Is Life Just One Big Gamble?

Over the years I have met, and worked with, many people who treat life as if it were just a lottery, gambling with their time allotted to them here on earth. They play "the game of life" with no concern for the future, seldom, if ever giving thought to what may exist beyond the grave.  I have taken a few funerals for people who have lived life like that. As part of my preparation for their service, I spend time with the grieving family, and almost inevitability I am asked if I know what/or to where has their departed family member gone.


I have reached the conclusion from these, and similar questions that I have been asked by non-believers, that deep within the human psyche most people have inherent belief that something exists beyond the grave.

In a world where calamities abound and random events strike many with impunity it's easy to think that no one is in control. At times it's difficult to remember that our lives belong to God. Our lives are in God’s hands and hang by a thread of sovereign grace. God owns every soul. He made us and we belong to Him by virtue of His being our Creator. He can give and take life as He pleases according to his infinite wisdom, and He never does anyone any wrong. He created human life, and He decides what human life is for, and the limit of life.   

The Tower of Siloam- James Tissot

Luke 13:1-5 is very telling... Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:1-5 NIV

What was Jesus illustrating by talking about this event? Old Testament believers tended to equate personal disasters with sin.They believed that the extraordinary events of life had their genesis in the actions of their ancestors, or in their own wayward  activities, but Job's story, Psalm 73,  and Jesus speaking here clearly indicate that this is not always the case. 

It's true that it's hard to know the reasons for troubles (personally and nationally) in this world, such problems and persecutions could be....
1. Could be punishment for personal/national sin and rebellion.
2. Could be the activity of personal evil.
3. Could be the results of living in a fallen world (statistical evil).
4. Could be an opportunity for spiritual growth. 

The presence of hard times in life is not (always) a sign of God's wrath. Bad things happen, as the old song says "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall". 

The poet William Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Rainy Day" written after the death of his first wife, captures that thought with these words...

William Wadsworth Longfellow.

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,                       
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

Psalm 23 offers us encouragement in dark times:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 
 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever. Psalm 23 NKJV

This psalm is impregnated with hope, trust and God's assurance that He is indeed our surety in times of trouble. We can go through the very vale of death, and He is with us. This psalm DOES not say that we will have an untroubled life,  rather it assures us that our Lord will be with us when we are going through the troubled times. when we review the lives of "God's Generals" in scripture we find that almost all of them knew, at one time or another, great discouragement and deep depression.

Life is not a gamble, it's not some galactic lottery, it's not a random shake of the dice, throw of a colored ball. Your life, my life, my children's lives, and their children's lives are preordained, meant to be, and as another song suggests, what will be, will be. Thank God!