Numbers 16:28-30 English Standard Version

28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

Fatalism according to the Oxford dictionary is a belief system. That system says that all things are predetermined and therefore inevitable.

Because it is a belief system it is up to us to share in these beliefs or to choose not to share in them. There are only two choices in that scenario. In Numbers above there are more than two choices.

First choice is fatalism. The fate of those people were sealed and nothing could change fate, not even the will of God.

Second choice is that there are consequences for choices. Those who were about to be swallowed up by a great chasm and sent to Sheol were only suffering the consequences of their choices.

A third choice is fiction. It never happened.

This third choice, one of fiction, leaves us with mystery that can be explained to our own satisfaction or ignored because we choose not to get involved.

We are responsible for our own decisions. If we believe that our choices do not matter then we do not believe that choices have consequences. If we live our lives in that manner life itself will teach us that gravity works and we will fall if we jump off a cliff. Choosing to jump with the intention of falling says we believe in gravity. Life teaches us there are consequences for choices.

Some choose to believe that the odds are against them and their fate is sealed. Those choices are rebellion in the face of fatalism. This is why a class of people join groups of like minded fatalists that says, “Take it while you can.” Their choices have led them to the consequences of their choices.

If we knew with perfect understanding what the outcome for our choices would lead us, then we would be entering into the realm of foreknowledge. 

Is foreknowledge fatalism by another name?

Psalm 43:1 English Standard Version

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me!

When we feel that we need light is it because we have placed ourselves in a dark place? What can be seen in this first verse is seeking vindication for where we are and how we got there. If we are following God’s will, God is with us. If we wandered off on our own and took up a cause that was only right by our own determination, then God has not lit our path.

2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

If we have truly taken refuge in God, why are we feeling the oppression of the enemy?

When we focus on the enemy we are not focused onGod’s will for our lives. Doubt creeps in and fear follows. We begin to doubt if we are walking in God’s will. How did we get to this point?

3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling!

His Holy Hill is a symbol of positional attitude. If we do not get together with God while walking in His will, we will not know at what point we have gone astray. It is like checking a compass often to make sure we haven’t drifted off course. God does not have a problem with us asking often and loudly, “Is this the way?”

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Perhaps our problem is one in which we withhold praise until we feel that God has saved us from our doubt and fear.

Psalm 40:3 English Standard Version (ESV) He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

Sometimes it isn’t about me.