The life-story of a stray arrow

1 Kings 22: 20-29 story context
34 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, "Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I've been wounded." 35 … The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.”

Pretty amazing story. God pronounces a death sentence on an evil king, then a “stray” arrow pierces his armor and he dies.
This illustration of God’s sovereignty is nothing less than amazing.
Consider this: there was a man or boy who went out into the woods and cut down a long, slim branch — one of many— that looked perfect to carve out arrows that could be used for catching food or fighting an enemy. Someone then carefully carved out a shaft and fashioned onto it a sharp, deadly arrowhead. This was done by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands each year.
But one arrow had a special plan for it that began long before the tree had grown or before the branch had sprung from which it had been taken. Perhaps as the king was a boy growing up, the tree was maturing. Perhaps as the king was crowned, the branch from whence the arrow came gained length. And as the king’s heart grew hard and sinful and evil in God’s sight —in the fullness of time, months before the deadly battle, the branch was plucked, carved, and crafted into a deadly weapon — all unbeknownst to the king. Then the story and purpose of this arrow came to a close — as it sank into the king’s flesh — in a very small, unguarded area — and mortally wounded him. God’s purposes and sovereign power are far beyond our comprehension.

That kind of reminds me of our Saviour’s cross and the tree from which it was crafted from — where our Lord Jesus died. Would we dare think God had not thought of that cross, or the tree from which it was crafted, and known that IT was the one that would be used to crucify His very own, precious son? How often might the Father have deeply groaned, as the tree grew and matured — Him fully knowing the deadly purpose for which it was created? And yet it was HIS purpose and plan even from the foundation of the world.