There is No Random

I seem to be becoming surrounded by bloggers, so maybe it's about time I kept one. Just a warning: this is an attempt people! No promises as to frequency or content ;)

Perhaps I should start with the title. "There is no random" is something one of my Chinese teachers told me once. (She's a secret believer, so I'll leave her name out! Not that you can access Blogger in China, but better safe than sorry.) I remember her very seriously turning to tell me this on a crowded Chinese street, huddled deep under our sun umbrellas as we walked, sometime in the summer of 2008. We had been discussing what appeared to be a 'random' mistake someone had made in issuing me the incorrect visa (long story!!).

At the time I think I wanted to laugh because of the awkward English statement, but at the same time I was struck by the simplicity and truth it holds. "There is no random" as in God's got everything under control. Nothing is an accident or a surprise to God. He already knows what's going to happen and how it works into his perfect, sovereign plan. So when we can't see how something makes sense or could turn out well, we've got a Creator who sees the big picture. He has the vantage point to step back and see all the pieces being woven together. He understands how something that seems out of the way to us is actually the straightest path.

"For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."
- Isaiah 55:9

“You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!"
- Psalm 139:16-17

"The Lord directs our steps,
so why try to understand everything along the way?"
- Proverbs 20:24