Favor vs Luck
How many times have you been wished good luck or wished others good luck? It is a nice gesture to wish someone good luck right, or is it?
Recently the thought of luck just didn’t sit right in my Spirit. It led to me seeking whether the concept of of luck is Biblical or not. Luck is actually mentioned in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 65:11 But you are among those forsaking Jehovah, Those forgetting My holy mountain, Those setting a table for the god of good luck, and those filling up cups of mixed wine for the god of destiny.
Ouch! That was not exactly what I was expecting to find. It makes sense now why the concept of luck was quenching the Holy Spirit inside me.
This past year, God has shown me how he describes His chosen and anointed. His own mother Mary is described as highly favored! Psalms 84:11 says it well, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
Over and over God speaks of His Favor. Check out what He said to Moses in Exodus 33:17, And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
So next time you here someone wish you good luck, say thank you for their good intentions, but respond with “I will take all of God’s favor I can get!”
I love the thought that it is impossible to run fast enough or far enough to hide from Jesus great love. He is always right there waiting for you to call on His Mighty Name. Sadly, we can choose not to accept His Love, but there is nothing you can do, outside of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, to keep us from this opportunity. The Holy Spirit is here daily drawing us to Jesus, that is why blaspheming the Holy Spirit is the one choice that pulls you away from Jesus’ Love. This reminds me of one of my favorite, yea I said favor-ite worship songs of all-time, which goes like this “His love never fails it never gives up, never gives up on you.”
Let’s take one more step and flow into this more recent favor-ite song of mine. “… May His favor be upon you, And a thousand generations, And Your family and your children, And their children, and their children!”
What is His Favor? I have come to believe it is exactly what went before Moses, when He prayed in Exodus 33. “Make us your people, Show us your Strategy, and Show us Your Glory”! Moses refused to go without the Glory of God! Is their anything more glorious in earth than the Spirit and Glory of God! The actual presence of God on earth! I believe and have concluded that Favor of God is the Holy Spirit!
In the form of both Fire and a Cloud the Holy Spirit led God’s People out of captivity. In chapter 13 of the Book of Exodus, shortly after Moses leads the Israelites out of their captivity in Egypt. The narrative states that the pillar of cloud went ahead of them by day to guide their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light.
A cloud combined with light is often used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit because clouds provide life- giving water and they represent God who is hidden from sight but is always there. The Holy Spirit is here to guide us today! To bring the lost out of Captivity and to lead God’s people down the path to the Father!
The word luck is Middle Dutch in origin, coming from luc, a shortening of gheluc, “happiness, good fortune.” Luck was borrowed into English in the 15th century as a gambling term. How many times have we seen the enemy take a word and pervert it to be associated with evil? (Rainbow and Love are a couple words that come to mind)
“During the gold and silver rush years in the second half of the 19th century, a number of the most famous and successful miners were of Irish and Irish American birth. . . .Over time this association of the Irish with mining fortunes led to the expression ‘luck of the Irish.’
Since the definition of Luck mentions “Happiness”. Let’s look at Hap, which is actually older than luck. Originating in the 12th century, the word comes from the Old Norse happ, meaning “chance, good luck.” Hap gives us happy, as well as haphazard, “chance; accidental; random”; hapless, “luckless, unfortunate”; and mishap, “misfortune.”
Who wants to live in a world depending on a powerless god of luck. This world often leads to evil such as superstition, auspicious omens, witchcraft, sorcery, fortunetelling, horoscope, or anything else that looks to the enemy and dark side instead of looking to Christ “The Anointed One”, the Light, the Only Way, the Truth, the Almighty One, the Undefeated Savior of the World!
Photo by Dustin Humes on Unsplash