Thanks for the thorough reply – yes, I agree that Job is a pretty difficult text – it’s been a while since I read the whole thing, but I recently went over Philip Yancey’s take on it in “The Bible Jesus Read.” Habakkuk is one of my favorite books, but perhaps because it has sections that strike me as more encouraging than in Job. I at least appreciate that it addresses evil, because Habakkuk asks questions that I think are very similar to what many of us ask when we look at all the evil in the world – especially his charge that God has made us like sea creatures, constantly devouring each other.
I suppose it’s inescapable that if we go back far enough, even evil beings have their advent in God – in other words, if everything comes from God, then that includes those who cause pain and suffering on earth. That can be hard to reconcile with the “good vs. evil” narrative that also runs through the Bible – it’s easy to wonder why God has to be in any kind of “combat” with the devil if he created him in the first place, or why he would create people just to send them to hell (whether one believes in ECT or conditionalism).
To get back a little bit more to the original topic, I don’t see that we could say for sure whether God “chooses” which sperm ends up with which egg (or similar things). Since he is omnipotent he certainly has the ability and prerogative to, but he also has the ability to wipe out all kinds of evil things and doesn’t – so I’m wary of making the leap from “God can control something” to “God must control it in every detail.” I guess I don’t see “being in control” and “personally micromanaging” to be the same thing. Who knows. I don’t!
I hope things go well for you both and that mother and baby are healthy. I went into “research mode” after getting pregnant with my first child too (though mostly having to do with labor and things like that) – there’s a huge learning curve, that’s for sure, and an awful lot of opinions on things!