CHANCE OR PROVIDENCE

Lake County Mail, Issue 17, 17 September 1947, Page 7

CHANCE OR PROVIDENCE

A wisp of straw battered and blown by the wind, a scrap of wood tossed and driven by any chance wave or current; and the life of man the sport of blind force! Is that our creed? Not a comforting thought, but nevertheless it is the working faith (or ' doubt) of many. “ Life,” they say, “is a lottery, birth an accident, marriage a gamble, and death and immortality a leap in the dark.” Even creation, we are told, stumbled on life by accident, in the beginning. In other words, we are dogged and dominated from the cradle to the grave by mere • chance. This is the creed of some, but not all. Is it your creed? Or do you believe that mankind has been created, nurtured and nourished by an All-wise, All-loving and All-powerful Father with a divine providence? Chance or Providence —which do you hold? If chance, then what grounds have you for your belief? Can you prove your belief from the Holy Scriptures, the record of God’s dealings with men? Our Lord Jesus Christ laid it down in unmistakable language in the Sermon on the Mount that God is our Father.. For this reason we should not be anxious. Even the life of the grass and the fall of a bird arc not outside the Father’s all-loving care. As for ourselves the very hairs of our head are all numbered, such is the Father’s loving care for us. In the face of such a statement, we remember one of the best-known of our Lord’s parables, in which He says that by chance a certain priest came down that way. But the words in the original language mean, not “by fortuity ” but rather “by concurrence ” —the two ways met. Then again in the Easter Story of the two very lonely men who were in grave danger of losing their faith in the Divine Providence. They seemed to think that the bottom had dropped out of their world. God had been frustrated by man’s evil deeds in crucifying their Master. But in the midst of their perplexity the Risen Christ is drawing near to them and they all meet. " You know the rest of that most hope-giving stories of the whole Bible. It demonstrates God’s sympathy and over-ruling providence. That was no mere chance meeting that day on the road to Emtnaus, but the meeting point in the journey, and what a difference it made to the-disciples! There was once a man who never tired of telling the story of how he left home to take up a position in a big London drapery business, which entailed his finding lodgings in a strange place. Very depressed he felt as he set out to work that first morning. On his way he met the vicar of his home parish, who had come to town on a very early train, just to encourage (he boy and wish him “ God-speed ” that meeting was no mere accident, but by human providence, the vicar caring for his own, and encouraging them. What a difference it made to that boy’s outlook—and still people say that life is governed by chance! St. Paul talks about the resurrection being like the life of a seed which may chance to bear wheat or barley or any other grain—but that is not literally chance. St. Paul and scientists and even you and I know that seeds grow in accordance with natural law. But man is not governed solely by natural law, there Is an added factor —free will. This is the gift given by God. He allows man freechoice. He will not thrust His presence or His care on anyone, they must seek them. If the prodigal had been a slave and not a son, he would never have had the choice of going into the far country. He could and did reject the home life offered by his father and became the target of misfortune in that alien land. If we choose to reject the providence of God, let us not blame God if we run into a spot