I recently watched a reality show that deals with racing cars. Not the nascar or formula 1 racing but the type where your 2 car garage is full of gears, grease guns and extra fenders. Yes, I love watching reality shows that deal with real life, not the contrived formulated reality shows that tell a diluted fairy tail of Orange County existence. As I was watching the show the turn “it’s gonna be a full moon” came up about 10 times. Not that the statement has anything inaccurate in and of itself but the follow up to the statements is what caught my attention. The submission to coincidence or luck. To think that someone could stroll into a casino or horse track and pick a number or thoroughbred and win do to some mystical magnet to winning.
I heard a doctor say something that has stuck in my head since the day of my fathers thyroid surgery. The statement had so much truth in it that it has sparked an interest in me every time there is a tongue and cheek comment thrown out toward someone about to compete in a competition or play a roll in theater. “Good luck!” These simple two words have more than deceit and inaccuracy but theft! How can I justify a statement like that? SImple, “Satan attempts to rob God by implying that circumstances happen by chance rather than divinely orchestrated by a sovereign God.” The fact that you may be lucky or unlucky seems outlandish in the sight of a Biblical truth of God. Webster Dictionary says that luck is; good fortune, advantage or success; considered as a result of chance.
We are revealed through the scripture that God is completely sovereign from the opening testimony to closing statements. Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Revelation 4:11- “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.” The most telling verse to me is in Isaiah 45:7- “I am the one who creates the light and makes the darkness. I am the one who sends good times and bad times. I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.”
It is a challenge and certainly a stretch to think that God would send bad times on anyone, especially if His purpose is to draw us near so we would know Him intimately. Why does God do this? Is God truly in control or is there luck involved with our circumstances? I say this, God is in control! It was the apostle Paul that wrote to the Romans, “all things will work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” As we develop our understanding of God’s character we must embrace the fact that God allows bad times. Not only does He allow them but He has a powerful purpose for them. We also read from James that these trials allow us to become complete and perfect. We know that God allows these to come as a test being the forging of our character. So when we hear the statement, “Good Luck,” remember that luck has no part in our lives. Even more than in our lives, in our relationship with Jesus!
“There is no attribute more comforting to His children that that of God’s sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that soveriegnty has ordained their afflictions, that soveriegnty overrules them, and that soveriegnty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought to more earnestly contend to than the doctrine of their Master over all creation-the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands-The throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne…for it is God upon the Throne whom we trust.”
C.H. Spurgeon
