“I don’t believe in luck. If God’s truly in control, then nothing happens purely by chance.”
One of my good friends told me that a number of years back, I believed it then, and I still believe it now. The recent bombings in London and Ted’s sermon on Sunday reminded me of this idea. The other day, I saw a picture of the four to-be bombers captured on a surveillance tape at a train station. Two of them were just nineteen. Seemingly ordinary British boys, led astray by an evil group doing things supposedly in the name of God. And I thought, what differentiates those boys from every other person who might come in contact with one of those groups? Is it simply chance? Or, as a New York Times article talked about, is it simply coincidence that someone missed the bus number 30 that ended up exploding?
Those types of questions have always caused me to wrestle with my faith quite a bit. But if there’s one thing that’s for sure, it’s that when things are uncertain or in the balance, God is always steady and true. Ted did a great sermon on Job on Sunday, reminding me of my tendency to stumble in my faith when events, world or personal, shake me. For Job, even when all was lost, he still sought after God hard, knowing that He is the ultimate Redeemer of his life. Things were completely dismal for Job, but as Ted said, in the end, he got what he wanted – God Himself.
Was it chance that Job endured what he did? Well, as the Bible tells us, those events were permitted to happen, so for him, it wasn’t just a stroke of bad luck. Furthermore, the reward for Job was far greater than what he lost. This isn’t to minimize the pain and suffering that he went through to get to that point, but it is to say this – God knows what He’s doing. Tragedy strikes every single day, all across the world, in dark alleys and in the most glorious mansions. I don’t know exactly how to explain why some things happen to some people and other things don’t, but I do know this – God is much bigger than I am and has a far grander and greater vision for this world than I could possibly imagine. He can redeem every situation for Himself – and it’s not just coincidence. I still don’t believe in luck; if I did, that would mean something is out of the hands of the living God.
For those people that are daily affected by acts of terrorism and violence, my prayer is that God would be their Redeemer and give them hope in times of hopelessness.
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” – Job 19:25
(Possibly) Related posts:
Great post. I forget so easily that we don’t need to be subject to random luck. God is so good a gracious.