One of the habits I strive to discard is to stop my lazy and ingrained habit of (not) explaining things as a result of luck, chance or randomness.
Since I inhabit God's creation, there is no possibility of anything of this kind. If every specific event is not (cannot be) directly purposive, then surely it is part of some larger purpose.
There are two possible purposes: Good or evil, divine or demonic.
Some things happen because they are part of God's creative purposes, others as a consequence of evil choices by demonic beings or humans. It may be important to know which - yet even evil purposes will - in the course of time - always be turned to make opportunities for Good choices, for the chance to grow in a positive spiritual way.
For example, the 2020 coup to install a totalitarian world government and fake-birdemic response is surely evil in motivation, and needs to be recognized as such; yet it has led to many opportunities for pursuing God's purposes.
It has made discernment easier, has shocked some people to an awakening, it has led to some positive re-evaluations of life and priorities - other possibilities could be added.
So it is both true that evil triumphed in 2020; and that God has turned that triumph to make many new Good possibilities.
Yet it is typical that God's plans are the fastest, most powerful, and have the fewest adverse effects; and God's re-purposing of evil will be very much a second-best; less sure and slower, and with more and nastier down-sides to the right choices...
Nonetheless, God's creation will always be working to keep creating opportunities for Good, from time to time.
But this eschewing of luck/ chance/ randomness has some tough consequences. For a start, it undercuts both pride and resentment; since our basic situation in life (body, mind, environment) has been 'designed' for our own personal best learning of that which we most need to learn.
There is no space either for self-congratulation or for guilt at privilege; nor for self-pity and resentment at the bad hand dealt.
That old phrase "There, but for the grace of God, go I", is revealed as wrong, and mischievous - because in a strict sense there is no greater fortune nor misfortune in these things.
The only valid metric is spiritual and needs to focus on the understanding that this mortal life is primarily a time for learning.
One who fails to learn has failed in life, has utterly wasted his life - whatever the comfort and pleasure of that life. And vice versa - a life that appears materially dire may be a glorious triumph at the spiritual level.
However, this fact is for each to discover for himself - I cannot know what God intended for other people, nor can I know the sequence of choices that led to a person's present position; hence I cannot dictate the proper meaning of another's life.
(Although, equally, I can and should make my own judgment about other's lives, and may need to advise others accordingly. That, too, is part of what we are meant to learn.)
But I can and should learn what is intended for me; by discerning and choosing well, as my life brings me my needful opportunities - which it surely will.
