Overboard With Repentance?

We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall. [Proverbs 16.33]

This verse in Proverbs really causes a lot of problems for the serious student of God and His Word.

The real problem lies in the implications of what this verse states. In other words, if we genuinely believe nothing is by chance, then we are faced with the reality that each and every circumstance in our lives says something about our lives.

This is what I have been concluding for some time now. Many of us experience a lot of what is described in Deuteronomy 28 as curses upon our lives. If we truly believe Proverbs 16.33, then the reality of those cursed circumstances is that they are indicators of sin. If there are indications of sin in our lives, then we have but one recourse: repentance.

Oh, but it would be silly to go around repenting every time we get a sniffle or bump our head, wouldn't it?

Would it?

We shouldn't go overboard with repentance, should we?

Shouldn't we?

God's Word is clear about the kind of person God really relates to:

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. [Psalm 51.17]

Hmm. God will not reject a person with a broken and repentant heart.

Can any of us stop sinning and thus be sinless? No.

So, our best option in our fallen, sinful state, is to be repentant.

For the record, I don't think Jesus came so we could be proud. In other words, Jesus relieved us of the responsibility of sacrificing bulls and lambs, but HE DID NOT RELIEVE OF OF THE RESPONSIBILITY OF REPENTING AND REMAINING REPENTANT!

If God was in control of everything before Jesus, don't you think He is still in control of everything? Of course He is. There is no 'chance.'

Oh, how I need to repent!

Father, forgive me for my pride and arrogance in circumstances of pain and loss as if those circumstances could happen to just anyone.