Time and Chance

Introduction. Everyone has their own opinion about this pestilence and plague called COVID-19. While there are many things that only science and time can answer, other things can only be understood through the truths revealed in the Bible. Only what God has revealed to us in Scripture can answer questions about the relationship between God, judgment, and catastrophic events.  When we try to assess things from God’s perspective and seek to explain to others what He is thinking or doing, we must be humble, cautious, and guided by His own direct revelation.
 
God has been very clear. First, He warns “My ways are not your ways and My thoughts are not your thoughts.” When we seek to assess His ways by our thoughts we will fail since “as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my thoughts than your thoughts and my ways your ways.” Second, if it is not revealed in Scripture, then we must stop reasoning further since “the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever.”  Third, He has strongly warned us that “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.” (Isa. 55:8; Deut. 29:29; Pr. 30:5).
 
When wondering about God’s role in a pandemic, earthquake, tornado, or flood, we must be very careful. Since we can’t think like God or act like God, we must not attempt to guess what He is doing. Even with an informed opinion based on God’s direct revelation, it is far too complicated for us to draw a firm conclusion. That this “could” be a judgment directly sent by God does not give us the right to proclaim that it “is” a judgment

God gave us Ecclesiastes to reveal the truth about His creation after the curse. These are critical facts to help us better understand His “thoughts and ways.”
 
There are two distinct descriptions of the creation. The first, given in Genesis, described the beauty and perfection of the world before the cataclysm of sin and the curse altered it. Directly from His hands, “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Yet, after the curse, there is a far different conclusion. It changed from “everything is very good” to “all is vanity.” (Gen. 1:31; Ecc. 1:2-15). Only God can reveal the reason, and He revealed it through King Solomon: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.”
 
It is these “crooked” and “lacking” things that have created the futility and vanity of this world. This is not what God wanted. It is not what God created. It is the direct result of sin entering the world. In the world God initially created for us, these things were impossible. But after God made things crooked, tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes became possible. After God removed some little thing from each thing, sickness, death, injury and catastrophe entered the world. This is the true origin of malaria and dengue fever to infect hundreds of millions each year. This is why we have the flu virus, heart disease, diabetes, and traffic accidents. These things only became possible after the curse. These unnatural things create fear and dread within us. While initially they were created as a punishment for sin, now they have become the normal course of this sin-cursed world.

• “Consider the work of God; For who can make straight what He has made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.” (Eccl. 7:13-14)

“Adversity” and “prosperity” now co-exist side by side. They now exist as the normal functioning of a creation cursed by God to be crooked and lacking. That prosperity and success or adversity and failure can now be the outcome of any event is not related to man’s skill, power or wealth. It is now built in to the natural order and it is called “time and chance.”  The dominion given to us in the beginning has been removed. Now we are under the control of these forces.

• “I returned and saw under the sun that — The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.” (Eccl. 9:11)

Hence, “adversity” and “prosperity” come to all, not by direct intervention by God, but due to “time and chance.” In this new “natural order” which is not natural at all, even righteousness and wickedness do not always factor into what happens in the lives of individuals.

• “I have seen everything in my days of vanity: There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness”. (Eccl. 7:15)

This is the new normal under a creation that is “groaning and travailing.” It is obvious that God would not directly punish a just man, leading him to “perish in righteousness.” Equally obvious, it is not by God’s direction that the “wicked men prolong their lives in wickedness.” While this creation exists, this is the new natural order. Time and chance do the most amazing things. A tornado can destroy homes and businesses without any direction from God. A plague moving by time and chance can destroy multitudes without God ever being directly involved. Everything is now functioning under this time and chance, and it is impossible to tie anything directly back to God.
 
This time and chance is now so much a part of the basic fabric of the universe that things can actually be turned upside down. God revealed that this is also part of the vanity and futility of life.  Sometimes, a just man will be caught up in life’s complexity and it will appear that God has punished him. Other times a wicked man will be in one of life’s calm portions and it will appear that God has given him what the righteous should have received. Neither is true, it only appears to be.

• “There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.” (Eccl. 8:14)

This is a powerful warning that we cannot deduce God’s feelings from events that transpire in this creation. A plague can be “time and chance” or it could be a “judgment.” A flood can be “time and chance,” or it can be a “judgment” from God as it was in the days of Noah. A volcanic eruption can be “time and chance,” or it could be a “judgment” as it was for Sodom and Gomorrah.  So, nothing is simple and straightforward - everything is vanity, crooked and lacking.
 
Finally, to complete this point, God plainly reveals that everything comes alike to all. Whether we are righteous or wicked, clean or unclean, worshiping or not worshiping, good or a sinner, the same thing happens to all. Statistically, we can’t expect that being righteous, clean, or good will make any difference in how our life unfolds. Each person is under the power of time and chance.

• “All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all.” (Eccl. 9:2-3)

We can’t draw informed conclusions about what God is doing today unless we are aware of these facts. Dying in a country with malaria does not infer that it was a judgment from God. Even in that country it will happen to the evil and the good without discrimination.  Living to an old age with peace and prosperity does not mean we are being blessed by God as it happens to both the evil and the good. Those who get hurt in a car crash or other accident are mostly just victims of time and chance and not some direct judgment from God.
 
Yet it is not that simple. Even in the midst of all these truths, God can still use any of these things in His providence and power whenever He chooses.  If he finds a man or woman anywhere on earth that has a good and honest heart, He can use any of these things to chasten and mold that person to lead them to salvation. Many of the things that happen to the righteous are God’s chastening given as an opportunity for them grow and develop. (Heb. 12:7-9; Jas. 1:2-4).
 
Conclusion. “Time and chance” are dominant forces in this sin-cursed creation. But they are not the only forces. God is free at any time to use these things for His own purposes. God sent the flood as a judgment to the ancient world, a volcanic eruption to punish Sodom and Gomorrah, the ten plagues to punish and destroy Egypt, and Israel to fight against and destroy the seven nations of Canaan in war. This current plague is serious and may lead to a severe outcome, but those who are proclaiming this is a judgment of God have a 50-50 chance of being right or wrong. Since God has not revealed to us what He is doing today it is presumptuous and foolish for us to draw any conclusions. We may be found to be a liar and we are certainly directly trespassing in God’s secret things. Fortunately for God’s people, the end result is the same. If this is an adversity due to time and chance, we will consider and learn to trust God more fully. If this is a judgment against the wickedness of the world, we will also consider and learn to trust God more fully.