There is a popular fable that goes something like this. Both vultures and hummingbirds live in the deserts of North America. The vulture searches for death and decay to find sustenance. The hummingbird searches for life in the nectar of flowers. In the very same environment with all other elements the same, each bird finds exactly what it is looking for. The same is true about life and people. Whatever we’re looking for, that’s what we will find. This lesson seems the perfect illustration for a situation that I encountered last week when I had a conversation about luck versus blessings. Who or what gets the credit when good things happen in your life?
A Conversation with My Dad
I met my dad for coffee last week to celebrate a late Father’s Day. It was good to see him and catch up, and our conversation was going well. He told me about his great luck with his recent hospital bill. The company didn’t take his insurance, but the bill had been reduced from $24,000 to $2,400 with a little notation that said simply “Discount.” I told him that it sounded like a blessing to me. He went on to say that his luck had turned at the casino where he spends his days in retirement playing poker for fun. He hadn’t been doing very well, but last week, he had made around $2,700. “So, your big bill was reduced from $24,000 to $2,400 and you made enough money to cover it outright?” Yes. Another blessing. (Now some people who frown on gambling might have a problem with God blessing this way, but I can assure you that when He is trying to get someone’s attention, He often uses some very unconventional means to do it.)
Later in the conversation, we somehow got to talking about how his social security income amount had been determined. Again, he said how lucky he was to have gotten a high rate based on certain circumstances and timing. I really hadn’t realized that I had already contradicted him twice on the word “luck,” but when I did it again, he said with just a little exasperation, “You and I are saying the same thing. We’re just calling it different things. It’s karma.”
Luck Versus Blessings
I blinked at him. “Those are absolutely not the same.” He disagreed. He said that he does good things, not expecting anything in return, but good things happen to him. I said I believe in “reaping and sowing,” but the difference is in who or what we attribute as the SOURCE of those good things. Karma is a Hindu/Buddhist tradition that says the Universe gives good things when you do good things (and bad things when you do bad things). Blessings, on the other hand, come from God. “It’s the same thing!” he said. Of course, I said that God is NOT the same as the Universe. He is a real Person with thoughts and feelings. But since my father has never met God (yet!), he had no frame of reference. At this point, that particular conversation was over.
Just like with the vulture and the hummingbird, my father and I were looking at the same exact landscape and finding two different things. When discounts, financial boons, and fortunate circumstances happen to him, he doesn’t see blessings. He sees “luck” or “karma.” It’s either a happy accident or some kind of cosmic boomerang of justice. He gives no thought or credit to God because he doesn’t believe in Him (yet!). But the Bible says that he has no excuse not to believe. Romans 1:19-20 says. “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
I See Blessings
On the way home from my coffee date with my dad, I thanked God for the great blessings that He has bestowed on my father who isn’t even a believer (yet!). He took care of him in the hospital, gave him money to pay his bills, and wakes him up each day for another opportunity to find Him as his Savior. As I drove, I had the radio on one of the six Christian stations that come in clearly on my Jeep’s radio. Right as I pulled out onto the highway for my long drive home, a song came on that was in no way luck, an accident, or even a coincidence. The song is called “How Can You Not” by Leanna Crawford. The chorus goes like this.
“How can you not see God
In every little thing, in every little moment?
How can you not feel loved?
How can you not…
‘Cause He’s in the middle of
Every little thing and every little moment”
For that exact song to play at that exact moment on that exact channel that I happened to be on – THAT was a blessing from God. It put my whole conversation into perspective and reminded me again of His goodness. Tears flowed from my eyes as I sang along to the words.
Think About It: God’s Hand MUST Be in Everything
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28
If you are a born-again Christian, ask yourself who or what gets the credit for the good things that happen in your life? For example, when the lights on the way to work are all green, you get a front-row parking spot, or a stranger pays for your coffee in the drive through, do you say, “Wow! That was lucky!” Or do you thank God? How about the bad things? You hit all the red lights, you can’t find a spot to park in the rain, and you lost your wallet and couldn’t pay for groceries? Do you complain about a patch of “bad luck”? Or do you wonder to yourself why God might have slowed your travel, kept you from shopping, or given you a chance to call on Him for his assistance in remembering where you had your wallet last?
After all, if ALL THINGS are going to work together for good, that means that God is watching and working through all things. Not just the big things or the spiritual things. All things. In fact, James 1:17 says that every good thing we have is from God. Are we giving Him the credit He deserves? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
So even when bad things happen, we may never know until we get to Heaven just how God will use them for our benefit – but we know He will. Share on XBad Luck, Good Luck, or A Testimony of God’s Goodness?
My pastor’s wife is one of my very best friends. She gave a testimony in church one time about her adult son. He’s an air conditioner guy and often has to travel great distances for jobs. The back of his truck is equipped with a ladder, and he uses great care strapping it in place every time.
Well, one time he found himself in heavy traffic on his way home. Suddenly, he looked in his rearview mirror and saw his ladder bounce down from his truck and slide over several lanes of traffic. It came to rest safely in the median, and no one was hurt. He praised God for that as he came back around and picked up the ladder, confused about how it had come off at all. He continued driving home and soon saw a terrible accident just up ahead of him. It occurred to him that if the ladder would have stayed secured that he, himself, would have been right in the center of that accident. He just knew that God had allowed or even caused the ladder to come off the truck. A little annoyance had spared him much greater pain.
What Do You See?
Luck versus blessings: In that story, did you see his “bad luck” with the ladder? How about his “good luck” that nobody got hurt? Or did you, like he did, see God’s hand in the whole thing, protecting His child from great damage?
There is a saying going around the internet (attributed to various sources) that goes like this. “Those who leave everything in God’s hands will eventually see God’s hand in everything.” While luck is a “force of chance” brought on by the randomness of a universe born by accident, those of us who know God know that He is in control. If we believe that all things work for our good, we must also believe that God is intentional in our lives. He allows us to receive good things, and sometimes he allows bad things to happen. Either way, we should be thankful because we won’t always know this side of Heaven how everything works together. We just know that when God is finished with it, it will be good.
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