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A speculator, who won and lost money by instinct, was
discussing success with a business man who had done very
well. They were discussing whether success was attained by
planned judgment, or by mere luck. The business man said
judgment, but the speculator held out for luck. He pointed
out to the business man that he was a forty-niner, and that
that was an adventure, but he responded that it was not so
for him for it was planned. "Well then," said the speculator,
"You came to New York just when the investment of your
money would bring the highest returns, that was luck."
"No," insisted the business man, for it had been his own wise
judgment. After several more examples to which he
received the same reply, the speculator concluded, "Well,
you'll have to admit you are mighty lucky to have such good
judgment."
The whole issue of providence and chance; sovereignty
and free will; the Lord or luck, is a complex one, but one
that we must think about seriously since it governs much of
our attitude toward life and circumstances. Lack of thought
at this point causes many Christians to be very inconsistent
in their ideas. Sometimes we are like the professor who was
going to lecture on the III World War. He announced his
two major points in his introduction. First he said we will
consider why there will be no war, and second we will
consider what to do when it comes. Christians get into the
same fix when they say nothing is of chance, and then
condemn gambling because it is not of God. We want to
look at the sailors method of accusing Jonah as a starting
point to try and reconcile the concepts of luck and the
sovereignty of God.
I. IS LUCK REAL?
The sailors certainly did not think that casting lots was a
matter of luck. They wanted to know on whose account the
storm had come, and they believed that the gods revealed
their will through the lot. Since, however, this practice as
not in conformity with belief in the one true God, we must
recognize that their views amounted to superstition. These
sailors did not make this up for this occasion. It was a
practice of life, and they had doubtless made other decisions
by lot. Are we to suppose that all decisions of ancient or
modern pagans are guided by the Lord, as this one was? If
so, then we are led to the conclusion that superstition was
not wrong after all, and that the pagan world was guided by
God by superstition, as was His chosen people by revelation.
This conclusion is contrary to all the facts, for the vast
majority of pagan practices and superstitions were an
abomination to God. God did use this particular event of lot
casting to reveal His will, but certainly He did not do so in
all cases. Most pagan decisions were decided by what we
would call luck. They were events which were not decided
by God's will, but by chance causes which were not known
or predictable. In other words, many innocent people
suffered as being guilty not because God willed it but
because foolish men made their decisions on the basis of
chance. It was deciding which of two men accused of
murder would be guilty by the flip of a coin. People use to
determine guilt by binding a person up and throwing them
in the river. If they drowned they were presumed innocent,
and if they floated they were presumed guilty.
I cannot believe that all such folly has been the will of
God. It has, instead, been the result of blindness to His will.
I am convinced that all that happens in life is not God's will,
for if it was, it would be meaningless to pray thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus taught us to pray this,
therefore, it is clear that God's will is not always done on
earth as it is in heaven. This makes me question the easy
and superficial attitude of many Christians who say nothing
happens by chance, or there is no such thing as luck. If they
mean that nothing happens without a cause, then all can
agree, for every effect has a cause. But to say that all causes
are God' s will is to contradict the clear teaching of His
Word that sin is not His will, and the effects of sin are not
His will.
Events and things that happen that are not intended by
God, and are not caused by the will of man, is what I mean
by luck. Calvin believed that all that happens is the direct
will of God. He even rejected the idea of God's permissive
will. God does not merely permit anything, but He actively
causes everything. God does not just permit murder He
ordains it for His own glory. How all the evil of the world
glorifies God Calvin does not say, but he points out that
God's ways are not our ways, and His plan is beyond our
comprehension. Many people who are godly Christians
believe this, but I cannot. This view exalts God's sovereignty
at the expense of His love. Certainly no evil can happen
without its ultimate cause being in God, for He is the cause
of all that is, but it is still true that He is not the direct cause,
for things and events can happen which are not His will.
There are millions of acts of sin going on all the time
which are not God's will, and they will cause many to suffer
eternal judgment which is not God's will, and many will
never repent, which is His will. The Bible says very little
about chance, for it is revelation, not of what is purposeless
events, but of what is God's purpose in life and history.
There is no place in revelation for luck since it is a book of
God's action. This casting of lots is recorded, but all other
lot casting of the pagan world is not, because this particular
occasion was used of God to accomplish His purpose.
The word chance is found in both the Old Testament and
the New Testament, and there are a number of passages
where the idea of chance is obvious. Consider Exodus
21:12-14, "Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall
surely be put to death. However, if he does not do it
intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I
will designate. But if a man schemes and kills another man
deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to
death." We see two kinds of situations here where a man is
killed. One is considered murder and is directly opposed to
God's will, and it is not to be tolerated. God does permit it
in the sense that He does not stop it, but He will not permit it
to go unpunished. God permits murder only because He
cannot consistently stop it and still leave people free to make
moral choices. He cannot let a man be free to disobey His
law and at the same time compel him to obey it. This is the
price God was willing to pay to make a man with free will.
If, however, you kill a man accidentally, you are not to be
killed, and the reason is because you did not choose to
disobey God's law. It happened by circumstances and not
by your act of will. It was a matter of chance and not a
matter of choice. Berkley has verse 13 like this, "However,
if he did not plan it, but God allowed an accident...." We see
that some things God permits to happen, and some things he
causes to happen, and still other things He does not want to
happen at all, but must allow them to be, but will judge
those who do them. This means there is much in life that is
not God's will, but is the result of man's sin, foolish actions,
whims and mere chance combinations of his actions and
decisions. Liberalism and modernism and all attacks on
God's Word, plus the lethargy of Christians are all against
His will, and it can be little short of blasphemy to suggest
that God ordained all that He clearly hates. This would be
saying that God wills all that He says is not His will.
If nothing is the result of mans false thinking and poor
decisions which brings about all kinds of messes, then what
is the sense of controversy? It is the pastime of fools, for
what possible objection can we have if those who disagree
with us do so by the will of God. If all is of God then even
atheism and the cults are part of God's will. My conclusion
is that much happens by chance, and that luck is very real.
The second question is-
II. IS GOD SOVEREIGN?
Without argument we can say yes, but the problem is, can
yes be said to both questions without contradiction? Is this
trying to have our cake and eat it too, or can the two be
reconciled to show that they are not only compatible but
necessary? I think so. The first thing we have to do is get
out of our minds a false meaning of sovereignty. The idea
that the omnipotence of God means He can do absolutely
anything without limitation is not valid. This would mean
that God is the cause of all evil, for if He is all powerful and
yet does not stop evil, it must be that it is His will. The
Scripture makes it clear that God has imposed self
limitations on His own power.
It is impossible for God to lie the Bible says. There is
something God cannot do because it is contrary to His very
nature. Holiness and lies are incompatible, and so a holy
God cannot lie. No contradiction can exist in reality if it is
absolute. It is impossible for the same object to be both a
square and a circle at the same time. While it is one, by its
very nature it excludes the other. So it is no limitation to
sovereignty to be unable to do a contradiction. It is no
limitation that God cannot lie or make a square circle, and,
therefore, it is no limitation either that He cannot make a
man free and at the same time make him conform to His
will. Why didn't God stop Adam and Eve from sinning? He
certainly had the power, and it seems like it would have been
so easy. But it was not only not easy, it was impossible, for
the very plan of God was to have a creature who was free to
obey or disobey Him. It is impossible to have a truly free
being, and at the same time have them not be free to disobey.
How then is God still sovereign if so much can happen which
is not His will? He is sovereign in that He knows the end
from the beginning. Man does not know the outcome of his
chance decisions, but God does, and God works in them to
accomplish His will. He used the chance acts of the sailors to
accomplish His will with Jonah. He used the lot often in the
Old Testament. The twelve tribes used the lot to determine
what land they got in Num. 26:55. Quite often the lot is used
to settle arguments. Prov. 18:18 says, "The lot puts an end
to disputes and decides between powerful contenders." In
Acts 1:24-26 Matthias was chosen by Lot to be the 12th
Apostle.
Most chance is just that. We flip a coin to see who goes
first in many games, but when crucial decisions are to be
made and we do not know what to do, God can even use
chance to reveal His will and to guide us. Therefore, though
the Christian can believe in chance, he is always ready and
eager to look for God's guidance even in the chance
circumstances of life. If God can use evil to bring forth
good, how much more can He use luck to demonstrate His
own Lordship.
