We live in a society that constantly asks, “What are my chances?” Most of the time our fears are what motivate us, like the following information that originated from a blog entitled, I kid you not, “A Whole Lot of Nothing.”
“The odds of an adult having to visit the ER due to an injury from a pogo stick is 1 in 115,300 which tells us the dangers of pogo sticks. Of course, it doesn’t mention how many of the examples were due to complete stupidity. The good news is to avoid such a situation, we just need to stay away from pogo sticks. However, the bad news isthat you are more likely to be injured by soap (1 in 11,380), a hammock (1 in 85,350), a toothbrush (1 in 99,340), or a drinking straw (1 in 100,600). However, you are less likely to be sent to the hospital after having a mishap with a leaf blower (1 in 171,100).”
On a more serious note, another survey tells us that only 1 in 10 Americans read their Bible daily. This leads to another area of chance that we should never participate in: Our lack of God’s Word leaves only the thoughts of others for our interpretation. Doubt, a close cousin of fear, then becomes the by-product, as we listen to the skeptics and not GOD’S SOURCE.
For instance, if you happen to be unconvinced that a particular baby born in a Bethlehem manger 2000 years ago was anything more than just an ordinary human baby, let me challenge you with a few of “the odds” in that regard.
Did you know that the prophet Micah, writing about 700 B.C., out of the thousands of cities over the world in those days, designated Bethlehem of Judea as the Messiah’s birthplace (Micah 5:2)? And at that same time, Isaiah (7:14) said that the Christ would be born of a virgin? Or, that a prophecy made 1000 years before Jesus’ birth specified that the Messiah’s hands and feet would be pierced, a clear reference to death by crucifixion, 800 years before the Romans instituted crucifixion as a form of capital punishment? This brings us to our final thought.
Many years ago, Peter Stoner wrote a book entitled Science Speaks. The writing was based on the science of probability as it calculated the odds of any one man in all of history fulfilling even 8 of the 60 major prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. The probability that any one person could have fulfilled 8 such prophecies would be 1 in 1017. That’s 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.
Stoner claims that it would take that many silver dollars to cover the state of Texas 2-feet deep. Now, who in his right mind would CHANCE that a blindfolded man, heading from Dallas in any direction, would be able, on his first attempt, to pick-up one specifically marked coin out of… 100,000,000,000,000,000?
Well, God’s Word tells us that we should take that chance because Jesus was that baby in the manger!
Little Flatrock Christian Church 
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