From a Judeo-Christian perspective the following verses are from the Scriptures -------------------------------------

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)
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What has been will be again,
What has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV)
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I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
Ecclesiastes 9:11(NIV)
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to morn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (KJV)
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Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."
Jeremiah 1:5
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Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my good pleasure.
Isaiah 46:10
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And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be the conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Romans 8:28-30 (NIV)
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 In him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with a purpose of his will.
Ephesians 1: 11
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According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
Ephesians 1:4
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For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
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Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Acts15:18
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Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born, or had done anything good or bad - in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works, but of him who calls - she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
What shall we say then?  Is God unjust?  Not at all!  For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy, on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens who he wants to harden.
One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us?" For who resists his will? But who are you O man, to talk back to God?  Shall what is formed say to him that formed it, 'Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
Romans 9:10-21 (NIV)
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