and, to the best of his ability, he attempted to carry out his mandate. Had such a difficult mission been given to a person belonging to the atheistic modern-day generation, he would hope fervently that luck would be on his side. Not so this man of God’s choosing. He put his trust and faith in the Lord after hearing the encouraging words: “Be strong and of a good courage.” What is more, he paid heed to the vital instruction: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Josh. 1:8-9). Prosperity and success in the campaign had nothing to do with luck, good fortune or individual prowess. It was the simple fact of knowing and understanding God’s word and putting it into action.
Prior to conquest of Jericho, two spies were sent to reconnoiter the territory. “And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there” (Josh 2:1). Were the scriptures not explicit as to the outcome, one might wonder how it came about that the spies stumbled into such a situation? It was certainly not by chance or man’s caprice that they happened to come to the home of a woman of loose morals. God, who sees into the heart, led the spies to a person who had heard of His reputation and had the potential to become a believer. The demonstration of her faith brought this gentile into the camp of Israel to become the wife of Salmon, the mother of Boaz, mother-in-law to Ruth, and ancestor to Jesus.
Providence in the life of Ruth
Similarly, Ruth had heard of the God of Israel and was so impressed that she
was prepared to leave her own environment and place her trust in Him. No
doubt she had learned from the faithful Naomi the provision made under the
law for the poor as regards the harvest: “When thou cuttest down thine
harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not
go again to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and
for the widow” (Deut. 24:19). Hunger was the motivation for Ruth to
avail herself of the allowance and she went to glean in the fields: “Then
she went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to
come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz…” (Ruth 2:3 NKJ). Was
it just luck that Ruth happened to wander over to the section belonging to
the wealthy kinsman of Naomi? No, there is no room for chance or luck here,
it was obviously the design of God.
There are many other cases where providence was clearly the governing factor in the lives of the people of God, and it is an interesting exercise to look for it when doing the daily readings.
The
casting of lots
Casting lots has long been used as a deciding factor in circumstances of
indecision. It is still used today and is regarded as “the luck of the
draw.” But in the Bible record, casting lots was not a matter of chance
or good fortune, it was used to determine the will of God: “The lot is
cast into the lap, but the whole disposing (judgement) thereof is of the
Lord” (Prov. 16:33). Saul used the procedure to identify the culprit
guilty of breaking the fast when Jonathan had inadvertently eaten honey.
“And Saul said, Draw ye near hither, all the chief of the people: and know
and see wherein this sin hath been this day. Thereafter Saul said to the
God of Israel, Give a perfect lot…cast lots between me and Jonathan my son”
(I Sam. 14: 38, 41-42).
Another well-known example is the selection of the replacement for Judas: “And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:26).
The
Lord controls armies
A common expression that is connected with luck is the one derived from
the gambling fraternity: “against all odds.” This could be said
about the Syrian campaign in the book of Kings:
And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Ben-hadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country (I Kgs. 20:26-27).
Obviously Ben-hadad’s forces greatly outnumbered the army of Israel. The outcome, however, was that one hundred thousand Syrians were slain in one day, for God said: “I will deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” The escapees sought refuge in a city where, remarkably, a wall fell upon twenty seven thousand (I Kgs. 20:30). Now was this coincidence or plain bad luck? Of course not, rather it was the design of God as promised to the nation in the time of Moses:
Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you (Deut. 20:3-4).
Our
trust is in the Lord
So the exhortation is for us to complement our plans with, “Lord willing
we will do this or that.” There is no such thing as luck, good or bad,
in the lives of the saints of God. Events that may appear to be chance are
all under His control. Nowhere is this demonstrated more clearly than in
the life of his beloved son, who was delivered up to death “by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).
Clive Drepaul