Is life all about chance?
David Attenborough, in 2013’s Rise of Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates, tells us our ancestry is determined as much by chance as it is by any method of presupposition or predetermination. Something happens in nature, and an animal adapts or dies. All animals alive today can be traced backwards to a common ancestor found in Earth’s early seas.
Even more animals have gone by the wayside, including the dinosaurs that wandered the Earth millennia ago.
There’s no quibbling with Attenborough’s research. His conclusions are well founded and based on scientific discovery. Yet, what does the Bible say about chance? Can all of natural history be as simple as a roll of the dice?
Proverbs 16:33 tells us:
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
Certainly chance plays into the events that work out day-to-day, but even chance is under the control of our Almighty God.
Romans 8:28-30 is adamant in tone and meaning:
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
“Chance” events that spring into being all around us are already seen by God. He has no doubt about what will happen today, tomorrow, and in the distant future.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 cautions us:
“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.”
We can’t predict for God. Our lives will batter us as if chance is out of control. God gets to control the dice.
Ephesians 1:11 assures us:
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
What seems like chance to us is already planned out by God.
Isaiah 46:9-10 gives us God’s version:
“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’ ”
The dice will always come up doubles when directly by our God.
Psalm 115:3 reflects the Lord’s divine sovereignty:
“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”
Our duty is to accept his divine nature and to know that it’s not our will, but his will that will be done.
David Attenborough is dead right. Chance is the determining factor in everything that happens on this planet. However, the Christian can rejoice. Even chance is under the control of our Savior and King.
Go ahead and roll the dice. They’ll land where God tells them to land.
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