1 Sam. - trust in God and not chance
By Jimmy Lau
1Sa 6:9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.
The Ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. For seven terrible months it had spread among them anxiety, terror, and death. They were determined to send the Ark back to Israel. They decided how to return the ark, including a test to see if the judgment was of God or of chance (v.7-9).
Chance is a non-being and therefore, it determines nothing. The Philistines were leaving things to chance. But it was God who directed the cows where to go. We live in a cause and effect world, and chance is not a cause, but God is the great Cause. And God is the Cause of all things: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
How about Christians? Do you think things happened by chance? If you do, you have little faith. You must learn to trust God. When Joseph was finally reconciled with his brethren, he did not say it was chance that he was sold to Egypt. Instead, he said: “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God” (Genesis 45:7, 8, emphasis mine).
Let us trust in God and not chance: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6).
1Sa 6:9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.
The Ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. For seven terrible months it had spread among them anxiety, terror, and death. They were determined to send the Ark back to Israel. They decided how to return the ark, including a test to see if the judgment was of God or of chance (v.7-9).
Chance is a non-being and therefore, it determines nothing. The Philistines were leaving things to chance. But it was God who directed the cows where to go. We live in a cause and effect world, and chance is not a cause, but God is the great Cause. And God is the Cause of all things: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
How about Christians? Do you think things happened by chance? If you do, you have little faith. You must learn to trust God. When Joseph was finally reconciled with his brethren, he did not say it was chance that he was sold to Egypt. Instead, he said: “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God” (Genesis 45:7, 8, emphasis mine).
Let us trust in God and not chance: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6).
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