As I continued to settle in the routine of incarceration and ask the Holy Spirit for
guidance and insight, I realized that my D.O.C. #, 663423, spells out in text language NO DICE. A
quick search of The Word turns up a few scriptures on rolling dice as part of casting lots. A
significant scripture that jumps out at me is Proverbs 16:33, that “People may throw [dice] to
make a decision, but the Lord determines what happens”.
A deeper study reveals that our biblical ancestors frequently cast lots to make decisions.
Lots were cast to assign lands and jobs. Drawing straws was on way to settle legal matters
(Proverbs 18:18). We read in Jonah that lots were cast to ask God to show the sailors that Jonah
was the cause of their stormy troubles.(vs 1, 7). In the New Testament lots were cast not only
to fulfill prophesy in determining whom would secure Jesus’ clothes (as was preordained in
prophesy), but also to determine who would replace Judas after his betrayal and suicide (Acts
1:26).
As part of a priests vestments, God ordained a vest of 12 jewels as well as two extra
stones of Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30) which were used by God to provide answers for
priests to make decisions. The vest, Urim and Thummim were used to expose Jonathan’s and
Achan’s sin. (I Samuel 14:41, Joshua 7) as well as rendering other information God wanted
affirmed for His tribes.
Proverbs 19:21 says that “we may make our own plans, but the Lord will do what He has
decided.” Proverbs 16:9 says “We make our own plans, but the Lord decided where we will go.”
Psalms 139:16 says, “even before I was born God had written in [His] book everything I would
do”. These scriptures make me wonder how much choice we truly have in determining what
free will actions we take in life. It almost sounds as if our entire life, each choice, each decision,
is predestined, if not preordained. Yet Moses exhorts in Deuteronomy 30:19 that, “I am
offering you a choice…choose life!” Why would an offering of a choice be extended if in its
choosing we are to have no effect?
No Dice! I am a planner. My lifetime in scouting taught me to “Be Prepared” as I
contemplate multiple outcomes and contingencies; proper playful planning prevents poor
performance after all. Proverbs 15:22-24 says that, “without good advice everything goes
wrong-it takes careful planning for things to go right. Giving the right answer at the right time
makes everyone happy. All who are wise follow a road that leads upward to life and away from
death,” so as Solomon and Moses advocate, I purposefully plan to choose life!
But are our choices actually ours to make, or are we acting out a pre-planned script?
Many turn to Psalms 139:16 to argue that everything, every choice I would make was/has
already been slated and recorded. What is it that God has decided (Proverbs 19:21)?
The answer to each question is the same: to be transformed into the likeness of Christ in
my character, conduct, and conversation, “restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast
(I Peter 5:10)”. Paul also says in Romans that “we know that God is always at work for the good
of everyone who loves Him. [That] they are the ones God has chosen for His purpose and He
has always known who His chosen ones would be. He decided to let them become like His own
Son, so that His Son would be the first among many children. God accepted the people he had
already decided to choose, and He shared His glory with them. (vs 10:28-30).
