Does God Intervene in our Lives?

“No Reply?”

Granted, it’s hard to tell the difference between a “no” and a “no reply,” but in both instances above, I would say “not necessarily.”

In my relationship with God, I like the analogy of parent-child. When I was a kid, I remember asking my parents for a pony. I had no idea about the implications of such a request. We lived in a city in a two-story frame house with small front and back yards. There was no way we could keep a pony there, and if not there, where? And none of my family knew the first thing about caring for horses.

I don’t recall how my parents’ “no” to the pony was framed, but however it was, it didn’t greatly affect me. I went on with the important things, like playing.

Some say God’s intervention makes him/her arbitrary. Doesn’t a mother sometimes accede to a request by one child and not another, depending on the circumstances? Does that make her arbitrary?