Proverbs 16:33 – The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

Coincidences or bad decisions. A coincidence is a chance event. A decision is a free will choice. Both types of events effect our lives.  Rolling a dice or casting a lot is similar to a coincidence. A lot of things in life appear to be chance events.  Like the dice may be rolled, the things that happen in our life may seem like chance events, but God disposes or orders them after they happen.  The Lord still controls the outcome.  

Then there are decisions we make out of a free will that are not chance events or coincidences.  The results of either kind of event may be something bad or it may be something good happening in our life.  The way things work out is up to the Lord.  Regardless, we do know that it will always work for good in the child of God’s if they let the grace of God work.  If you do not take the grace God gives you to get through things, then the grace of God will have no effect.  God will have wasted or given you grace in vain.  We have a rough time letting the providence of God rule in our hearts and lives.  We just can not seem to always trust that the Lord has our best interest at heart, especially when bad happens in our life.  Don’t let God waste any grace on you.

We may make decisions that are bad or not according to the will of God.  When that happens, the Lord may move in, have mercy and help to reorder the events so they do not come out as bad as they could.  Alternatively, the Lord could decide to let us reap what we have sown.  In both cases, they work together for good in our lives.  Either way we grow and God can produce good.  I think in a young Christian’s life, God often leans toward mercy.  He lets the young Christian get going with relatively small tests at times.  After a while though, the Christian needs to feel the weight of trials and troubles so they can grow.  You need to reap some trouble in your life. This help you to add to your faith, patience and other virtues.

Good and bad often happen in our lives by chance.  They also happen due to our good or bad decisions.  The important thing is the Lord works his sovereignty and reorders events so that they always work together for our God.  I would say that is a pretty loving God.  What about you?  Have you seen the hand of God work in your life through the chances and decisions of life?  Are the events of your life just accidents or is God behind the scenes orchestrating everything?