The Lord and Lots

How many of you remember playing “eenie meenie minie moe” or some variation of that to determine who was “it” first for a game of tag?  Perhaps you were more of a “bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?” fan.  The idea behind those games is to “randomly” choose who would be “it” first or who would have to do some other chore or task.  The idea worked pretty well until the smart kids figured out how to rig the thing by where they start.  Then the idea sort of unraveled a little bit.

Let’s read Proverbs 18:18:

18 Casting lots causes contentions to cease,
And keeps the mighty apart. 

We’ve read about “lots” before.  This was not a biblical Powerball type lottery.  Rather, casting lots was used to determine the will of the Lord in a situation.  The idea was that if God declared that you were to cast a lot for something, then He would sovereignly ensure that the lot fell on whom He wanted it to fall on.  God was in control of the dice!  But what you have to assume in verse 18 is that the parties involved were willing to submit to the decision of the lot.  That is how the lot caused contentions to cease and the mighty to stay apart, i.e. not fight over the decision.   When people trusted in the Lord, the process worked well.

This is not to say that every time someone cast a lot, God was sovereignly involved in the outcome.  This process only worked when God prescribed it.  I suppose the lesson for us is trust in God.  When we follow what God says in our lives, we can trust that whatever circumstances or situations come our way, God is sovereign and we are experiencing His best for us.

Oh, by the way, I strongly suggest staying away from Vegas!

In wisdom,
Eric