By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. [Luke 10:31 (NLT)]
Was it just a coincidence that Pharaoh’s daughter was at water’s edge to hear the cry of Moses? Was it just a lucky break that, the night before Haman planned to have Mordecai impaled on a pole, King Xerxes couldn’t sleep and read about Mordecai saving his life? Was it by chance that Rebekah was the one who watered the camels of Abraham’s servant? Was it just a coincidence that Jesus was at the well when the unnamed woman came to fill her jug? No! They were God-ordained encounters. The God who keeps track of every sparrow is not about the leave anything up to chance! The apparent randomness of life is under sovereign rule and Scripture affirms divine governance over all events.
Recently, my husband and I were in aisle seats across from one another in the crowded airplane. It so happened that the man stuck in the middle seat next to me was married to the woman in the middle seat by my husband. When she started chatting with my husband, her husband warned me, “She’ll probably talk his ear off!” I reassured him, “It won’t bother my husband; he’s nearly deaf.” Laughing, he replied, “So is she!” That opened our conversation about the trials of living with a partner who has gone from being merely “hard of hearing” to profoundly deaf, even with hearing aids.
Commiserating with one another, we spoke of our shared challenges, concerns, and frustration with an unhearing partner. But then God intervened and we put ourselves in our partner’s spots. We seriously considered the distress, frustration, and sense of isolation they have daily. During this chance encounter, our hearts grew a little bigger as our empathy toward our spouses increased and we realized the need for more patience and understanding. As it turned out, on their side of the plane, my husband and his wife were having a conversation about the challenges of living with a partner who assumes they’ve heard everything that’s been said! Was it merely coincidence that those middle seats were the only ones open when that couple booked their tickets? I think not. We often experience God’s providence through what seem like accidental encounters.
New to her church, my daughter didn’t know the other team members when she responded to God’s call to go on a mission trip in July. Once there, she immediately hit it off with her roommate Cara, a woman close to her age. Twenty years ago, Cara’s husband was killed by a crazed gunman when their baby was only 11-days old. Oddly, about half of those on the mission team were widows or widowers. It was during that mission trip that my daughter received the heartbreaking news that she, too, had become a widow when her husband died unexpectedly back home.
Just because we didn’t know our son-in-law was going to die doesn’t mean God was taken by surprise. He knew exactly what kind of support our daughter would need and, with that mission team, God laid out a support network for her before she knew she needed one! From barely knowing anyone in her church, the trip gave my daughter the opportunity to become one with her church family. Having suffered traumatic loss herself, Cara was there to help her grasp the shocking news. When my daughter returned home, she had the support of a group of people who truly had “been there and done that.” During these last several months, her new church family have been advisors, encouragers, friends, and prayer warriors for her.
In Scripture, the only occurrence of the Greek word sugkuria (meaning coincidence, chance, or circumstance) is found in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. The traveler lies half-dead by the side of the road when a priest “by chance” comes along and sees him. The priest ignores the man and seemingly random events follow. A Levite happens along but passes by the traveler before a Samaritan coming along stops and helps him. In Jesus’ story, however, what seem to be coincidences turn out to be significant events. Although coming upon the injured man seems by chance, they were God-ordained and each person’s response was deliberate.
God’s orchestration of events—His sovereignty—doesn’t negate our moral responsibility. Their encounters with someone in need provided the priest, Levite, and Samaritan an opportunity to be a conduit of God’s mercy. Although the priest and Levite ignored the man’s cries, like the Samaritan, they freely chose how they would respond. Their sin was not diminished just because the Samaritan showed compassion and helped the dying man.
While all things happen for a reason, the reason is not necessarily a message from God. We shouldn’t get carried away trying to find divine meaning for every coincidence or chance encounter. Nevertheless, let us remember that life is filled with moments that appear accidental but carry eternal weight. How will we treat the unplanned encounters of life? Trusting that God’s hand is behind them, will we see these coincidences as a call to be the hands and feet of Jesus or, like the priest and Levite, will we go on our merry way?
Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous. [Albert Einstein]
“Chocolate comes from cacao beans. Beans are vegetables. Salads are made of vegetables. Therefore, chocolate is a salad!” said the sign in the bakery. “I like their logic!” I thought. If you’ve ever tried to lose weight you probably know the loopholes used by dieters. Broken cookies have no calories because they fell out when the cookies broke, anything eaten with a diet soda is calorie-free, and food eaten off someone else’s plate doesn’t count because the original calories belong to them! Technically, anything licked off a spoon while preparing food isn’t eating; it’s cooking! Furthermore, if you’re eating with someone else, you’ve kept to your diet if the other person consumes more than you! As a once struggling dieter, I know all the excuses to justify over indulging. The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves and, unfortunately, most of them aren’t as silly as these.
After being asked, “How different would the world look if everyone got what they deserved?” I started wondering. Even as a child, I knew people didn’t get what they deserved. When I was ten, I watched on television as nine black students tried to enroll in an all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas; they were blocked by the National Guard and an angry mob of 400 angry whites. Two years earlier, on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman. I grew up in Detroit and, while discrimination and segregation were more subtle than in the South, it existed. I lived in a large home with a big yard on a tree-lined street but any bus trip “downtown” told me that the people of color didn’t live in neighborhoods like mine. There may not have been “colored” drinking fountains or “white only” bathrooms but there was a six-foot high, one-foot wide, and half-mile long wall segregating one black community from a neighboring white one. Many other invisible and more impenetrable walls existed within our divided city.
The two were seated next to us on the patio; the frail elderly woman was the mother and the younger woman her daughter. After pondering the menu, the mother had all sorts of questions about it. In no rush to order, she dithered over her entrée choice and, once food was served, she lingered over it. As I observed the two women, I could see and hear the daughter’s growing frustration and impatience with her mother. They reminded me of the times I took my mother-in-law out to lunch. Having “been there and done that,” I wanted to tell the daughter to be patient. One day, mom would be gone and she’d wish they had more days together.
Today is Labor Day—the unofficial last day of summer. On a day originally intended to celebrate the accomplishments of workers, it’s somewhat ironic that most of us are doing as little work as possible. Nevertheless, whether it’s just making the bed, grilling the burgers, washing the car, or being called in for an emergency surgery, we’ll all do some work today. We appreciate the day off but we’d much prefer a full-blown vacation—with no chores, deadlines, schedules, or business calls, texts, and emails. On the ideal vacation, all we have to do is relax and enjoy ourselves.
“I’m so busy!” If there’s even a remote possibility that we might be asked to do something we’d rather avoid, we can cut off the request at the pass by starting the conversation with those words. It’s the perfect out. On the other hand, when said to us, we can’t argue with it.
Devotions of the Heart 