Just a roll of the dice

There are some who believe that God is just waiting up in Heaven to see what we'll do next. If we, through our free will decisions, take history too far off course, then God does a "course correction" and sets everything right again. Personally, I'm not one of them. I believe that the testimony of scripture portrays a God who is not simply in authority over his creation, but actually is in control of everything, from the flight of the sparrow to every roll of the dice.

Proverbs 16:33 tells us "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.". As we are reading along in our Bibles, that simple verse often flies right by us. However, what it is saying is profound. In Biblical times, (especially the Old Testament but also the New Testament), the casting of lots (the roll of dice essentially) was used to determine decisions by many peoples.

The Urim and Thummim mentioned in Leviticus 8:8 and Exodus 28:30 were used to determine the Lord's judgments by the children of Israel (also referenced in 1 Samuel 14:41, Ezra 2:6, and Nehemiah 7:65 to name a few). Other people throughout the Bible used this method as well, such as the sailors on the boat with Jonah (Jonah 1:7), as well as a rather nefarious gentlemen I was just reading about in Esther, named Haman.

Haman had been elevated to a position of authority, yet Mordecai would not bow down to him. Infuriated at Mordecai's insolence, and plotting revenge on him, Haman sought to not only kill Mordecai (who he plans to publicly hang), but also to scheme to wipe out all the Jews from King Ahasuerus kingdom as well (all 127 provinces).

In the first month of the Jewish year (Nisan), he attempts to determine the ideal month and day (according to "the gods") for the kingdom-wide genocide by casting lots. The month chosen by this method is Adar, which is the twelfth month, and the day was the thirteenth day.

Through God's providential control of every roll of the dice, the Jewish people were given 11 months to prepare. During this time, God not only caused Mordecai to be honored by Haman himself against his wishes, but finally to have Mordecai be raised to prominence in the kingdom, Haman hanged on the very gallows meant for Mordecai (on the very day Haman had planned to have it carried out), and an edict written that the Jews were allowed to put up an armed defense against anyone coming against them. On that fateful day, over 75,000 enemies of the Jews were slain.

This short book is simply filled with God's sovereign hand active not in miraculous ways, but in the most minute details of life.

He causes Queen Vashti to refuse to answer the King's summons on one of his feast days. Which leads to Esther being rounded up into custody to be paraded in front of the king because of her beauty.

He causes the two eunuchs who were plotting against the king to speak of this in front of Mordecai while he was at the king's gate hoping to speak briefly with Esther, at which time he told her of the plot, and she told the king in Mordecai's name.

He later causes the king to have a sleepless night, so that he reads the book of memorable deeds and notices that Mordecai was not rewarded for revealing a plot against him previously.

He causes Haman to agree with his wife and friends to construct a gallows 75 feet high, upon which he himself will later be hanged.

And he causes Haman to choose the timing of his planned, evil deed by the roll of dice.....the outcome of which he controls.

I am so very thankful that we have a God who works ALL things according to the counsel of his will. It should be a great comfort to every child of God that he is in complete control, and that nothing happens without his enabling or restraining hand being firmly on the wheel.