God is Sovereign Over the Affairs of Men – (Proverbs 16:33)

Daily Bible Study
In ancient Israel, the practice of "casting lots" was a method of determining God's will in a matter. While it would appear as luck or chance, the people understood that God's will did not fall indiscriminately. Rather, God exercises His sovereignty over human affairs, as He guided the people in their paths. The Jewish people had a covenant relationship with God. God was their sovereign king and the Lord promised to govern the affairs of the people. So they trusted God would control which lot was chosen as they randomly selected. They were confident in the sovereignty of God, and they were determined to let God direct their lives. And the more they did so, the more blessings and spiritual growth they experienced individually, and as a nation. This is important for us to understand today in our world, because even though people may rebel against the Lord, He will still direct the paths of those who love Him and submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their day to day lives.

The more we trust in the Lord, follow His commandments and place ourselves in the hands of Jesus Christ our Lord, God will bless us as a nation and individually. He will bless us with spiritual blessings and a joyful life. However, this also means God may let us suffer the consequences of our actions and our sin if we rebel against Him. God may do so, in order to help us realize our rebellion and to bring us back into fellowship with Him. A fellowship we can only gain through our relationship with Jesus. God can also use trials to help us grow in our knowledge of Him and in our faith as we follow the Holy Spirit's guidance and remain faithful during our trials. Dear child of God, what this means, is that the Lord is intimately involved with our lives. What this means for us is that from moment to moment, we can either resist God, in which case we will lose much as we move into eternity, or we can follow the Lord, bringing more joy and fulfillment into our lives. Moreover, as we are obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and grow in Christ, we become more effective for the kingdom of God and as a result God uses us to do much more for His kingdom than we thought possible.