(Today’s audio reading on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0oaC24DzkWPN4vyDMHIErn)
Then they cast lots and Matthias was chosen to become an apostle with the other eleven. (Acts 1:26)
The apostles seek Judas’ replacement and are intent on asking God to show them who is the one. But they do so by rolling the dice?! It feels like some kind of heavenly crap shoot…who’s going to win the lottery to be the replacement apostle?! That’s always seemed strange to me.
Apparently, casting lots had a “very respectable precedent in Hebrew sacred history,” according to commentator F.F. Bruce. The reason? Proverbs 16:33 says that “We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall.” So, they looked to Him to validate the way forward by letting the lot or dice or whatever it was become the answer that God wanted it to be.
This was obviously a huge decision—a replacement member for one of the most important groups of people ever assembled. I don’t think that’s an overstatement. Think about it: they are part of the inner circle of the most important person who ever lived. One of those has dropped out and now God has a new one to bring forward.
We do know this: They are not making the decision on their own! They have been praying for days. They have been united in that praying. They earnestly want to get to full strength in their contingent, but they will not do that without seeking the Lord together. When I lay it out like that, despite what feels like a somewhat clumsy or goofy sounding method (sorry, that’s my fleshly take on it), I can see how God honored it all and showed them clearly that Matthias was the one.
Think about their process for making a major decision:
they showed a firm resolve to find the Lord’s answer,
they carried out this discovery process as a community,
and they yielded completely to the Lord’s leading, no matter what he showed as the way forward.
Rather than us tripping up on the idea of casting lots, or wondering why they didn’t use a different mechanism, it seems best to consider that their underlying process is one that we can model in major decision-making. God certainly honored their process as well as their commitment to make the right choice in replacing Judas.
“Father, thank you for showing the apostles the choice you had in mind for the replacement for Judas!”
Freddy Boswell 