“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 37
As we labor in our various callings and businesses, we have to remember that there is no such thing as luck. Neither good luck nor bad luck exists. The fortune that one man experiences and another man misses are not the result of a giant lottery in the sky. This is just another way of saying that the universe, all of it, is personal. We live and move and have our being in the triune God of Scripture, who governs everything, and He does this on a personal basis. He does not operate through the impersonal machinery of “natural law.”
Not all those who believe in chance are willing to say that they believe in chance. It is easy to pay lip service to the catechism truth that the personal and triune God governs all things. But a very carnal desire lies deep within many hearts, and this is the desire to have blessings come to us in a way that is detached from personal obedience or disobedience. If the world is governed by chance, then it is “just possible” that the ball might bounce my way even if I am being disobedient. This is why men and women who will not let go of certain sins are such tenacious believers in luck. It is their only shot.
That this demeanor is thriving very well in modern America can be seen in the growth industry of casinos. These institutionalized houses of worship are dedicated to obtaining the favor of Fortuna, a goddess who really doesn’t care how you have been behaving lately. And this is why gambling is not a sin of excess (like drinking or eating too much). In its sinful form, it is actually a species of false worship.
But in the biblical worldview, God either blesses the work of our hands, or He does not, and whichever He does, He is always personal with it. For those who love Him, blessings and setbacks are alike long-term blessings. For those who do not, And nothing about it is governed in the slightest degree by chance.