Providence not 'Coincidence'

"Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land" (1 Kings 8:5).

My Collins Mini Thesaurus states Providence as " destiny, divine intervention, fate, fortune, God' s will, predestination". Its an old word that seems to slip further and further from modern secular vocabulary. Sadly it is replaced with coincidence. Yet coincidence says nothing of God's involvement. Rather, it points to chance and our thinking merges with secular society and the atheist paradigm. We become blind to God's involvement in our lives, even when He is acting!

In this passage it shows that what appears to be coincidence is in actuality providence. God ensures that as the witness is given about Elisha working a miracle, that the actual person the miracle was performed for walks into the King's court at that exact time! She had been out of the country for seven years until that moment. What are the odds that when she would return to her country and visit the king's court that her life would be the topic of discussion at that exact moment? The odds are impossible. And thus the God to whom all things are possible then acts. To show HIS hand.

Not long ago I had given a message at a church, generally about providence and God acting in our lives. Afterwards a young lady enthusiastically wanted to join Street Chaplains, a ministry I am involved in. I gave her the Director's number for her to contact. On returning home I emailed the Street Chaplain Director and informed him of the young lady and left it at that.

A week later I was in a shopping centre. I had decided to go to the shops to buy a pair of jeans. I am not a big shopper  (especially for clothes) so being there for this purpose was a rarity. As I left the store I noticed the Street Chaplain Director standing near a coffee shop. As I walked  near I also noticed the young lady that had wanted to be a Street Chaplain. The two were standing apart and my mind quickly deducted they were actualy waiting to meet each other and hadn't recognised one another (they had never met before). I  walked into the middle of both of them and pointed at each of them and smiled. The Director was on his mobile about to call her!

I shook their hands and walked off amazed at God's timing! What are the odds? That the same person that would be the mediator for these two people meeting a week prior (on the other side of the city) would be walking past them as they waited to meet each other a week later (now at the opposite end of the city)! The odds are impossible.

Providence - not Coincidence. Look for it and you will be amazed at how often God is acting in your life.