Non-Random Events

“But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate.” – 1 Kings 22:34

“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.” – Psalm 138:8

In this story, Micaiah the prophet tells king Ahab that he will die if he goes to battle against the Syrians at Ramoth-gilead. Ahab orders Micaiah imprisoned and goes anyway, but he disguises himself in battle. The thirty-two captains of the Syrians have been specifically instructed to target only Ahab, yet they can’t find him. But then an unnamed man happens to draw his bow, and the arrow happens to hit Ahab, and the hit happens to be at one of the few weak links in his armor, and the wound happens to gradually drain enough blood that by evening he happens to die. The phrase “at random” here actually means “in integrity or innocence”: in other words, the man who drew his bow had no actual intention of killing Ahab, or perhaps of killing anyone. And yet, all of it happened, just as God had said.

There is perhaps no clearer example that God is sovereign over seemingly random events. Nothing can stop any act or design or purpose that God intends to bring about, as we also read in Psalm 138: no scheme of man, no level of statistical improbability, no claim of precedence. This challenges me to identify and confront the assumption of self-sovereignty our culture operates in. It leads me to take God’s words and promises far less lightly. It encourages me to be bolder in prayer to a God who can make anything happen. It invites me to be more patient in my faith when I don’t see Him working in obviously sequential ways.

The fact is, we are not the masters of our fate or the captains of our soul, as atheist William Ernest Henley wrote in his famous poem. Decades later, Dorothy Day responded to that poem with one of her own. Here are both:

“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be


For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance


I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance


My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears


Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

“Conquered” by Dorothy Day

Out of the light that dazzles me,


Bright as the sun from pole to pole,


I thank the God I know to be,


For Christ - the Conqueror of my soul.

Since His the sway of circumstance,


I would not wince nor cry aloud.


Under the rule which men call chance,


My head, with joy, is humbly bowed.

Beyond this place of sin and tears,


That Life with Him and His the Aid,


That, spite the menace of the years,


Keeps, and will keep me unafraid.

I have no fear though straight the gate:


He cleared from punishment the scroll.


Christ is the Master of my fate!


Christ is the Captain of my soul!