He Causes the Dice to Land

“Good luck.”

You’re heard it. I’m sure you’ve said it. I know I have. And, of course, there’s nothing sinful about saying it … but is it accurate? Is it biblical?

Is there such a thing as luck?

Well, the short answer is no. Luck doesn’t exist. This doesn’t mean that things won’t appear as random to us or that we have something fortunate happen to us. I’m a golfer, and that requires a decent amount of “luck.” Sometimes I hit a poor shot and it gets a good kick and goes closer to the hole. That was “lucky.”

In reality, though, that was providence. That was God.

Many people will find that preposterous, but isn’t the concept of “luck” preposterous? Truly, it’s like believing in Santa Claus—give it a few seconds of logical thought and you’ll understand it doesn’t exist; indeed, it cannot. There is no such thing as “luck.”

Scripture is quite clear that God orchestrates all things, down to the sparrows falling to the ground. Indeed, God causes the dice to land. If you roll dice and it shows a four on one and a three on the other, that’s because God decided that. He uses humans means, of course—we’re not fatalists!—but God is sovereign over all things, down to the tiniest molecule.

Now, must we be cantankerous about “luck”? No! There’s no need to be obnoxious about it. Again, if you say “good luck” there’s nothing wrong with that. Be polite to someone. Let them know you’re rooting for them. But we know it’s not luck, but the providence of God. Though it’s a mouthful, the late RC Sproul would say it’s not “luck” but rather “providential blessings.”

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Things don’t just happen in a vacuum. God didn’t just wind the world up and is letting everything play out apart from his sovereign will. That’s deism. No, he’s intimately involved day to day, person by person, event by event. Nothing escapes his providence. And, friends, that’s great news. We don’t serve a god who is aloof or has his hands tied, but the one who reigns over all things. Nothing happens by mere chance—nothing.

The wind blows, the waves crash, the birds chirp, the baby cries, the car brakes, the plane takes off, the dog growls—everything happens in according with the providence of God. Again, this doesn’t mean we live in a fatalistic world and that we’re all robots. No, it means there’s a bit of mystery to how it all works out. We have freedom as human beings to make choices—100%. But everything goes back to the providence of God. We are not independent creatures, but wholly dependent on God himself for life.

Friends, we don’t need to rely on luck to get us through a trial or something else. We don’t need to trust in chance for something good to happen. We trust in the Lord, the one who controls all things, down to how dice lands.

Since you’ve made it this far, I wanted to let you know that my wife, Shale, is about to enter has 11th (!!) year of teaching! She’s a special education teacher. And, of course, she has an Amazon wish list. There’s no obligation to help out, but I know she’d great appreciate it!

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