You Aren't Actually in Control
The Importance of Luck
In his translation of the Bible, William Tyndale rendered Genesis 39:2 thus:
‘And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a lucky fellow…’
Harold Bloom blasphemously defined ‘luck’ here as ‘the whim of Yahweh’.1 I cannot agree, but this raises interesting questions.
Certainly, from our flawed perspectives, it oftentimes seems as though God favours some over others. One wonders whether Joseph felt the same during his years of captivity. And yet, this very same Joseph was exalted many years later, which one might be tempted to interpret as God once again acting on His whims.
To be clear, I denounce such a suggestion and use it only to illustrate a point: we’re at all times entirely dependent upon God’s favour. You may prepare well for a test and have brain fog during its administration. You may take care of your body and suffer unexpected illnesses. God ultimately decides whether these harms will befall us.
Of course, the theologian will be quick to tell you that God’s favour includes suffering. While that’s true (more true, perhaps, than I’d like) it’s an idea I don’t wish to address at this juncture.
For now, I just want to make it clear that it is God’s favour that decides our fates. And it is this favour that Tyndale called luck.
Bloom, Harold. The Shadow of a Great Rock: A Literary Appreciation of the King James Bible. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.