But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. – James 1:6-8

I love bragging on God and today I get to do just that.

My wife, Karen has been desiring a piano for many years to have in our home. She absolutely loves sitting down and pecking away on the ivory keys as I do strumming my six strings. She has expressed this want in her life from time to time through the years but it just never seemed to be the right time either for one reason or the other. But back in December, she and I began to pray about it and I also had mentioned it to some of the people I work with. Well, in a short time a couple came into existence through one of my co-workers’ keen set of eyes in the way of her spotting them on Facebook. But as soon as we called, they had already disappeared. Then one day, Karen and I were talking and she said that she was just leaving it in God’s hands and how He knew exactly what she wanted and was going to allow Him to provide it in His way and in His time. Well, just this last week, I received a text from one of my co-workers. She sent me a text with a photo that had just been posted for a free piano. Yes, you read that right…FREE. In the Greek that still means FREE my friends. Karen immediately called and turns out the owner was the mother-in-law to a former employee that used to work with Karen that had no idea that she was looking for a piano. What are the chances? Absolutely “zero” according to my Father’s Book. We traveled Friday to pick it up and brought it back to the house. Karen said, “it’s exactly what I wanted.” Who wold have known? Her heavenly Father, that’s who.

Jesus told us in Mathew 7:11 “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.“ God so much desires to give His children good things due to Him being such a good, good Father.

Now I know that there would be many that would dismiss this act of faith and blessing as a mere coincidental occurrence or possible luck, good fortune, chance, and so on. Yes, when I was younger, I’m quite certain that I did to. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 13:11 that “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.“

For every passage in the Bible that seems to imply that our lives are controlled by chance, luck and good fortune, there are numerous others that affirm that God is directly in control of the events of our lives.

• Proverbs 16:33 reads, “The Lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” Casting a lot may seem random but even that outcome is from the Lord.
• Isaiah 46:10 describes a God who declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done.
• Psalm 139:16 talks about a God who has a book with all the days of our lives written in it before any of them came to pass.

And so, according to the Bible, events in our lives don’t happen randomly. They are all part of God’s plan.

Following my accident back in 94′, I had many, many people out of good intentions tell me “man..you sure were lucky to get out of that alive!”. But I would always reply, “with all due respect, it was God’s favor and blessing on my life that He allowed me stay in the land of the living”. And not an occurrence of luck or good fortune.

From an earthly perspective, things may seem to happen at random, but throughout the whole of Scripture, it is clear that God is in control of all of His creation and is somehow able to take the random acts of natural law, the free will of both good and evil men, and the wicked intent of the enemy and combine them all to accomplish His good and perfect will. And Christians, specifically, are given the promise that God works “all things”, whether seemingly good or bad, together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

May each of us always know that God is sovereign over all in control and allows all things whether they be good, bad or ugly and uses them to accomplish His good purpose in our lives and thus nothing is merely the matter of chance or good luck. Trust Him in knowing that He is going before you this day and leading you to fulfill your purpose for your life.

Remain Blessed,