BIBLICAL VIEW | CHANCE (3)

1. Introduction

Proverbs 16:33 New Living Translation (NLT)

³³ We may throw the dice (lots),
    but the Lord determines how they fall.

2. Jonah guilty by the casting of lots...

Jonah 1:5-10 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁵ Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship.

But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. ⁶ So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.”

⁷ Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. ⁸ “Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?”

⁹ Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”

¹⁰ The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned.

3. What is this verse beginning to reveal to us?

a) Things we see as "chance" are not so.

b) That we are under the providence of GOD.

c) The overwhelming reality is this truth:

Proverbs 3:6 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁶ Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.

d) There is no blank in the most minute circumstances...