Coincidence or God?

"At first laying down, as a fact fundamental, that nothing with God can be accidental." -Longfellow

A friend and I were discussing miracles. It is interesting to note how some people, when faced with a miraculous situation, interpret the events as nothing more than pure coincidence. While events that result from pure chance may occur, it is an injustice to God to chalk up all miraculous events as such.

In my own life, especially as a younger, single woman, there were times that I needed a virtual miracle to pull me out of a desperate situation. When these prayers were answered, some of my friends rolled their eyes, insisting the only astounding thing to happen was that good luck had fallen my way. However, deep in my heart, I knew the miraculous truth.

I had no tangible evidence to prove that God had His hand in these events. I'm certain that even if God did choose to offer me something tangible, such as a boulder crashing through my living room bearing the engraved inscription, "This is God," the doubters would still find some loophole through which to explain the amazing phenomenon.

This same friend then raised the issue of coincidence vs God's miraculous authorship in the Bible, specifically, the first book of the Bible, Genesis. He noted how the Messianic line always seemed to produce a surplus of sons, but few daughters. Nahor, (Abraham's brother), Ishmael, and Jacob had twelve sons each. We know that Ishmael had at least one daughter, (who married Esau), as did Jacob, but Nahor apparently had none. He did have one granddaughter, however, through his son Bethuel (see Genesis 22:20-21). It dawned on my friend that there could have been only one candidate who could fulfill the qualifications laid down by Abraham for a bride for his son Isaac, "Go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac." (Genesis 24:4). No wonder Abraham's servant asked, "What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land?" Genesis 24:5). He had only one chance to get it right! Everything that God had promised to Abraham, the entire Messianic line and the destiny of the world, hung on the agreement of one woman to walk away from her family, forsake and leave behind everything she knew, forgo the certainties of the settled city life for the dubious honor of becoming the wife of a nomad, an alien in a strange land without a square cubit of land to call home! The amazing thing is that when the stakes are really high, God doesn't necessarily expand the options. On the contrary, He more often narrows them down to just one. That is not an accident, it is God's design.

Think of a time you may have been deeply lost in sin. At the point you realized you needed help, did your options expand or decrease? Based on my own experiences, my options decreased. There were only two choices: good or evil. Given my true heart and desire for righteousness, that choice became narrowed to one. The choices were to either reach for God, or remain entrenched in sin, something I wanted no part of.

There are no coincidences when it comes to spiritual matters. The only confusion lies in our understanding of God's abilities, which are boundless!

[ by Melanie Schurr, Copyright © 1998 (DWwriter@webtv.net) -- from 'Daily Wisdom' ]