Roll the Dice

April 16

Read: Proverbs 16

Roll the Dice

Everyone of us lives our lives as if we are free. Our experience of this world is as if we are making decisions… choosing… controlling… responding. This is how God has made us as humans. I believe this is due, in part, to being made in his “image”. As image bearers he has given us the sensation of what it is like to make decisions, a certain sense of “free will”. When we come to the scriptures we see a parallel truth laid out for us. Woven into the pages of God’s word is the truth that it is actually God who is in control. These two ideas - the phenomenon of how we live and the truth of God’s control - create a mystery for us as God’s people. (It also has created a fair share of arguments between us throughout the ages!) Why is it important for God to remain in control the way that he does? :

“There is a way that seems right to a man,

but its end is the way to death." (v.25)

As much as we hate to admit it, doing what is “right in our own eyes'' leads to our destruction! We are actually not that great at choosing what is best for us… we need help. When left to our own devices - apart from outside intervention and transformation from the Lord - it is more likely we will drive our lives into a ditch than it is that we will choose wisely. This is why sin is so often called in the Old Testament: “doing what was right in their own eyes''. (cf. Deu. 12:8, Judges 17:6, 21:25, Prov. 12:15, 21:2) It is God’s LOVE FOR US that users our supposed “freedom” to save us from OURSELVES. The end result is a beautiful dance played out through the scriptures including Proverbs 16:

Our hearts make “plans”, this is good and God has made us this way - and yet what gets spoken into existence is from the Lord… he has a certain amount of control over our plans: “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.” Our tendency to pick self-destructive things is tempered by the Lord’s “weighing” our spirit. When we commit our work to the Lord - it is tested and what is good, true, and pure is “established”. See here: “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” It is not enough for YOU to think something is “pure in your own eyes” - you need the LORD to sift it and work it over. Everything has a purpose, and that purpose seems to be assigned BY GOD. We don’t get to pick the “purpose” of things: “The LORD has made everything for its purpose,

even the wicked for the day of trouble.” (v.1-4)

The end result for God’s people is this: “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” (v.9) The Lord establishes our steps. As much as we “plan”, the actual walking it out… the “steps”… are ESTABLISHED by the Lord. It is actually quite arrogant to think differently… to presuppose that we know better than the one who has made us! What is the truth about arrogance? : “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD;

be assured, he will not go unpunished…Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (v.5,18) This is why throughout this chapter of Proverbs we see the juxtaposition of humble righteousness alongside arrogant power and “success”. Humility and dependence on God must precede success, power, and the fulfillment of “our plans” or else “It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.” (v.19)

Just how far does God’s control go? “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” (v.33) Really Lord? The roll of the dice belongs to you? We grab the dice. We shake them. We roll them “into our lap”. And yet their decision comes from you not us? Not “chance”… but YOU? I actually love this final picture from Proverbs 16. God has called us to “play the game”… he has called us to “roll the dice''. God allows us to live with a great sense of “freedom” and “choice” as image bearers. God also loves us enough to save us from ourselves… from our own schemes… from the folly that we might think is actually GOOD… but in the end will destroy us. This is the mystery of life in Christ. Our decisions and actions matter. God is in control. We make plans… and submit them to the Lord. We seek the Lord… and he sifts our plans. We make what we think are choices - we have to - and we trust that God is in control. If we re-read Proverbs 16 - the outcome of living this way is clear.* So go ahead and “roll the dice”… give it a try… commit your ways to the Lord and embrace the mystery! Love you guys. - JDP

* Here are just a few of the outcomes:

“the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.”

"the LORD weighs the spirit.”

“your plans will be established."

“you will / one turns away from evil.”

“the LORD makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

"the LORD establishes his steps.”

“Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,

and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.”