From a mere 7,000 to a whopping 20,000: that’s how many words the average person says in a single day! Words are powerful tools that we can use for good or bad. Oftentimes, however, it seems that our words become mindless and routine. Though no harm is intended, by neglecting to put thought into our daily speech, it becomes easy to unintentionally downplay God’s sovereignty and providence. For example, how many of us find ourselves saying things like…
Chance meeting you here…
Knock on wood…
That’s lousy luck…
What a coincidence…
What good fortune…
That’s fate for you…
Certainly, God’s providence cannot be contained to one blog alone. However, in his book, Everyone’s a Theologian, R.C. Sproul sheds great insight on God’s providence in our everyday life by saying the following:
Chance is simply a word that describes mathematical possibilities. Chance is not a thing. It has no power. It cannot do anything, and therefore it cannot influence anything, yet some have taken the word chance, which has no power, and diabolically used it as a replacement for the concept of God. But the truth, the Bible makes clear, is that nothing happens by chance and that all things are under the sovereign government of God, which is exceedingly comforting to the Christian who understands it. Knowledge of divine providence brings comfort in our suffering. God is in control not only of the universe and its operations but also all of history. The Bible tells us that God raises up kingdoms and brings them down, and our individual station in life has to do, in the final analysis, with what God in His providence has ordained for us. Our lives are in His hands, our vocations are in His hands, as are our prosperity or our poverty; He governs all these things in His wisdom and goodness.
Hmmm. He intentionally governs all things in our lives by His perfect wisdom and knowledge. That said, should we not also be intentional and use wisdom in our thinking and speech? So, words like luck, chance, or fortune should never escape from our mouths. Our thoughts and our words need to reflect God’s sovereignty, that God holds all things. In perfect wisdom and knowledge, He executes the best possible outcome for every situation. We need to spend time reflecting on the Biblical truth of God’s sovereignty. Think about the following verses:
James 4:13-15
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
So take a moment and reflect…When this truth saturates our thinking, it will overflow into our speech. We want to communicate accurate Biblical truth about God in what we say. So, let’s have our words proclaim God’s sovereignty and perfect plan. I pray that our hearts absorb and understand this amazing truth and that we use our words to communicate things like…
Praise God…
God allowed this..
God will work..
God prevented..
Lord willing…
Let’s try to make our words count!
