GOD DOESN'T BELIEVE IN LUCK, SO WHY SHOULD I?"

Good Evening to All!

I really liked the way my little "blessings book" stated the following Proverb. We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps . . . . (33) We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall. Proverbs 16:9, 33 NLT

Now to put it in the version which I am readily familiar, A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. (33) The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD. (NKJV)

The following is what I gathered from a reading out of a little book which I am reading.

They said, "because we belong to God, nothing happens in your life as a result of mere luck, fate, fortune, destiny, or chance. We are not at the mercy of these things. Instead, God is involved in everything which may appear to be fate or coincidence to bring about His plans and purposes. He is at the heart of the "good luck to bring us success, and the bad luck to teach us to trust Him.

Every step we take, every word we speak, everywhere we go and everything we think and feel is all under His direction. They said, " He is ruler over all of the events of history so that they work together for good for those who love Him. Because we know Hi is in control of our lives, we can refuse to see ourselves as victims of bad luck. We can embrace humility in the best of circumstances, knowing that He is at work to bring about the outcome He desires.

Now while I agree on the "whole" idea of what they are saying I must say I have reservations at the way they said it.

First of all, God doesn't not cause bad things to happen. He may not stop them from doing so, such as in the case of Job, but He, Himself did not cause Job's problems, Satan did. God did not even allow them to happen to teach Job to trust Him. He allowed Satan to do these things to prove to Satan that Job was faithful to God. Remember, when God was talking to Satan, He called Job His good and faithful servant? He was allowing this to proved a point to Satan. I will say that God sometimes allows things to happen to us to bring us closer to Him, and hopefully to learn to lean on Him, but He doesn't cause them to happen.

As far as being every step we take, every word we speak, everywhere we go and everything we think and feel is all under His direction, that is the way itstyle="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> SHOULD be if we have a relationship with Him, but ultimately these things are up to us. He will not force us to do anything. It is up to us to keep a check on how we talk, where we go, what we do and so forth. If we will listen to the Holy Ghost within us, and do as He tells us, then yes, God is in control, but we have to listen to Him and obey Him. Believe me on this point I know. I have had to apologize more than once for allowing my temper to get the best of me and saying something I shouldn't. That was my flesh taking over instead of obeying the Holy Ghost within me. At the same time God is ultimately in control in the sense that He controls where we will spend eternity based on how we live our life. If we choose not to obey Him, not to live for Him and not to have a relationship with Him then we will not be spending an eternity with Him. That is His decision to make. If we choose to love Him and live
according to His Word, than we will be heirs with Him in heaven.

Therefore, if this ultimate outcome is what the authors were talking about then yes, God is in complete control. If it is the "journey" of our live, then we are in control as far as our choices are concerned. Just like the verse states. We throw the dice, but God will say how they land. We can choose to live in opposition to the Word of God, but it will be God who says where we will end up.

Granted, I am a much happier person when I let God lead me and direct my path. As the scripture says, the steps of a good man (or woman) are ordered by the Lord. When I abide by His wishes things seem to turn out for the best.

Good Night to All and May God Bless,