There's Nothing Lucky About It
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
We’re kind of groomed at an early age to believe in luck. Think about it. If you play sports, you hear it all the time. When I played volleyball, each game would start the same. Both teams would line up on their side’s baseline and then when the ref blew the whistle, we would run in a single file line up to the net and high five the other team saying, “Good luck” to each one.
Or say you’re in school, and your teacher is handing out the tests, explaining all of the directions simultaneously. Usually, my teachers’ pre-test monologue was finished with a, “Good luck!” Not to mention, being a musician I hear it all the time; it just comes in different forms like, “Break a leg!” or “Toi toi toi!”
I’m sure if we all sat down together we could come up with a few more examples. But isn’t it kind of funny how much the mention of luck is incorporated into our daily lives? Or here’s another one: coincidence. Have you ever seen people realize how something is perfectly timed, leading them to exclaim, “What a coincidence?!” Have you done that?
We live in a world that likes to have answers. We like to prove things, usually with reason. The rest, we dub as lucky or coincidental. These are two words that the culture has implemented into our vocabulary to “mind the gap” - the gap being the things that we cannot prove or explain by our own doing. But guess who that completely cuts out of the picture? Jesus!
It eliminates the truth that God has His hand in everything. It contradicts the verse in Romans that says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” This verse says that there is no such thing as a coincidence or luck, because God works in all things, in every little detail.
Our culture has trained us to live at a fast pace with no time to look at the details. So if something seems miraculous or wonderfully timed, our culture says to glance quickly and say, “What a coincidence!” or “How lucky am I?!” But that is like slapping God in the face!
It’s as if you were a wedding planner and you planned the wedding out to Every. Last. Detail. The day was flawless and you were the mastermind behind the whole thing. You made it happen. But then you overhear a conversation between the bride and groom. Knowing that they hired you to do the decorations, organizing, and all other wedding details, they look at their surroundings and then at each other and say, “Where did all of these beautiful decorations come from?? How in the world did this day go so smoothly?? We just must be really lucky.” How do you think that wedding planner would feel when she was the one that did it all? And yet knowing that, they gave all the credit to luck.
Unfortunately, I think we do this a lot. We might not even say, “That was lucky” or “What a coincidence,” but how often do we stop to take a moment and realize, “Wow, that was God. He made that happen.” No matter how big or how small that thing might be, say it like it really is. We shouldn’t give any credit to luck or coincidence because really and truly, there’s no such thing.