The Disposition of the Lot Prov. 16:33 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

In the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, the Jews determined some things by lot – they would cast this lot (like a die) into the lap and then they knew what choice God wanted them to make – it would be kind of like flipping a coin before the start of a game to decide who gets the first choice of possession, receiving or kicking, etc – the things decided by lot were:

• Jos 18:10 how to divide the land of Israel among the tribes
• Jud 20:9 who would go up by lot to retaliate against the Benjamites
• 1 Sam 10:20-21 how to choose the first King [Saul]
• 1 Sam 14:41-42 how to choose who broke the fast imposed by Saul [Jonathan]
• Neh 11:1 how to decide the 10% who would live in Jerusalem
• Acts 1:26 how to choose the replacement for Judas [Matthias]

Solomon said that they knew that the disposition of the lot was from the Lord and so they had confidence in it.  But they also knew the mind of the Lord through other means: they had prophets (Ahab was led astray by false prophets but Jehoshaphat knew that they were false and requested a prophet of God [Micaiah]) – he gave Ahab the true answer – they had the ephod (1 Sam 30:7-8) David inquired about pursuing the Amalekites who had destroyed Ziklag – they had wisdom like Solomon who chose the right mother of the living baby – they had counselors like Ahithophel who answered as the oracles of God – they had dreams like Jacob had (Jacob’s ladder) and even old Laban had (not to harm Jacob) – they had the words of God (which Saul disobeyed) – old Gideon even used a fleece.

Today we don’t have anything like the lot to let the Lord show us his way probably because of 1 Cor 1:22 – yet people still want some evidence from God that they are making the right choice – man you have to be careful here – you can so easily be tripped up by the devil in this thing.

Trying the spirits, putting out a fleece, or leaving the outcome of the choice to someone else are all good ways to get in trouble – Saul went to a woman with a familiar spirit (bad move) God did not want him to know the outcome [for us as Christians, you don’t need to know the outcome, that’s why it is called living by faith] – what would you do with the information, anyway – would you trust that what you were told was the truth?

The Lord will guide you by his words, his wisdom, good counsel, prayer (peace), and even circumstances – patience – even then a man is prone to go against the Lord if he wants it bad enough (Paul to Jerusalem) – in the case of a choice it could be made by the choice of the congregation for instance (deacons Acts 6) – a vote.

You should trust nothing to chance – a Christian has the Lord and he has the Holy Spirit – they will lead you to the right place if you will just follow – you don’t have to know the outcome before you make a move – trust God – don’t take chances with God and don’t expect that God has to show you how the thing is going to turn out before you make a move.