Wesley D. Tracy tells about a woman whom he calls Kate Dowd. That is not her real name, but she is a real person. Kate, a dedicated wife and mother, volunteered at her church, helped with Cub Scouts, tatted lace, and knitted scarves. Then she discovered something that was more exciting than all the rest of her activities combined riverboat gambling. Almost immediately her life was completely changed and not for the better.
Kate would cross the river daily to Illinois and board either the Alton Belle or the River Queen riverboats to indulge in her new passion. Soon she had emptied the family bank account and pawned her wedding ring. She was still gambling when the house payment was 17 months behind.
“The day they came to repossess the house, gambling lost its charm. She drove her 1988 Oldsmobile to a mall parking lot, climbed into the back seat, put the muzzle of a .357 Magnum behind her right ear, and pulled the trigger. Kate Dowd, university graduate, loving mother, and faithful church worker left a note, ‘To Whom It May Concern,’ and died with $2.58 in her purse.” (1)
Gambling can be a fatal disease. For most people it is certainly a losing proposition. We often hear about people who have gone to Las Vegas or Atlantic City and have won huge jackpots. We don’t hear about the majority of people who go to these places and lose sometimes just a little bit, but sometimes their house payment or their groceries. According to a report in the New York Times, gamblers in Las Vegas casinos lost $6.1 billion in one year alone. As someone familiar with the lure of gambling has said, the only way to double your money in Vegas is to fold it and put it in your pocket.
Of course you don’t have to go to Vegas to lose money gambling. I’m not going to ask if any of you have ever bought a lottery ticket. Someone has called the lottery a tax on the poor because so many people look at the lottery as their only hope of coming out of life ahead. What it does, of course, is put them deeper in a hole.
In an article in Time magazine writer Ginia Bellafonte told about a man, about 60, waiting in line outside a stationery shop in Greenwich, Connecticut to buy lottery tickets. The temperature was at least 95 degrees. Within a short time he keeled over onto the sidewalk. An ambulance came, but the man, still conscious, refused to leave the line without first buying $15 worth of tickets.
In that same line was a 25-year-old father of three, who drove two hours from Brooklyn to Greenwich to spend $175 mostly crumpled up fives and 10s on Powerball tickets. Could he afford it? “No comment,” he replied.
More disturbing still was the fact that a 28-year-old waiter was also in that line funneling all the money he had been saving for college $3,000 into Powerball tickets. (2) It is a form of madness, and we ought to be more concerned about it than we are. Television commercials tell us about the millions the lottery provides to education; nothing is said about the savings lost or the lives broken.
J. E. Bendenbaugh wrote to Reader’s Digest to tell about his grandmother, a staunch Southern Baptist, who had marched him off to Sunday School and church regularly. So when he switched to the Episcopal Church after marriage she challenged him: “What’s wrong with the Baptist Church, son?” she asked.
“Well,” he explained, “Carole and I flipped a coin to see if we would go to her church or mine, and I lost.”
“Serves you right,” said his grandmother. “Good Baptists don’t gamble.”
I’m tempted to say neither do good [Lutherans, good Methodists, good Presbyterians, etc]. I know some people regard it as a harmless form of recreation. “I can afford it,” many will argue. Think how much better it would make you feel, though, if you put that money to work, for example, feeding a hungry child.
Of course, some forms of gambling have always been with us. In the book of Acts, when the disciples were faced with a choice between two men to replace the disciple Judas after he had betrayed Christ and hung himself in despair, we read that the disciples “cast lots” to choose his successor. Casting lots in that day and time was a mild form of gambling. As I understand it, when used to decide elections, they would write the names of the candidates on pieces of stone or wood, etc., and put them in an urn. The names were then drawn at random and this settled the case. It’s certainly not a sinful way to go about making a decision. It’s not much different from flipping a coin. However, it seems a strange way for the disciples of Christ to choose a successor to carry on his work. I guess they couldn’t find any other way to choose. Both men were equally qualified and this was a quick, easy way to make a decision. So we should not be too critical. It just seems strange that they would seek the will of God this way.
But, then, how do you know the will of God? This is one of the most vexing questions in our faith. Many of us want to know God’s will for our lives so that we can make appropriate choices. A young man falls in love. “Is this the right person for me?” he asks himself. “Is it God’s will for me to marry?” Perhaps that is a question that isn’t asked much anymore. And maybe, from the looks of all the statistics on marriage and divorce, just maybe it ought to be.
Talk about a gamble. A young couple meets at a vulnerable time in their lives when hormones are bubbling, and their judgment has not quite matured, and we expect them to make a decision about the person they’re going to spend the rest of their lives with. No wonder so many marriages do not survive. Wouldn’t it be great if we could have God’s input in the matter?
One of the spiritual giants of the Christian faith had this battle once upon a time. His name was John Wesley. It was under his leadership that the Methodists, the Nazarenes and so many other Christian groups sprang. Wesley, early in his ministry as an Anglican priest, spent time as a missionary in Georgia. This was during the 1700s. Wesley’s ministry in Georgia was not a successful venture. For one thing, he was attracted to a young woman named Sophia Hopkey. They talked of marriage. Wesley struggled with this. Was it God’s will? He prayed about it, he sought the counsel of friends, he searched the scriptures and, finally, when he could not resolve it any other way, he cast lots. Yes, just as the disciples did in choosing a successor to Judas, Wesley cast lots. One lot had on it “not to marry.” One lot had on it “to marry.” And a third lot said to break off the relationship altogether, which is what he eventually did. Some of you may know the rest of the story. Sophia turned around and married someone else, and young Mr. Wesley refused to serve them communion. The matter ultimately ended up in court and Wesley made the wise decision that Georgia was not the place God was calling him to be after all.
This should caution us that even spiritual giants may not have a clue as to the will of God in matters of the heart. It is very difficult to know the will of God. It humbles us all.
A couple wants to start a business. They are a very religious couple of a strong evangelical background. They want to do God’s will. So they decide to “put out a fleece.” The concept of putting out a “fleece” is found in Judges 6, where Gideon is given a difficult task by God. Gideon starts wondering if he heard God right, so he “tests” God by putting out a fleece.
Gideon says to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew a bowlful of water. Meanwhile the ground around was dry.
Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request . . . with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” That night God performed another miracle. This time the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew (6: 37-40).
What a wonderful story. Gideon asked God to give him a sign that he was really in the will of God. When God did exactly as Gideon asked, Gideon asked for another sign just to make sure.
I really wish knowing the will of God was that easy for us. This very religious couple that put out a fleece about whether God wanted them to start a business were very certain that they had gotten a sign from God that starting a business was God’s will for them. They invested their life savings . . . and they lost their proverbial shirt. Can you imagine how devastating that was to them spiritually as well as financially?
Friends, it is very difficult to know God’s will in specific circumstances. The disciples cast lots because they were in a situation where they could not lose. Both candidates fit the requirements for being a disciple. The disciples just needed to make a decision. And so they decided by casting lots. Either choice would have worked out fine because God was going to use whomever they chose to accomplish His purposes. It didn’t matter if it was Matthias or Barsabbas, the other candidate. All that mattered was that God was involved. Still the question remains: How do you know the will of God? Let me suggest some better ways than casting lots.
First of all, be a person of prayer and a student of the scriptures. In other words, spend time daily with God. Do not wait until a moment of crisis or when you are facing a difficult decision. Pray daily to “have the same mind in you which was in Christ Jesus” as St. Paul writes in Philippians 2:5. It’s a simple starting point, but it will put you on solid ground.
According to a nationwide study by George Barna, only 13% of adults turn to the Bible for help in making moral decisions. About 14% of people rely on their parents’ advice and values when making a decision. And a full 25% of adults, 1 out of every 4 people, rely simply on their “feelings” to be their moral guide in a sticky situation. (3)
Friends, you can’t disregard your feelings, but they are a poor guide to knowing the will of God. People are continually being led into bad decisions by their feelings. Pray and study that you will discover the mind of Christ. That way you’re more apt to make better decisions in every situation, not just when you’re confronting an especially challenging choice.
Secondly, if you have a really difficult decision to make, consult someone who’s judgment you trust. Remember how Jesus said, “Whenever two or three of you agree, then it will be done” (Matthew 18:19). Sometimes we have too much invested in a decision personally to see clearly what God’s will may be. We need someone else’s viewpoint who is not as emotionally involved. If it is a matter of a relationship to a person of the opposite sex, do not ignore possible warnings of Christian friends or of parents or whomever. They can be wrong, but again I emphasize that feelings when you are head over heels in love cannot be trusted.
If you are starting a business, be diligent in your research. Do not act impulsively. Get the advice of people who understand how business works. Again the experts can be wrong, but at least listen to their input.
You know the old story about a person who bought a car that turned out to be a lemon. A friend who was very knowledgeable about cars asked, “Why didn’t you ask me for advice?” And the person said, “I was afraid you would tell me not to buy it.” That happens. The last thing some of us want to do is to ask for advice, particularly when our hearts are set on a certain course. But that is the very reason we need advice.
After you have done all that, pray that God will help you make the best decision possible. Then make your decision. Don’t look for a sign. Don’t consult the morning astrological forecast. Don’t put out a fleece. Take the three steps which we have listed, make your decision, and then take one more step the most important step of all.
After you have made your decision, trust God to help you turn that decision into the right decision. When we have to make a decision, the very reason it is difficult is that the future is unknowable. There is only one thing certain about the future and that is that God is in it. Even if your decision turns out not to be the best possible decision due to some unforeseeable circumstances, God will help you turn it into something good, even if it is only a necessary learning experience.
Remember, there are many desirable benefits that come only through failure. This is important. Everyone makes bad decisions sometimes. Don’t assume that because you are successful that you are in the center of God’s will. You may have only been lucky. Or maybe you are more talented or more intelligent than those who have not been so successful. And just because you fail at something doesn’t mean you are outside God’s will. The cross on which Christ died can hardly be considered a symbol of success. It is a symbol of love and sacrifice, not luxury and success.
It is no accident that so many successful people have failed miserably at some venture previously in their lives. They learned some things about themselves from that failure that made them successful later.
Leslie Weatherhead was one of the great preachers of the twentieth century, but sometimes thing did not turn out as he hoped. Here is what he wrote about that, “I can only write down this simple testimony. Like all [people], I love and prefer the sunny uplands of experience when health, happiness and success abound but I have learned more about God, life, and myself in the darkness of fear and failure than I have ever learned in the sunshine. There are such things as the treasure of darkness. The darkness, thank God, passes, but what one learns in the darkness, one possesses forever.”
If you’re facing a difficult decision, here’s what to do: Pray daily. Know the Scriptures. Consult with people whose opinion you respect and listen to their counsel. Pray over your specific decision and go ahead and make it. And finally, and most important, trust God to help you turn that decision into the right decision. Even if your decision turns out to be the wrong one, don’t give up. Trust God. After all, God made the ultimate gamble when God sent His Son to die in our behalf. Then God took that event the rejection of his Son by sinful humanity and used it to save the world.
So, follow these steps for all your decision making. They probably won’t help you at a Las Vegas roulette table except perhaps to keep you away from such gambling devices. What these steps will do is take much of the gamble out of life. Remember, roulette tables are for losers. Living according to the will of God always puts you on the winning side.
1. Herald of Holiness, July 1995, p. 2.
2. “The Lucky Thirteen” Aug. 10, 1998, p. 64.
3. “Poll Finds Church Scene ‘Back to Normal’ After Attack” by Jon Walker, Pulpit Helps, Feb. 2002, p. 9.