Should Christians Believe in Luck?

Does chance exist, or is God in control of
everything? 

“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is
not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or
wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to
them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in
a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12)

The main question is, do things happen by chance?  If they do, then one can speak of someone
being lucky or unlucky.  But if they do
not happen by chance, then it is inappropriate to use those terms.

Christian or not, we find ourselves wishing others
and ourselves success in the future:

1) We wish ‘good luck!’ before
someone takes a test or a new job.

2) We make statements like, ‘it was supposed to rain during our game
today but we just got lucky.’

3) We wish ourselves luck when we roll a
dice in a board game or spin a wheel in an arcade.

4) We hope for luck to save us from getting caught
when we engage in some rule-breaking activity like speeding on the highway or
skipping homework.  

Obviously, the concept of luck is applied in a wide
spectrum of circumstances from trivial statements to life-altering
events, but is wishing luck contrary to what we believe as
Christians?  Let’s start by defining the
word ‘luck.’  Dictionary.com defines it as, ‘good fortune; advantage or success, considered as the
result of chance.’ 

There is nothing wrong with hoping for success in
the future, after all, we’re all uncertain about future events, good or
bad.  But when we believe in luck, we are implying that
future successful events happen randomly as a result of chance. 

The problem for Christians is, we can’t believe in a God
who is in control of our future all the time, while also
believing that events happen randomly or that God himself is subject to
chance and gets lucky.  They simply can’t both be true.  So, let’s see what the Bible says.  There are some Bible passages that seem to
imply that chance plays a role in our lives.
 

Here’s a small sample:

1)
Casting lots was a common practice among the ancient Israelites. It
was used when difficult decisions had to be made.  The high priest carried
with him, Urim and Thummim (two precious stones) that he would pick at random
when it came time to decide on important matters.  In 1 Samuel 14:40-42, a lot was cast to find
Jonathan guilty.  In the story of Jonah, the lot was cast to find who was
at fault for the raging sea.  The idea with casting lots is not to let
chance decide people’s fate.  Instead, it is to discover God’s purpose or
plan in a particular situation. 

2)
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 suggests a randomness in life.  “…the race is not to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor richest to the
intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to
them all.”  This is an insightful
observation about the apparent randomness in life by a wise king.  If we
stop reading the book of Ecclesiastes at this verse, we would conclude that
events in our lives are controlled by chance, but thankfully that’s not how
that book ends. 

 3) Ruth 2:3 describes the story of Ruth.  “As it turned out, she
found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz…”  This gives
the impression that Ruth met her husband Boaz by chance.  But again, the rest of the book sees that
event as being under God’s direction.

 For every passage in the Bible that seems to imply
that our lives are controlled by chance, there are numerous others that affirm
that God is directly in control of the events of our lives:

1) Proverbs 16:33 reads, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision
is from the LORD.” Casting a lot may seem random but even that
outcome is from the Lord.

2) Isaiah 46:10 describes a God who
declares, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what
is still to come.  I say: My purpose will
stand, and I will do all that I please.”  

3) Psalm 139:16 talks about a God who has a
book with all the days of our lives written in it before any of them came to
pass.  “All the days ordained for me
were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

So, according to the Bible, events in our lives don’t
happen randomly.  They are all part of
God’s plan.  I think, if we’re honest, most of our worries for the
future are not about the good things that are going to happen to us but about
the bad things.  The good news for Christians is, the bad things work out
to be good at the end!  That’s exactly what Romans 8:28 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.”

From an
earthly perspective, things may seem to happen at random, but throughout all of
Scripture, it is clear God is sovereign and in control of all His creation and
is able to take the random acts of natural law, the free will of both good
and evil people, and the wicked intent of demons and combine them all to
accomplish His good and perfect will.