Chance, Luck, & Destiny by Peter Dickinson

Elimelech had been the husband of her mother-in-law, Naomi, so Boaz was a relative of hers and was generous to Ruth. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech” (Ruth 2:3). “So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters.

Ruth, a widow who was caring for her widowed mother-in-law, seeks a field to glean grain to provide for them. The soldier who shot the arrow was totally unaware of its trajectory, but God in His sovereignty knew all along it would mean the death of wicked King Ahab.Ī similar “chance” occurrence takes place in the book of Ruth. How unlucky for King Ahab? Was it a matter of luck? Reading the whole of 2 Chronicles 18, we find that God had His hand in the matter from the beginning. How unlucky for him? Or a warrior king may have the strongest army but some “chance” arrow shot up into the air at random by a no-name enemy soldier just happens to pierce his armor in its most vulnerable location (2 Chronicles 18:33) resulting in that king’s death and the loss of the battle. 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.” Much of what Ecclesiastes shares is from the perspective of a person who looks at life on earth without God, or life “under the sun.” From such a perspective-leaving God out of the picture-there seems to be good luck and bad luck.Ī runner in a race may be the swiftest, but because someone in front of him stumbles, he trips over him and falls and does not win the race. Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 states, “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. But if they do not happen by chance, then it is inappropriate to use those terms.

The main question is, do things happen by chance? If they do, then one can speak of someone being lucky or unlucky. Good fortune or prosperity success.to gain success or something desirable by chance: “I lucked out in finding that rare book.” The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “luck” as follows:ġ.

Chance, Luck, & Destiny by Peter Dickinson