Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year as it is known in many places is a 15-day holiday filled with family, fun, and feasting! However, there is also a strong focus on fortune and luck. During the eve of the holiday, its popular in some places to see what the feng shui master has to say about your lucky colors, numbers, and your fortune outlook for the new year based on your zodiac animal. Many companies and families will host a lion dance where a few guys under the cover of a lion’s outfit will do different acrobatic stunts and entertain the crowd. At the end, often the “lion” will be tossed an orange to “eat”, and then will arrange the orange peels on the ground in a way to form lucky numbers.
The ideas of fortune and luck are not at all exclusive to the holiday or even the Chinese culture, however, the holiday does give a great opportunity to share the truth of the Holy Bible.
When we take a look at the Word of God, we see that there is no such thing as luck, or even chance.
James 1:17 shows us that nothing good in our life has come through luck, lucky numbers or even by chance. This scripture tells us that, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” No amount of wishing upon a star, no feng shui or any other acts of luck or chance are responsible for any of the good things in our lives. Every good and perfect thing in our life is from God.
Romans 8:28 drives the point home further by saying, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Here we can see that God’s hand is actively at work in our lives; the lives of those who love God and are pursuing His will, that all things, good or bad, are being worked together for good. There is no need to worry or fret, or “try our luck”. God is sovereign and in control.
Speaking of trying our luck, Proverbs 16:33 points to the futility of that. The scripture says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the Lord. In times past, it was common to cast lots to decide on certain matters. Even today, when we don’t know what to do, we might try to make decisions based on a roll of the dice, and other games of chance. The truth is that God knows what is best, and will do what is best in our lives. We need to be seeking Him in all our decisions, big and small. This leads me to another part of scripture – Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Instead of drawing straws, rolling the dice, or eenie-meenie-miney-mo, we need to seek God and trust in Him. He will guide us in all that we do.
For me, there are a few take-aways here.
-1. There is no need to pursue luck or chance. We seek God and trust in Him in every situation.
-2. We should never marvel at how lucky we were when something good has happened, but instead, thank God for every good thing, big and small.
-3. God is sovereign and in full-control. In loving Him and pursuing His will, we are assured that everything will work out for good.
Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for every good thing in our lives. We know that apart from you, there is no good. You are sovereign and most high. Help us to put all of our faith, trust, and hope in you, and not lean on our own understanding. Help us to seek you in every decision in every area of our lives, no matter how big or small. We pray that you help us to recognize your love in every good gift and to always remember that all things are worked together for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. In Jesus’ name we pray and give you thanks. Amen.
