The Ball Pit of Destiny
You’re standing at the edge of a ball pit.
The pit itself is three feet high—about the level of your waist.
For the most part, it looks exactly like the kind of ball pit you’d find at a run-of-the-mill kid’s playground. The balls are colorful, three inches in diameter, and there are roughly eight billion of them.
Oh. I guess that part’s a little different. Maybe I should have opened with that.
That probably explains why each of the pit’s four walls are over a mile long. If you were to hop in at one corner and slog your way to its opposite, you’d have to wade through more than a mile and a half of brightly colored plastic balls to get there.
Sorry. Our engineer is a little over-enthusiastic.
You’re probably wondering why you’re blindfolded. Could have opened with that too, I guess.
Oops.
Anyway, in that sea of eight billion balls, there’s exactly one with your name on it. We’re going to need you to grab it.
Oh, don’t make that face. You’re welcome to walk as far into the pit as you’d like—and don’t worry, there’s no timer or anything, so no need to rush—but you will only have one shot to grab the right one.
Alright! Whenever you’re ready!
* * *
Okay, I admit, that’s a bit of a ridiculous illustration, but it seemed like the best way to drive home a point.
Eight billion people on this world, and God is working with you.
How’d that happen?
Our little imaginary ball pit is filled with one ball for every human being alive on this planet. The dimensions, as near as I can calculate them, are accurate. The odds of you being able to grab the ball with your name on it are worse than the average American’s odds of being struck by lightning during their lifetime.
…Twice.
But we know that’s not how God works.
God knows every hair on every head in the world (Matthew 10:30). He knows when a single sparrow falls to the ground (Matthew 10:29). He knows the hearts of all (Acts 1:24) and the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10).
* * *
There are two things I find incredible about this ball pit.
The first is that God has perfect knowledge of every ball in that pit.
The other is that God picked us.
Specifically.
Intentionally.
You didn’t get scooped up with a bunch of other balls just because you happened to be in the right place at the right time. Your calling wasn’t collateral. You were personally selected—by God—for a purpose.
He pulled you out of that ball pit, not at random, but because He wanted you.
Think about that.
Think.
About.
That.
No accidents. No mistakes. No misunderstandings. No blind luck.
You were handpicked by God to be part of something bigger: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5).
One day, every ball in the pit will get that chance. Today, it’s you and an impossibly small handful of others.
Is that changing the way you live your life?
Until next time,
Jeremy
